Brown's book helps statisticians; Ladendorf climbs to .560

There is an old saying in sports that statistics are for losers.

Your team continually loses, so you point to statistics to show how they are actually better than their record, but just keep losing

Statistics enable different people using the same figures to draw different conclusions.

However, statistics will always be a big part of sports, and Mike Brown, statistician for the Fremd football program for the past 15 years, feels there's a need for uniformity in the process.

Brown has designed a football statistics book -- Sideline Statistics -- that can be used at high school and youth football games.

"It's a combination of the best tools I've used over the 15 years at Fremd," Brown said. "It can be easily used by an assistant coach, student manager or volunteer.

"The book has pages for 14 games, just the amount needed to get to Champaign, and can keep track of the most important offensive and defensive stats, possession summaries, game summaries and a season summary."

The book sells for $10, and you can e-mail Brown at sidelinestats@gmail.com if interested in ordering.

Baseball

After going 10-for-16 over the weekend, Tyler Ladendorf (Maine West) of Howard College (Big Spring, Texas) has increased his average to .560 (79-for-141). He now has 25 doubles, 5 triples, 12 home runs and 69 RBI and has stolen 24 bases in 25 attempts.

Howard has a 41-7 mark and is ranked No. 2 and No. 4 in the two national junior college baseball polls.

Ladendorf, who will be eligible for the major-league draft in June, has signed with the University of Oklahoma and invited to the Cape Cod Collegiate Wood Bat League.

• Freshman Jason Ganek (Hersey) of the University of Illinois Chicago is hitting .303 for 34 games and ranks second in RBI with 27.

• Carthage College's Josh Weaver (Leyden) was named CCIW Pitcher of the Week.

Also for Carthage, third baseman Steve Herzau (Elk Grove) is hitting .386 for ninth in the CCIW, and pitcher Trace Ruffie (Hersey) is second in earned run average (1.85) and third in strikeouts.

• Freshman first baseman Ryan O'Gara (Buffalo Grove) of Valparaiso had 3 hits and drove in 2 runs against Illinois Chicago.

• After 31 games, J.D. Rotzoll (Prospect) leads Concordia University Chicago in hitting at .398. He has 15 doubles, 3 triples, 4 homers and 34 RBI. Pitcher Carl Petersen (Maine West) is 4-2 with 33 strikeouts and only 5 walks in 43.1 innings and a 3.12 ERA.

• Ryan Myers and Sean Walker are in a giving mood.

The Carmel High School products want to give back to an area where they grew up and starred in baseball.

Myers and Walker will be conducting an instructional program in Lake County for pitchers and catchers until May 6 with 8-10 lessons that will provide feedback, video and drills to continue a player's development.

Myers, the pitcher, and Walker, the catcher, received numerous honors at Carmel from all-conference to all-state.

Myers went to Northwestern and was in the starting rotation for three years. In one game he struck out 15 batters in 6¿ innings.

Walker was a four-year starter at Michigan State as both a catcher and first baseman.

Myers and Walker now play professional baseball for the Oakland County (Mich.) Cruisers of the Frontier League.

For information on this special instruction, call Myers at (847) 219-6771.

Track and field

Abe Jones (Rolling Meadows), who is training at the University of Illinois, broke a 12-year-old record Saturday in the 400-meter hurdles at the Kansas Relays. Competing at the college level, he turned in a 50.04 clocking and now will run this week-end in the Drake Relays as he continues to prepare for the Olympic Trials in June.

• Tim Chybicki (Rolling Meadows) of Western Illinois won the javelin (171-7) in the Lee Calhoun Memorial.

• University of Chicago freshman Arthur Baptist (Prospect) won the 10,000-meter run (32.05) at the University Athletic Association 2008 Outdoor Track and Field Championship.

Softball

Junior shortstop Jen Jacobson (Conant) of the University of Chicago was named the University Athletic Association Athlete of the Week. She went 10-for-13 in four games to extend her hitting streak to 17 games, a school record, and raise her average to .556.

• Katy Gannon (St. Viator) of Saint Mary's University (Winona, Minn.) went 6-for-8 with 5 runs scored and her third career home run in a conference doubleheader with Augsburg.

Volleyball

Shawn Voelz (Elk Grove) and Matt Martin (Conant) were starters on the Lakeland College (Sheboygan, Wis.) volleyball team that won the national championship in Dallas. They beat the University of Illinois in the title game 28-26, 25-23. Lakeland (52-8) won the Wisconsin Volleyball Conference.

Water polo

Carthage College went 5-0 and won the Midwest Regional Championship and Midwest Tournament Championship in women's water polo, receiving an automatic bid to the Division III tourney. They also cracked the top 10 in the DIII rankings.

Local players on the current roster are Patti Blatter (Wheeling), Liza Dickinson (Mundelein), Kaitlin Duke (Hoffman Estates), Emily and Rose Schiavone (Prospect), Anna Kordek and Jessica Shopiro (Stevenson).

Soccer

Keri Hess (Schaumburg) of Augustana College received the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Merle Chapman Leadership Award. The award is based on loyalty, enthusiasm and commitment to academic, athletic and personal excellence, leadership and sportsmanship.

Catholic League

The 48th annual Chicago Catholic League Hall of Fame dinner and induction will be held Thursday, May 1 at Crystal Sky Banquets, 7941 W. 47th St., McCook.

The reception will be at 6 p.m. with dinner at 7 p.m. The induction ceremony follows the dinner.

The 2008 Hall of Famers are Brad Bomba (Mt. Carmel); Dick Caldarazzo (Fenwick); Bill Gleeson, Pete Mackanin and Pat Richardson (Brother Rice); Dave Hogan (Fenwick); Kevin King and Steve Mally (St. Laurence); Tom Kleinschmidt(Gordon Tech); Bob Smith(St. George); and Phil Svetich(St. Mel).

Jim Righeimer is the Man of the Year.

Tickets are $35 each, $350 for a table of 10. Checks can be made payable to the Chicago Catholic League Coaches Association and mailed to Jim Prunty, St. Ignatius College Prep, 1076 W. Roosevelt Road, Chicago 60608.

For more information, contact Prunty at (312) 432-8355.

Fencing

Tim Glass of the Illinois Fencers Club of Mount Prospect won Men's Epee at the Midwest Sectionals Championship. For more information, go to illinoisfencersclub.org.