Batavia's Holm reflects on milestone
When Batavia beat Rochelle a week ago to give coach Matt Holm his 300th win with the Bulldogs, it was a day the long-time coach didn't ever see coming.
Holm had just told his team a story about when he broke into coaching and the Bulldogs were playing at St. Charles, then under the direction of current St. Charles North interim assistant athletic director Wayne DeMaar.
St. Charles beat Batavia that day, a win that gave DeMaar 300 in his career.
"At the time I was thinking, 'Darn Wayne, oh man 300, I don't know if I'll be around that long.' Eighteen seasons later..."
Holm is proud of what Batavia baseball has become under his watch. You can tell it not only with seasons like 2004 when they made the state tournament at Elfstrom Stadium or last year's program-record 30-win season, but with the new group of young players on this year's team trying to live up to what the players before them have accomplished.
"Personally for me there is a longevity goal and taking the program from something that was really rough when I took over and turning it into something," Holm said. "I think that's one reason the guys have so much stress is they want to compete, they want to play, they want to do well for the Bulldogs. That's what we want."
Heads up: Holm said it hasn't been hard to keep a positive attitude, even after the Bulldogs have suffered their share of tough losses this year.
"They come back and fight every day," Holm said. "Spirits are good. Our biggest thing is responding to negatives in the course of a game. Typically those things happen early and we play well in later innings."
Junior third baseman Nick Beltrano, who hit the game-winning home run Wednesday in a 9-8 win over DeKalb, said the starting lineup filled with juniors and a pair of sophomores has plenty of talent but is still adjusting to varsity baseball.
"We are young, we are kind of stressed out on the field but I know we can jell as a team," Beltrano said. "There's enough talent. We all know we can play baseball. It's like a whole new situation up on the varsity. We just have to not think about it so much and just play like we can play."
On fire: St. Charles East junior Wes Benjamin extended his unearned runs streak to 28 innings with Tuesday's win over Neuqua Valley. Perhaps most impressive is the quality of teams he's doing it against, the last two wins coming against the Wildcats and Waubonsie Valley.
Saints senior third baseman Ryan O'Dell certainly has been impressed.
"He's our ace, we know with him pitching we're not going to have to go out and score 10 runs," O'Dell said. "He can keep the game in check, he can control the tempo of the game. Especially for a junior he is really mature."
After hitting second last year, O'Dell has found himself in the cleanup spot - not that it changes his approach at the plate.
"It doesn't matter to me," O'Dell said. "I just try and hit the ball hard somewhere regaurdless of where you are in the lineup. You want to drive in runs and help the team anyway you can."
After Friday's 11-5 win at Bartlett, the Saints stand at 10-4, 4-2 in the first year under coach Dave Haskins.
"I'm very pleased, extremely happy," Haskins said. "We had to make a lot of adjustments in coaching philosophy, playing philosphy. The seniros have responded well. We are playing good baseball."
UEC preview: When St. Charles North takes its 10-2 record to Geneva today to play the 9-5 Vikings, it's a preview of what we'll see a lot more of next spring.
With Geneva and Batavia are joining the Upstate Eight next year, this matchup will mean even more. The teams are scheduled to play two games Saturday, with the second game a JV game.