Baseball: St. Francis falls to Mt. Carmel
Few baseball teams face the kind of difficult week looming for St. Francis.
It began with Monday's 12-3 loss to Mt. Carmel in Wheaton but, again, that's just the beginning.
The teeth of the Chicago Catholic League Blue schedule awaits the Spartans between now and Saturday, but they're certainly up for the challenge.
"We knew they were a good team, and they weren't ranked first in the state for a couple of weeks for no reason," said St. Francis coach Nick Hall. "But this is the fun stuff. This is what we want to embrace and work for because we've got a chance to play against some really great teams."
St. Francis (18-3, 9-3), in its first season in the CCL Blue, plays Brother Rice on Tuesday, Loyola on Wednesday and Thursday and Mt. Carmel again on Friday before finishing the week with St. Laurence on Saturday. That's three conference teams considered among the Class 4A title favorites, with powerhouses St. Rita and Providence looming in the next couple of weeks.
It's a tough road right now - a road that became much tougher with the news that senior center fielder Will Purdom was lost for the season with a torn ACL suffered last week - but Hall also expects it to be the perfect preparation for the Spartans' jump from the Class 3A playoffs to Class 4A because of the IHSA's private school success factor. Veteran Mt. Carmel coach Brian Hurry agrees.
"You see a lot of Catholic Blue teams deep in the state tournament and I think it's because of the great competition we play," said Hurry, whose team was the Class 4A runner-up last season. "We all make each other better, and I think St. Francis joining the Catholic Blue will pay dividends for them."
Behind four players committed to Division I college programs and perhaps the state's best sophomore in Alek Thomas, the Caravan (18-3, 10-1) steadily built a lead against the Spartans.
Thomas opened the scoring with a 2-run second-inning triple. Wake Forest-bound Bobby Seymour had three singles and 5 RBI as Mt. Carmel scored 6 two-out runs. Six runs were scored by players who reached on walks.
McNeese State recruit Brett Whelton, who had 2 hits along with Tim Lilly, doubled home the Spartans' first run in the bottom of the third. Mike Beach and Foster Heise drove in runs for St. Francis in the seventh.
"They're a great team," Seymour said. "It's the Catholic League Blue - there's nothing better. It's always great competition."
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