Facing Libertyville's twin towers is a tall order

Basketball season is over but you wouldn't know it by looking at the Libertyville baseball roster.

The Wildcats feature nearly 13 feet of intimidation on their pitching staff in just two players -- 6-foot-6 Jacob Booden and 6-foot-5 Troy Barton.

They are two of the tallest pitchers in Lake County this season -- and in Libertyville history, period.

Their coaches and teammates respectfully call them the "Twin Towers," and needless to say, they're already coming up huge this season.

Both Booden, a senior, and Barton, a junior, are already in the win column. And Booden threw a no-hitter last week against Antioch, a feat that head coach Jim Schurr says is the first of his six-year tenure as head coach.

"I think they both really embrace the fact that they're so tall," said Schurr, whose team moved to 6-1 with a big nonconference victory over Hoffman Estates on Tuesday. "And I think they use it as an advantage."

Indeed, the only real disadvantage to that kind of height on the mound may be finding baseball pants long enough.

But it's a small price to pay for getting more power on the ball, throwing at unsettling angles and, best of all, intimidating batters.

Let's face it: It can't be fun seeing a 6-foot-6 pitcher hurling an 85-mph fastball your way.

"I would think it's tough not to be intimidated when you have a 6-5, 6-6 guy on the mound," Barton said.

"It's a mound presence," Booden said of his height. "Kids see that when they come up to bat and that can be intimidating."

It's also confusing.

Batters aren't used to the angle at which tall pitchers throw from -- higher, of course, than usual. They also aren't used to the long strides of tall pitchers, which cause a shorter delivery distance from the mound to the plate.

And batters can be thrown off by how well tall pitchers can hide the ball before its release because their long bodies block it more.

"A lot of it really has to do with physics," Schurr said. "Some shorter kids might actually throw the ball faster, but a taller kid, with his stride and his reach, he's that much closer (to the batter). The pitcher is hiding the ball for that much longer and that really cuts down a lot on reaction time.

"In terms of their mechanics, (Booden and Barton) have really been able to use their height to their advantage."

Booden and Barton have also used their height to form a tight bond.

They roomed together last summer during an American Legion baseball trip to Freeport and talked baseball nonstop.

They work out together. They pick each other's brains for tips.

And when one is pitching, the other is bound to be studying every move closely, knowing that watching someone so similar in size is the best way to study himself.

"You can definitely kind of see yourself in him," Booden said. "We have that common bond. I look at (Barton) more than any other pitcher."

"You're always taking away stuff from each other," Barton said. "When you've got someone who is so close in height like that, you can relate to him more."

Being being so similar also drives Booden and Barton to want to be different.

They say that one of the best parts of their relationship is that they are constantly trying to outdo each other to set themselves apart.

"It's nothing negative, it's just good competition," Barton said. "It's cool how he'll throw a great game and I'll try to up the ante one and then he'll try to up the ante one. We're both pushing each other very hard."

"It's always very competitive between us," Booden said. "It's not that I would ever want him to do bad, because I always want what is best for him and the team. I just always want my performance to be at least equal (to) or even better than what he's done. I think he wants the same."

Well, Barton has some catching up to do.

Booden, whose lethal changeup is his best pitch, has proof of the ultimate in pitching excellence. He got to keep the game ball from his no-hitter against Antioch.

"See ... now that would be a tough one (to out-do)," laughed Barton, whose newly acquired splitter gives him four pitches in his arsenal rather than the standard three. "But I still want to go out there every time with the mindset that I'm going to do that."

Barton is also determined to follow Booden's career path. By this time next year, he'd also like to be signed with a Division I college.

Before the spring season even started, Booden signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Bradley.

Interestingly, he says that until he and his dad sent out about 50 letters and videotapes to college coaches, he was barely on any recruiting radars.

"My record was like 5-1 as a junior, but I wasn't pitching against the top tier teams so it's not like my name was really out there," Booden said. "But then we sent out those videos and we got quite a few responses."

Booden then kicked off the summer season by going to some baseball showcases. When he couldn't throw faster than 82 or 83 miles per hour, he figured that his hopes of playing college ball might be over -- or at least severely limited.

"But I kept hearing (from college coaches) and I didn't know why. But then I realized that my height gives me a little more potential. A lot of college coaches don't really look at what you're doing now, they look for what you can do in one or two or three years.

"Height is a standout thing that gives you a lot of potential."

With height, the expectations are many, too. And meeting them all can be a tall order.

But clearly, Booden and Barton aren't ones to shrink away from a challenge.

They couldn't if they tried.