Lake Zurich's 'Joey D' delivers some big 'O'

"Joey D," as Lake Zurich coach Gary Simon likes to refer to star pitcher and infielder Joey DeBernardis, can also play some 'O.'

Earlier this week in an 11-4 victory over Warren, DeBernardis crushed his 10th home run of the season. That puts him just 2 homers shy of the Lake Zurich school record, which is held by another Bear great, Jordin Hood.

Hood is now playing at Northern Illinois.

"Joey has been hitting the ball really well this season," Simon said. "And that's with people not wanting to pitch to him most of the time. I mean, he's seen a lot of junk this season, and a lot of times he ends up getting walked.

"That part is hard for him. He just wants to hit the ball so badly. But he's held up pretty well."

Speaking of holding up, one of DeBernardis' hard hits got held up pretty good in the cavernous ceiling space of Miller Park in Milwaukee.

The Bears were there recently to play a special promotional game against a high school team from Wisconsin.

"Joey really got a hold of one," Simon said. "He got right under the ball and hit it so hard that it nearly hit the ceiling. That thing was up in the air at least 10 seconds, I swear. The (outfielder) caught it on the warning track so Joey didn't get a homer out of it, but it was still amazing."

Step right up: You wouldn't know it, based on its 20-5 record, but in the span of one week recently Lake Zurich lost two starters.

One was to a suspension and the other was to an injury. Standout shortstop Tanner Witt had surgery last week for a rare condition in his shoulder that was causing clotting.

"I was about ready to go crazy," Lake Zurich coach Gary Simon said of the string of bad luck. "That's a tough blow to any team to lose two starters."

But now, Simon is rethinking his need for a spot at the funny farm.

Three players -- Reid Bergstrom, Peter Romanello and Mike Miller -- have surpassed expectations in their effort to fill the vacated spots at shortstop and in the outfield.

"When all this started happening, we (the coaches) just told the guys that we were going to have to have people step up, and we have," Simon said. "Guys like Reid and Peter and Mike have done a great job for us."

Simon says that Romanello is a true utility player and can jump in anywhere from third base to second base to shortstop to the outfield.

Meanwhile, Miller has logged quite a bit of time in the outfield and Bergstrom is making shortstop his own.

"We got to the Final Eight in the summer state tournament last year and more than anything, our guys are determined to get back to playing (in a state series)," Simon said. "We know that to do that we can't mope about (losing two starters). We just have to keep going and play hard."

Typical parent: When coaches coach their own kids, it's often difficult for them to enjoy the experience in a way that most parents do because they've got too many other things on their minds.

But in one way, Lake Zurich coach Gary Simon is just like a typical parent when his son Brock takes the mound to pitch.

"I'm just completely nervous," Simon said. "It's hard for me to watch. It's completely different when someone else's son is on the mound. As a parent, you're just on pins and needles hoping that everything goes well."

So far, so good.

After sitting out pretty much his entire junior year with an injury to his thumb that required surgery, Simon seems to be making up for lost time. He's become one of the Bears' most reliable pitchers this season and is coming off a big win over Warren in which he struck out seven batters.

He also got himself out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth inning by striking out the side.

"No one has really hit him this season," Simon said. "Brock is really doing a great job for us."

History lesson: As of Wednesday, Stevenson was 12-13 and had just four more regular season games left.

Do the math and that means that unless the Patriots go on an extended run through the playoffs, they'll finish with fewer than 20 wins ... for the first time in 23 years.

In 1985, Stevenson finished with a 16-14 record. From then until last season, the Patriots had rolled up 19 20-win seasons and three 30-win seasons.

"After we lost to Mundelein (last weekend), I threw that out to the guys," said first-year Stevenson coach Paul Mazzuca, who had the unenviable task of following it the footsteps of 30-year coaching legend Bob Mackey. "I told them that this was their legacy, and that they needed to be ready (for the playoffs).

"I told them (the playoffs) was their chance to forget about the previous part of our season and just go out and play. Pretend that you're 7 years old again and just go out and play baseball like you have nothing to lose."

Growing up: Part of Stevenson's struggles this year can be attributed to the inexperience of a fairly young pitching staff.

Three of the team's top pitchers -- Matt Robin, Brad Sorkin and Kyle Ruchim -- are new to the varsity this season. Robin and Sorkin are both juniors and Ruchim is just a sophomore.

"The one positive that I've seen in the last couple of weeks has been the maturation of those guys," Stevenson coach Paul Mazzuca said. "They were all pretty inconsistent early in the season. They looked like they were just really feeling their way, cautious, not trusting their stuff, afraid to get hit.

"But they've really started to come around, and better late than never. Brad pitched a nice game against Vernon Hills, Robin had a great game against Lake Forest and Kyle held Mundelein to just one run. The silver lining for us is that as we wind down here, our pitchers are really gaining some great experience."

And Mazzuca is confident that his young guns could a lot more experience before the season is over.

"I feel like with the way our guys are throwing right now, we honestly have the ability to be one of the four sectional teams," Mazzuca said. "We just need to be more consistent all the way around -- and that includes our hitting and our fielding. But if we don't do that, we could just as easily be a team that loses our first (tournament) game."

Back-to-back: It was "Wow!" then "Oww!" last week for Warren junior Chad Johnson.

Johnson belted a 3-run home run against Libertyville only to tweak his already tender back on the very first pitch of his next at-bat.

Now, Johnson is back to playing in pain.

He had been doing that since Warren's Spring Break trip to downstate Illinois, where he started off strong but injured his back on a hard swing.

Only recently the pain started to subside.

"Here we thought that Chad was getting back to normal and that he would be able to play without some of that pain," Warren coach Clint Smothers said. "And then he tweaks it again. You've just got to feel so bad for the kid."

But Johnson is throwing no pity parties for himself.

Just like the first time he injured his back, Johnson is determined to continue playing -- and pitching. Johnson is also a starter for the Blue Devils.

"You just have to give Chad so much credit," Smothers said. "You know he's in pain, but he's out there giving it 100 percent. He just wants to be playing."

What a pro: There's a reason Eric Lopez has been made a designated hitter for Lakes.

Hitting is his specialty.

And learning about hitting seems to be his passion.

"I almost liken Eric to a pro hitter," Lakes coach Mark Tschappat said. "That's what he does and he does it well, and he takes it extremely seriously."

Tschappat said that Lopez studies his at-bats closely and will make thoughtful adjustments during the course of a game instead of waiting until practice to try out a new approach.

"A lot of kids will just get up there and hope for the best, hope they just hit the ball," Tschappat said. "Eric really thinks his at-bats through. He's thinking about what he should be looking for, how to adjust. He also works with the coaches really well.

"One time we were playing Wauconda and he struck out when we had a runner on third. We told him, don't worry about pulling the ball every time, just get the ball in play because we could have gotten a run that time. You could tell he really took that seriously and in the next situation, he put the ball in play."

Schedule mania: The wacky and sometimes relentless weather of the spring continues to spawn stories of less-than-ideal scheduling circumstances for area baseball teams.

Mostly, teams have had to adjust to a compact schedule that has forced them to play 6 or 7 games a week in order to make up for all the games that were rained out or snowed out earlier in the season.

At Grant, the scheduling mess goes one layer deeper.

With five North Suburban Prairie Division games scheduled this week, the Bulldogs have now managed to play 10 of their 12 division games in a span of just two weeks.

Talk about little room for error.

"Having it work out that way isn't very good luck, that's for sure," Grant coach Mike Mizwicki said. "The only way that works for you is if you happen to be really hot during those two weeks. Plus, it's a challenge for your pitching staff. Most high school teams don't have pitching staffs that are that deep and can handle that many games in a short amount of time."