Cook County baseball notes: Conant’s Szpiganowicz earns exciting opportunity playing international baseball
With the popularity of the World Baseball Classic, more countries are looking ahead with the hopes of qualifying.
Many of those countries are reaching into the United States for skilled and seasoned players to aid in that quest.
Conant’s Jacob Szpiganowicz has been tapped by Poland to be one of those players.
Szpiganowicz, who is a three-year starter for the Cougars, has been invited to play on Poland’s under 18 team that will play in Italy. Szpiganowicz will then stay in Europe and play for Poland’s under 23 team that will be competing in Germany.
“It's pretty cool because they're directly linked with the WBC,” Szpiganowicz said. “They are trying to qualify for that. So, I'm able to go to my country, home country, and provide and help them get points to qualify for that tournament. So, I'm able to go to my home country and provide and help them get points to qualify for that tournament.”
Szpiganowicz’ mother Agnes was born in Poland and moved to the United States. She has dual citizenship and still has relatives that live in Poland.
“I have family that live in Poland,” Szpiganowicz said. “They knew a player over there, and literally, just by talking about me, told that player that they had a cousin that lives in America and plays baseball. That just got the ball rolling.”
It was like a slow grounder for Szpiganowicz to begin with. The high school senior had to apply for dual citizenship, a process that took about 10 months. Szpiganowicz received his dual citizenship about six weeks ago.
“I think it's amazing, “Szpiganowicz said. “And I'm also able to show some of these guys what it's like to play baseball in America. Like how we play and how the style here is a little bit different. All that kind of stuff should be quite the experience.”
Szpiganowicz was a second baseman for Conant’s state runner-up team in 2024. He then moved back to his normal catcher position last season.
“Wherever they need me,” said Szpiganowicz, who is hitting .338 with two homers and 21 RBI. “I am excited to finish my season with my teammates here and then begin my new opportunity.”
Szpiganowicz leaves for Poland in early July. He will play in Italy first and then in Germany before returning back to the U.S. and enrolling at Milwaukee Area Technical College where he will play junior college baseball for the Stormers.
“He has been a great leader for us,” Conant coach Derek Fivelson said. “He is a three-year starter and has done a great job at catcher the last two years. He works really hard to be the best baseball player he can be.”
MSL playoffs: With just two weeks remaining in the regular season in the Mid-Suburban League, divisional races are up for grabs.
Add to that the new format for the MSL playoffs and the race is truly wide open.
This season, the MSL opted to change its divisional makeup in every sport. That realignment was based on a three-year history for each sport. The only sport not realigned was football.
That change brought Prospect and defending MSL champion Hersey to the West and moved Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates to the East. To ensure competitive balance for the championship game, it was also determined that the top two teams in each division would qualify for a playoff.
The top team from each division will cross over and play the second-place team from the other division. Those games are scheduled for Monday, May 18. The winners will then meet May 21 at the East site, provided that an East team wins an opening round game.
Barrington athletic director and MSL baseball representative Ryan Rubenstein said the changes made to baseball are in line with what has been determined for other sports.
“The change is part of the two-year pilot of competitive realignment in the Mid-Suburban League,” Rubenstein said. “Softball, soccer, and a few other sports have done the same thing this year.”
Through Tuesday, the West was truly wild. Barrington leads the division at 5-2. Palatine and Prospect are both 4-3 with the teams playing each other this week. Hersey and Fremd are 3-4 and Conant is 2-5.
Over in the East, Rolling Meadows leads the division at 6-1. Schaumburg and Buffalo Grove are each 5-2. Wheeling is 3-4, Elk Grove is 2-5 and Hoffman Estates is 0-7.
CSL leaders: Also through Tuesday, Maine South (14-9) leads the South Division. The Hawks are 8-2 in division play and lead Glenbrook South and Glenbrook North, who are both 5-4. Maine South picked up a key win this past week when Nate Cera hit a two-run inside-the-park home run to cement a win over Glenbrook North.
Maine South (15-10) has five conference games remaining with two against Deerfield and three with New Trier. Should the Hawks remain in the lead, it would be their first division title since 2023 when they had their last of three consecutive division titles.
A division title would move the Hawks into the CSL title game May 18 against the North Division winner. Currently, Highland Park lead the division at 9-1 with area teams Maine West at 2-8 and Maine East at 1-9.
Playoff seeding: Next week, coaches will submit their seeds for the state tournament by May 11. The seeds will be released the next day and pairings May 14.
Opening games for both 3A and 4A are scheduled to begin Monday, May 25, which is Memorial Day. The regional finals will be May 30. Sectionals will follow next week with the sectional finals on June 6. The state finals will be June 12-13 in Joliet.
Nearly all of the MSL schools will play in a yet unnamed sectional field and site. Buffalo Grove, Hoffman Estates and Palatine will host regionals along with a fourth school yet to be determined.
Barrington will be the only MSL school not to compete in this sectional. The Broncos will host a regional that will feed into the McHenry sectional.
Maine South will host a regional in the Bartlett sectional. Leyden, Maine East and Maine West will also compete in that sectional.
St. Viator will be in 3A. The Lions will compete in the Grayslake Central sectional.