Wheeling's Spillane slugs into Golden Spikes consideration

Illinois junior Bren Spillane has had quite a season on the diamond, and the postseason accolades are now arriving for the Wheeling graduate.

USA Baseball has announced that Spillane has been named a semifinalist for the prestigious Golden Spikes Award, which is presented annually to the top amateur baseball player in the country.

Fan voting for the award is open at GoldenSpikesAward.com for two weeks and fans can vote up to 25 times per day. The list of semifinalists also goes to a voting body of more than 200, consisting of baseball media members, select professional baseball personnel, current USA Baseball staff and the 40 previous winners of the award.

Spillane was the national Midseason Player of the Year, according to D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game.

He ranks among the NCAA leaders in nearly every major statistical category. He leads the nation in slugging (.944) by nearly .100 (Andrew Vaughn, Cal, .848) and also leads the nation in OPS (1.456), while ranking third in home runs (22), seventh in on-base percentage (.512) and eighth in batting average (.414).

Last week, Spillane was named Big Ten Player of the Year after producing one of the best seasons in Illinois' 139-year history of baseball. He finished the regular season as the Big Ten leader in batting average (.407), slugging percentage (.944), on-base percentage (.512), OPS (1.456), home runs (22), RBI (57) and total bases (153).

The first baseman's .944 slugging percentage is the highest slugging percentage by an NCAA player since Rickie Weeks slugged .995 for Southern in 2002. It also broke the Big Ten record of .913 set by Illinois Hall of Famer Darrin Fletcher in 1987.

Past winners of the prestigious award include current family major leaguers such as Andrew Benintendi (2015), Kris Bryant (2013), Mike Zunino (2012), Trevor Bauer (2011), Bryce Harper (2010), Stephen Strasburg (2009), Buster Posey (2008), David Price (2007), Tim Lincecum (2006) and Alex Gordon (2005).

Softball

Redshirt senior Loren Krzysko (Barrington) was part of Arkansas' first team to appear in a Super Regional when the Razorbacks closed their stellar 42-17 season last weekend with 9-0 loss to host Oklahoma. Krzysko had 7 home runs and 7 doubles this spring.

She also earned a spot this spring on the SEC Softball Community Service Team.

With its community service team, the SEC looks to highlight a student-athlete from each school who gives back to his or her community in superior service efforts. Krzysko completed a 150-hour internship through Fitness for Fun in which she provided free personal training throughout the fall 2017 semester.

She also continued her work with the Blessing Baskets group that makes Thanksgiving baskets for Cross Church and hands them out to the homeless and families in the Northwest Arkansas area. As part of the Blue Heron Thanksgiving brunch delivery in her hometown, Krzysko helped deliver meals to the elderly and home bound.

She was named one of three finalists for the Lee Spencer Cup individual honor at the 2018 HOGSPY Awards which recognized student-athletes dedicated to outreach programs.

Academically, Krzysko was a December 2017 graduate while maintaining a 3.65 cumulative grade-point average as a kinesiology major with a specified focus on exercise applied science.

Loren's sister Rachel completed her freshman year at Purdue, contributing 2 doubles this spring.

Not too many families can boast two Division I softball players playing the sport in the same season.

"I am not surprised at all," said Barrington's Perry Peterson, who coached both sisters. "There's a lot of talent in that Krzysko household."

• Illinois Wesleyan junior third baseman Julie Josten (Fremd) was 1-for-3 when the Titans (39-12-1) defeated Luther College 5-1 to advance to the NCAA Division III national championship series. Josten singled home the second run in the Titan's 3-0 win over Whitewater in the Super regional a week earlier.

Illinois Wesleyan is in the national championships for the third straight year. Josten has been a starter all thee years, playing primarily second base as a freshman, first base as a sophomore and third base this spring.

The No. 6-seeded Titans are now playing for the national title in a best-of-three against Virginia Wesleyan, which was No. 1 all season.

Illinois Wesleyan reached the finals by defeating No. 2 Texas-Tyler 3-2 in 10 innings in the second round.

A leadoff home run in the bottom of seventh inning by Josten tied the game at 2-2 to send it to extra innings. It was Josten's eighth homer of the season.

McGreevy says goodbye

When Schaumburg's softball team lost in its own Class 4A regional tournament last week, it marked the end of 26 years of coaching the sport for Jim McGreevy.

For the past eight years, he served as the assistant to Saxons coach Ellen Abreu.

His full-time job has taken him away more and more each year so McGreevy didn't feel it was fair to the girls or to the program.

"I will miss it immeasurably," he said. "Ellen and I had a unique chemistry. She is awesome."

McGreevy also served four years as a manager for the Schaumburg Athletic Association and 14 years as a Schaumburg Sluggers manager.

Women's track

North Central freshman Kelsey McLaurin (Barrington) posted outdoor season bests with 25.70 in the 200-meter dash and 38-2.75 in the triple jump. She ran in the 4x100 relay with a time of 48.78 and in the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:56.00.

• North Central junior Hailey Dammeier (Wheeling) threw a personal best in the javelin throw (91-9). She recorded 3,706 points in the heptathlon at the CCIW Outdoor Championship, placing fourth.

• North Central sophomore Dianne Barajas (Schaumburg) ran 2:18.79 over 800 meters to place sixth at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin outdoor championships. She was also third in the 1,500 (4:47.30) and fifth in the 3000 steeplechase in 11:31.96.

Baseball

Eli Wilson, the son of Barrington High School baseball legend Dan Wilson, is the starting catcher and hit a home run Sunday in Minnesota's 6-4 victory over Purdue that added the Big Ten tourney title to the Gophers' regular-season championship. Dan also went to Minnesota and was a first-round draft pick in 1990. He is in the Seattle Mariners' Hall of Fame as a catcher.

• Augustana sophomore right-hander Chris Refka (Palatine) earned third team honors in the Central Region NCAA for Division III All-Region baseball. Refka went 7-3 on the season and posted an ERA of 3.12. His win total is tied for 12th-best in a single season at Augustana, while his 11 starts and 75 innings each rank 13th. He had one complete game this year and allowed 75 hits and 24 walks, while striking out 50.

• In a 4-run fourth inning, Joe Silva (Hersey) capped a 13-pitch at-bat with an RBI single that helped Concordia-Chicago (40-13) defeat Texas Lutheran 8-3 at NCAA Division III World Series at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wis. He also drove a 2-run triple to right-center in the first inning of Concordia's 9-4 win over Swarthmore College (Penn.) the day before.

Men's track

Augustana is well represented on the All-Midwest Region Team.

Two Vikings had the best mark in their respective events compiled throughout the season. Senior Josh Yamamoto (Fremd) was one of them as he ran: 51.84 in the 400 hurdles. Yamamoto is also on the 4x400 relay team that has the second fastest time in the region at 3:12.68. He is joined by senior Kyle Hucker (Wauconda).

• Senior Kevin Barbian (Libertyville) was named in the shot put (53-10¼") and discus (163-6). He was fifth in both events.

Senior Evan Murphy (Buffalo Grove) is on the list in the triple jump where he sits third with a leap of 48-3¼

Basketball

Fremd boys basketball coach Bob Widlowski will conduct a boys basketball camp from June 6 to 14 in the south gym at Fremd High School. The camp works toward improving skills, developing fundamentals through drills, shooting and scrimmages.

It is for those who will be in fifth to eighth grade this fall. Times are 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday.

For registration: invernessparkdistrict.com

Ulrich camp

Enrollment is currently taking place for the 29th annual John Ulrich Skills Camps at Immanuel Lutheran in Palatine in June and July.

There is a also a new camp at Saint Peter and Paul in Cary. There are various camps for players entering second grade through 10th grade.

Ulrich was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association hall of fame in 2002 and has more than 40 years of experience coaching junior high and high school girls and boys. Many of his former players have gone on to play in high school, college and the pros or to coach at the junior high, high school, college and pro level.

For more information, contact him at (847) 204-5015 or go to johnulrichbasketball.com.

• Please email items to jleusch@dailyherald.com