Stevenson’s Greenspon nearly gets a no-no

The no-no was so, so close.

In fact, Isaac Greenspon was about as close as a pitcher can get to earning a no-hitter without actually doing so.

The Stevenson senior sparkled last week against Libertyville and had progressed all the way to the seventh inning without giving up a hit.

He moved even closer to the milestone by forcing Libertyville into two quick seventh-inning outs. On the next batter, he had battled to a full count.

Greenspon needed to fire in just one more strike and the no-hitter would be his.

“He gave up a single,” Stevenson coach Paul Mazzuca said with a heartfelt sigh. “The kid (from Libertyville) got a hold of it. It was a good hit.

“You could hear this collective groan at the ballpark. Everyone knew the no-hitter was at stake, everyone wanted him to get it. That was a tough way to go for Isaac. I don’t think I’ve ever had a kid get that close to a no-hitter.”

Greenspon kept his wits about him, despite the disappointment.

He retired Libertyville’s next batter so that Stevenson could preserve the win.

“Isaac was fine about it,” said Mazzuca, whose team was 8-2 through Wednesday’s games. “He handled it real well. He’s come out since then and thrown a 2-hitter against Zion-Benton. He’s doing just fine.”

The last Stevenson pitcher to record a no-hitter was Matt Robin, who threw a 5-inning no-hitter against Hersey two years ago as a senior.

Back on track: Isaac Greenspon’s near no-hitter against Libertyville last week was impressive in and of itself.

But that effort, and his team-best 3-0 mark on the season, is even more noteworthy considering that he was out most of last year with serious back problems.

“Isaac basically had a cracked vertebrae last year,” Stevenson coach Paul Mazzuca said. “Any time you have back issues, you never know what’s going to happen. But he did really well in therapy and is doing well now. He has good stuff.

“Isaac and Dalsen (Ferbert, who is 2-0) are really anchoring our pitching staff nicely.”

Good cause: No matter which team comes out victorious in next week’s two-game North Suburban Lake Division series between Stevenson and Lake Forest, there will be a feel-good atmosphere in the air.

Stevenson and Lake Forest have teamed up to conduct a two-day food drive to benefit the Lake County Food Pantry.

Fans who come to each game, one at Lake Forest (Wednesday) and one at Stevenson (Thursday), are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items for donation. The players and coaches are also participating in the drive.

“We’ll have boxes for the drop-offs set up at each field and we hope to get a lot of people participating,” Stevenson coach Paul Mazzuca said. “One of our parents, June Daar, organized the whole thing. She’s the president of our booster club and we’ve always wanted to do something like this. We want to give back.”

Mazzuca says he expects his players to gain as much from the food drive as the recipients at the food pantry.

“For our kids, it’s important to them to be good baseball players,” Mazzuca said. “But we want our kids to know that it’s even more important to be good people.”

Summer job: According to the old adage, athletes are made in the summertime.

In other words, many gains can be made during the off-season when school is out of session and athletes can devote themselves to training hard for hours every day.

At Round Lake, that idea has caught on only recently. But third-year head coach Ed Adamson believes his program is already starting to see the benefits.

The Panthers were 1-5 as of Wednesday, but, even with a young team, were in position to win four of the five games they lost.

“The kids are seeing they can compete with every team now,” Adamson said. “I don’t know if they always believed that in the past.”

That’s because in the past, the baseball community was very different in Round Lake, especially in the summer.

Even as recently as two years ago, it was difficult for the Panthers to play baseball together during the summer. Unlike many communities, Round Lake lacked a travel team program geared toward junior high and high school players.

That left players such as pitcher Chris Rana, who clamored for the extra competition, in a bind. Two summers ago, Rana, who leads the Panthers in hitting, had to travel to Buffalo Grove in order to play on a summer team. But many of his Round Lake teammates weren’t able to commit to that kind of a commute, so they simply didn’t play.

Last year, Round Lake parent Robert Sanchez decided it was time for a change. He started a travel team in Round Lake called the Lake County Panthers. It has been a blessing to Adamson.

“If you look at all the successful programs around here, they all have feeder programs and travel teams for the older kids to play on and we didn’t have that,” Adamson said. “Our athletes just weren’t playing. We’d have freshmen coming in who had never really played baseball before.

“Now, we’re going to have players coming in with a little more knowledge about the game and better skills. We’re already starting to see some of that.”

One of Adamson’s best players this year is freshman Ryan Newman, a pitcher and outfielder with travel team experience.

“You don’t expect a freshman to have the kind of impact he’s had right away,” Adamson said of Newman. “But Ryan is a great athlete and he came in with a lot of experience.”

Digging deep: It hasn’t been an easy start to the season at Warren.

But you’d barely know it.

The Blue Devils were 8-4 after Wednesday and had gotten wins over tough teams such as Carmel, Prospect and McHenry.

Not bad, considering that Warren had yet to play with the same lineup all season.

“With all the adversity that we’ve seen so far this season, I think we’re doing pretty well to be 8-4,” Warren coach Clint Smothers said. “We’ve had a lot of things come up where it’s just been one thing after another.”

Warren’s problems started during the first week of practice when right fielder and projected lead-off hitter Adam Glogovsky got extremely sick.

“We thought it was the flu, he was so, so sick,” Smothers said. “But it got worse and eventually he was taken to the ICU of Children’s Memorial Hospital downtown.”

It was determined that Glogovsky had a virus on his heart. He spent three days in the hospital and has been recuperating since.

His absence forced Smothers to make all kinds of changes to the lineup.

In recent days, third baseman Kevin Colburn, one of the best hitters on the team, has been thrown off his game because of discomfort in his right arm.

“I think he has a strain or something,” Smothers said of Colburn. “We’ve just put him at DH but even that has bothered him, so he’s going to have to be out for a few days.

“It’s a blow to us because Kevin is great in the field and had started the season going 20-for-28 at the plate. So, more adversity.”

Stepping up: There is silver lining to the adversity that Warren has faced.

The Blue Devils have seen some other players step up their games. Anthony Garza, for example, was slotted to bat at No. 6, 7 or 8 prior to the season. But he’s taken over lead-off for Adam Glogovsky, who has been out ill.

“Anthony has been such a nice surprise for us,” Smothers said. “He’s quick, he’s aggressive on the bases and he usually doesn’t swing at bad pitches. He’s stepped in and been really impressive.

“We’re telling all the guys that they need to be ready to step in like that because you never know when we’ll need them. We haven’t had our full lineup go yet, haven’t even been close. So all our guys need to be ready to play.”

Cool customers: How’s this for fortitude?

Warren was down to a tough Prospect team 3-0 entering the seventh inning on Monday.

The Blue Devils put up 6 runs in the seventh to win the game 6-3.

The pitching Warren got from senior Ryan Kennedy was just as clutch as the 11th-hour offense.

“He threw a great game for us,” Smothers said of Kennedy. “He’s been so consistent all season. He’s 4-1 on the mound and has been throwing so well.

“I think the best part of the way he’s playing is his composure. He’s really improved on that over the years and he’s just so calm on the mound.”

Throwing and catching: Catching is Nick Fanella’s specialty.

And he’s proven to be the best catcher on his team.

But the Grant sophomore won’t start every game behind the plate.

That’s because Fanella also brings a lot to the table when it comes to pitching. He’s one of the Bulldogs’ top three pitchers.

And now that Tyler Gorski has become more comfortable in his role as back-up catcher, Fanella can be used more on the mound.

“Nick is such a good catcher, but we definitely need to get him more opportunities to pitch,” Grant coach Dave Behm said. “We just have to be careful with him because pitching and catching is a lot, especially for a sophomore who is still learning.

“We’re probably going to have to get him a day off every now and then because that’s a lot of work on your arm to pitch and then turn around and catch.”

Youth movement: Grant starts five players who are either freshmen or sophomores.

Only two players on the roster are seniors.

But seniors John Schenning and Nick Kutis aren’t feeling left behind in the Bulldogs’ exciting youth movement. In fact, they’re out in front trumpeting the horns.

“Those two have been great leaders for us,” Grant coach Dave Behm said of Schenning and Kutis. “They’ve bought into what we’re doing with this program and they’re very unselfish. They want us to do well as a whole.

“They see that we’re relying a lot on the young guys, and that’s not always easy for seniors (to accept). But they have done everything they can to help the young guys blossom.”

In the meantime, Schenning and Kutis have been shining bright as well.

Kutis is one of Grant’s top pitchers and Schenning, a valuable utility player, went 3-for-4 at the plate in a game earlier this week.

That hurts: Amazingly, Nick Hibbing made the catch.

Hibbing, Lakes’ star pitcher who has already signed with Iowa, was playing center field in the Eagles’ nonconference game against Grayslake Central on Monday. While tracking a flyball, he collided with the Eagles’ left fielder.

Hibbing made the catch, but also made a trip to the doctor after the game.

“He was having some minor concussion symptoms, and you have to be careful with that,” Lakes coach Ray Gialo said. “So we’ve kept him out for a few days.”

Hibbing, who hit 90 mph on the gun several times while pitching in his last appearance on Saturday, missed Wednesday’s start against Vernon Hills. He is 2-1 on the mound and expected to be available for his next start in the coming days.