Argianas, Mazza extend an infield tradition
The lineage of the Vernon Hills baseball team reads a lot like the lineage of two well-known families in town.
The names Argianas and Mazza are all over the place.
Five cousins — two Argianas boys and three Mazza boys — have played baseball at Vernon Hills in the school’s short 11-year history. And all five rank among the very best players to ever pass through.
With senior shortstop Chris Argianas and senior second baseman Anthony Mazza representing the last of the male cousins in either family, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that this season marks the end of an era at Vernon Hills.
The Cougars are making the most of their last hurrah with an Argianas or a Mazza on the roster. They’ve run out to an 11-3 start.
“I guess I’ve never thought of it that way before, with this being the end of an era,” Chris Argianas said. “It will be weird when it’s all over this year and there will be no more of us.”
There has been a Mazza or an Argianas in the program for each of the last eight years. Sometimes both at once.
It all started with Mike Mazza, a talented utility player who graduated from Vernon Hills in 2006.
His brother Nick and their cousin Mark Argianas were freshmen when Mike was a senior. Nick, a shortstop, and Mark, a second baseman, eventually formed the most formidable middle infield in school history.
That is, until Chris Argianas and Anthony Mazza came along.
Chris is Mark’s younger brother. Anthony is cousins with Nick and Mike Mazza, and is a second cousin to Chris and Mark Argianas.
Confused yet?
All you need to know is that the boys are all related in some way, and they’re all competitive in every way.
The debate on which shortstop/second baseman duo ranks best in Vernon Hills lore — Nick and Mark or Chris and Anthony — will rage on at family gatherings from here to eternity.
“We get together for family parties, graduations, big events like that, so we see each other a lot and we’re always competitive about stuff like that,” Anthony Mazza said. “The whole thing about who is the best middle infield actually came up at our team banquet last year.
“Coach (Jay) Czarnecki talked about how Chris and I were one of the best middle infield combos he had ever had. We went up to Nick and Mark and told them that Coach said that we were the best and they got all mad.
“They kept saying you can’t compare because we played at different times.”
One comparison that is fair to make is how proficient each middle infield is/was at double plays.
Nick Mazza and Mark Argianas finished with 12 double plays as seniors during the 2009 season. Impressive.
But already in 2011, Chris Argianas and Anthony Mazza have rolled up 13 double plays. And there is still more than six weeks left in the season.
Opening the season with a whopping 4 double plays in their first game certainly set the tone.
“Anthony and I work on double plays all the time in practice,” Chris Argianas said. “And we’ve been playing together for more than 10 years, ever since our first year in T-ball when our dads were the coaches.
“We just have a lot of chemistry and good timing. Because we’ve been playing together for so long, the way we communicate with each other and the way we read each other just comes naturally.”
It’s almost as if Chris and Anthony are family or something.
Oh wait, they are.
“Growing up having all these cousins around was so fun,” Anthony Mazza said. “We’ve all been involved in sports, especially baseball. At family parties, we were always outside playing Wiffle Ball and it was pretty competitive. The older guys would always win, but the younger guys were always trying hard to get one from them.”
That’s how things have worked at school, too.
The younger Argianas and Mazza boys have always had someone in the family to measure up to, a legacy to chase.
“Anthony and I always wanted to be just as good as Nick and Mark, and they wanted to be just as good as Mike,” said Chris Argianas, who was moved up to varsity as a sophomore two years ago and got to play a season with Nick and Mark, who were seniors at the time. “I’ve always looked up to all those guys. I always wanted to be just like them.”
Or better.
“Being in a family like this makes me want to be the best I can be,” Anthony Mazza said. “Mike and Nick and Mark…they all left a legacy at Vernon Hills and Chris and I want to live up to that.”
pbabcock@dailyherald.com