Stevenson, Carmel set for doubleheader

While an exciting trip out of state for Spring Break wasn't in the cards for either Stevenson or Carmel, an early-season clash against a storied program should help fill the void.

That will happen on Saturday, when Stevenson and Carmel face-each other. The showdown at Carmel will be a doubleheader that will get under way at 11 a.m.

"It will be quite a matchup," first-year Carmel coach Joe May said. "Stevenson always runs a strong program. The players there are so invested in the program that success seems fairly automatic with them.

"You could probably say the same thing about our program in the past."

Both teams have gotten off to their typical strong starts.

Through Wednesday's games, Stevenson was 4-0 and Carmel was 2-2 after starting off with two straight losses.

"Our kids are really looking forward to the Stevenson games," May said. "We're 2-2 and we've played four pretty good teams. But this is a game that you can really pull out the barometer to see what we've got so far."

May says the strength of his team is an experienced, senior-laden lineup, which, ironically enough, is also Stevenson's bread and butter.

The Patriots feature eight seniors in the lineup. Carmel boasts 10 seniors that have been playing together since freshman year.

"Six of those guys were starting together last year as juniors," May said. "It's a very close-knit group. The fact that they have all that playing time and experience together is invaluable."

Both teams are also hitting well, too.

Carmel scored 15 runs on 16 hits against Prairie Ridge on Wednesday while Stevenson scored 11 on Palatine on 16 hits.

"We're expecting a good game and we're really looking forward to it," Stevenson outfielder Korey Cutler said. "We split with Carmel last year and in the summer, they knocked us out of the playoffs. It was close, but we lost. We're looking forward to playing them again."

Against the grain: Usually this early in the season, pitching is out-pacing hitting.

Hitters haven't typically found their groove yet, mainly because they're still getting used to seeing live pitching after a winter's worth of work in the cages.

But this spring, a lot of hitters have shot out of the gates and are making contact like it's June.

For example, at Carmel, Jimmy Spagna, Kyle Bessa and Alex May are all hitting better than .500.

"We're so happy to see that," Carmel coach Joe May said. "They've started off hot and you don't always have that. Generally, hitting is behind pitching so I'm hoping that this might be an indicator of something we can build on.

"I'm hoping that it means our hitters are already feeling comfortable at the plate and that will just keep getting better as the season goes along."

May says that one trick he's used in these early weeks is calling for a lot of "small ball."

"We've been doing a lot of hit and run and when you do that, sometimes it takes the pressure off the hitter to make his own decisions about what he needs to do at the plate," May said. "Sometimes we just tell them, 'You've got to swing on this one.' After awhile, they start to get more confident and comfortable and that really gets them going."

Baseball 24/7: Another hitter who started putting up big numbers immediately is Grant's Jeremy Wiker.

He's hitting .600 and is 6-for-7 in his last two games, which includes a home run in each contest.

"Last year, Jeremy hit .333, which isn't a bad year at all," Grant coach Dave Behm said. "But we knew Jeremy could hit even better and he knew that he could hit better so he worked and worked all summer."

Not that it was a stretch for Wiker to be so dedicated. He's been paying his dues for quite some time now.

"Jeremy is a baseball junkie anyway," Behm said. "He's always talking about baseball, he's always thinking about baseball and he's always playing. Over the summer, he'll play a double header (with a travel team) and then come and play with us later in the day."

Coke is No. 1: With a solid performance in each of his two starts this season, Justin Cokefair has given the Grant pitching staff some much-needed direction.

Having lost their top pitcher from last year to graduation, the pitching rotation was a bit of a question mark heading into this season.

"We needed to establish that ace, we needed to have that guy we knew could pitch the big games and I feel like we have that now," Grant coach Dave Behm said. "I told Justin before the season that I really wanted to be able to rely on his arm this year and he's done really well so far. That's been a bright spot for us."

Cokefair has a win over Richmond-Burton and tie against Barrington. He's totaled 18 strikeouts so far, 10 against Barrington and 8 against Richmond Burton. He's also given up only 3 earned runs.

Been there, done that: Unfortunately, Grant coach Dave Behm knows the feeling.

Or, maybe fortunately.

Behm was able to comfort his players based on personal experience Wednesday after they got drilled by West Chicago. The Bulldogs lost 24-5 in a game that went from bad to worse.

"Once they started hitting the ball, everyone in their dugout just relaxed and they starting hitting the ball even better," Behm said of West Chicago. "Our starter, Thomas Gier, got an out and the he gave up 10 earned runs. It was just really tough."

Behm would know.

He experienced a similar situation when he was pitching in college at Judson University in Elgin.

"I told the guys that days like that can happen and then I told them a story of when I was pitching in this big conference game in college," said Behm, who is a Grant alum. "I had gotten two outs in the first inning but then I gave up eight straight runs.

"We didn't have a lot of pitching so I had to stay out there. It wasn't fun. But you bounce back and hopefully we can, too."

King of the hill: Call Stevenson pitcher Greg Kingery Mr. Efficient.

He notched a win over Cary-Grove over the weekend and didn't waste a minute getting it.

"He threw a complete game but his pitch count was very low," Stevenson coach Paul Mazzuca said. "He didn't waste any pitches, and to me, that's more important than striking guys out.

"Greg didn't get many innings last year, so he was very much an unproven going into the year. You have no idea what a pleasant surprise he's been for us."

Four of a kind: The four pitchers who have gotten the bulk of the innings thus far for Wauconda all have something in common.

Everything.

"They all are pretty much the same," Wauconda coach Bill Sliker said of Danny Tanzillo, Erik Maki, Jeremy Wagner and Tim Matesi. "They all compete really well, they're all throwing strikes and they all do a really good job of limiting walks."

Sliker wasn't sure on the exact number, but he said that the Bulldogs have barely walked anyone this season.

"We might have one walk a game," Sliker said. "This early in the season, that's pretty good."