DeBernardis' and Rohe's numbers were up

Who says the number 13 is unlucky?

For two of the best high school baseball players in Lake County this season, 13 represented nothing but good things -- a season home run record, an astonishing number of wins on the mound.

Those achievements, among many others, led to another good thing for Lake Zurich's Joey DeBernardis and Mundelein's Eric Rohe.

More Coverage Links The Lake County All-Area Team

The two talented seniors have been named the honorary co-captains of the Daily Herald's 2008 Lake County all-area baseball team.

Both had monster seasons and it doesn't appear that their good "luck" will be running out any time soon.

DeBernardis, who crushed 13 home runs this season, could get picked in this week's Major League Baseball draft. If not, with a scholarship to Penn State waiting, he's assured of a rock-solid back-up plan.

Meanwhile, Rohe, who was 13-0 before Mundelein lost a heartbreaker when he was pitching in the sectional semifinals, is all set to get his career going at Carthage College, where he'll likely pitch right away.

Here's a closer look at DeBernardis and Rohe and what set them apart this season:

Joey DeBernardis

Just recently, DeBernardis' family hosted a graduation party for him.

Apparently, it was a hotter invitation than DeBernardis could have ever imagined.

"My neighbor came to the party," DeBernardis said. "Her son is in eighth grade and he had a bunch of his friends over and she said they saw my invitation on the fridge and they were all like 'You know Joey DeBernardis? That's awesome. We really look up to him.'

"That makes me feel good. Hopefully, I can keep doing that."

DeBernardis, who pitches and plays the infield, seems to be on the fast track to widespread adoration.

He long ago impressed college scouts with all of his skills, and now the pro scouts have joined the party. More and more showed up each time the Bears played this season.

DeBernardis said he's been told that he could be selected between the seventh and 10th rounds in this week's Major League Baseball draft.

"If the right offer is made, I would probably sign and go into the minors," DeBernardis said. "College would be great, too, but if you go to college and have a bad year or get hurt, you're done. Your dream is over.

"Out of high school, if you can get a great offer, that's a great feeling."

It might make hitting all of those home runs feel rather ordinary -- not that any of them were ordinary at the time they were hit.

In fact, of the nine school records that now bear his name, DeBernardis says he will always be most excited about the home run records.

Not only were his 13 home runs this season a record, so were the 28 home runs he wound up with over his four-year varsity career.

DeBernardis also set a Lake Zurich record for most home runs in an inning. He had two against Antioch.

"It's pretty cool to have those home run records, but the thing is, I wasn't even really looking to hit home runs," DeBernardis said. "I was just hoping to drive guys in and score runs. I was just trying to put the ball in play."

DeBernardis has done that all through his career, but found even more success this year, finishing with an eye-popping .542 batting average. He rolled up 52 hits, including 15 doubles. He also drove in 56 runs.

"I've had a lot of good players who have great junior years and not very good senior years because people know about them by then and they aren't really pitching to them," Lake Zurich coach Gary Simon said. "Guys get mad at that and then don't play very well.

"That didn't happen to Joey. I think it's because he was very patient at the plate. He stayed calm. Every time he came up to bat he was really disciplined. It also helps that he has a superior eye."

His arm isn't half bad either.

DeBernardis went 7-2 on the mound and finished with a 0.82 ERA. His high point came when he threw a no-hitter against Vernon Hills in the North Suburban Conference championship game.

It was the first no-hitter of his career, and likely the last.

DeBernardis likely won't pitch at the next level. Not that he'll mind all that much. He just wants to be at the next level.

"It's my dream to play professionally, and if that doesn't happen right away, I'll go and have a great time in college," DeBernardis said. "I have two good choices. It's definitely an exciting feeling for me right now."

Eric Rohe

Not a country music fan, Mundelein coach Todd Parola used to make fun of Rohe for choosing country music for the weight room during team workouts.

But eventually, the music grew on Parola, and Rohe made him a CD of his 30 favorite country songs.

Parola, who says the CD is actually in his truck right now, joked, "I listen to it when I want to aggravate my wife."

Funny, in a roundabout way, those same songs probably had the same effect on opposing batters this season.

Whenever Rohe pitched at home, country music would blast over the loud speaker before the game and in between innings.

"Some guys on our team don't like country, so it was cool that they still played it when I pitched," Rohe said. "I pretty much don't listen to anything else. I really like country music. It gets me fired up. It gets me going."

And Rohe got going on quite a roll this season.

He won 13 straight games before finishing the season with a loss in the sectional semifinals to a red-hot Buffalo Grove team.

The 13 wins rank him tied for second in the Mundelein record books for most wins in a season. Kyle Zaleski owns the record with 14 wins.

And speaking of records, Rohe's 113 strikeouts in 88 innings rank him among the top four in that category. His 0.95 ERA is also among the all-time best, as are his 13 strikeouts in one game.

"The wins were the best," Rohe said. "That's all I was thinking about out there. 'I've got to get this win. I've got to do my job.'

"My teammates would say, 'We're going to win because Rohe is pitching.' That's a pretty good feeling. I wanted to win for them."

Rohe says he owed his teammates for the pass they gave him on the country music -- and for the way they played behind him this season.

"I think the thing I'm going to remember more than anything about this season, even more than all the wins, was the way my defense worked this year," Rohe said. "They were behind me the whole time. I could always count on them. They were the best team I ever played with."

And yet, Rohe is still excited to move on to his next team. He's ready to get the next chapter of his career started.

Parola says that as the season progressed, major Division I schools began showing interest in Rohe, who had had a relatively quiet junior year and wasn't on many radars early this spring.

"The phone calls were coming in as he started rolling up the wins," Parola said. "When he had his three pitches going, he was tough to hit. And he showed a lot in some big games, getting us wins over Lake Zurich and Prairie Ridge. People got interested.

"But he had decided in the fall where he wanted to go."

Rohe chose Division III Carthage and remains committed.

"The coaches there are awesome and the pitching coach is one of the best in the area," Rohe said of the program at Carthage. "And I didn't want to sit around at a bigger school for two to three years waiting to pitch. I wanted to play right away."

Cue up the country music.