Scouting the 2022 baseball season in the NW suburbs

After a late start and finish last year, baseball is back in its regular spot in the season this year.

Northwest suburbs' teams began their games this week. The season will culminate with the state finals June 10 and 11th in Joliet.

No teams from the NW suburbs qualified for state last year, but St. Viator, Barrington and Prospect could be looking to make that trip down I-355 later this spring.

Here is a look at area teams:

Barrington has won 20 games or more in each of the last 9 seasons under head coach Pat Wire. But with 8 position players returning including MSL West MVP Logan Eisenbarth (Wisconsin-Whitewater) and a solid pitching rotation, the Broncos will be formidable. Danny Hoffman, Jake Kohanzo, Evan Jno-Baptiste (Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Nick Lacson, Bruno Pallan (Dubuque), Mason Rasmussen, James Swarbrick, Harley Thompson and Ben Yaney are all tough outs and give Barrington firepower.

Conant is all in with a pair of sophomores heading up its rotation. Bryce Loeger and Logan Gale figure to see the bulk of the innings along with Wesley Johnson (Elmhurst College). Last year's team MVP Michael Sheehy starting out the season as a closer. Caleb Rhodes (Kaskaskia College) and Jacob Jacquart (Union College) figure to be the offensive stars for the Cougars.

Fremd is looking to bulk up its record and its stats from last season. The Vikings struggled with both last season but with 14 players with varsity experience returning there is reason for optimism. Bo O'Brien, who hit .443 last year, leads the offensive attack. Tom Plizga should be one of the top hurlers for the Vikings with help from Joe Nielson, Henry Bond and Riyan Patel.

Hoffman Estates will be young but plans to battle hard. The Hawks will be counting on junior Will Nock, who moves to catcher this year, to reign in the pitching staff. Nock, who batted .362 last year, will also be on the hill. Ethan Dorka, who is fully rehabbed from an injury, looks good in the outfield while sophomore Xavier Martinez will anchor the defense at short.

Palatine will have a pair of four-year varsity players to lead the way. Danny Hopper and D.J. Dick will be leaders on the field. Hopper will also be one of the Pirates' top pitchers returning that accounted for most of the innings pitched last season. Shailan Rajpurkar and junior Joe Pieper will give Palatine a solid trio on the mound Catcher Nate Branch, who hit .370 last year, will be solid behind the dish.

Schaumburg is looking to move forward this season. The Saxons are led by Wisconsin-Whitewater commit Ryan Phillips who will be a key factor on the mound and at the plate. Max Bianchini, who will play for McHenry College next season, along with Anthony DiGioia, Hector Morales and Takumi Fred should all contribute.

Buffalo Grove is the defending Mid- Suburban League champion, and the Bison are looking to repeat. They return Jack Alport who hit .330 and threw 55 innings with an ERA of 2.16. Alport was the MSL East player of the year and has committed to Beloit College. Alex Beihoffer, Matt Wolverton Jake Jacoby, and Payton Diaz also return while St. Viator transfer Dennis Ratzki should also help, giving the Bison a solid outfield.

Elk Grove has a small roster with 15 players. But the Grens do have 11 seniors out of that group, which should give them experience. Pitching should not be an issue since the Grenadiers have a plethora of arms returning. Elk Grove will have Kevin Periaswamy, Brady Tosterud, Jaden Alberson, Mitch Janczak, David Garza and Joe Martorano all are back on the bump this season.

Hersey will have a family affair this season with five sets of brothers including three sets of identical twins on their roster. Hersey returns 10 seniors to add to a solid nucleus of your talent. The Huskies will be led by a pair of all-conference players from a year ago in infielder Niko Krecu and catcher Tyler Pflomm. Tyler Bell, who has committed to Wisconsin-Concordia, along with Will Schmidt lead the pitching staff.

Prospect is looking to make another deep run in the state payoffs behind recently elected Hall of Fame coach Ross Giusti. The Knights tied for the MSL East title last season and advanced to the supersectionals before losing. They will be led by a group of seniors that include Cade Cory (Concordia Wisconsin), Peyton Burgh (Pima JC Arizona), Brady Jensen (UW-Oshkosh), Josh Notini (Knox College). Ethan Rossi, Kyle Odeshoo, Owen Walter and Gino Paredes.

Rolling Meadows is looking to turn things around his season thanks to 14 returning players, 12 of which are seniors. The Mustangs will be led by PJ Ford, who will be playing at Wisconsin-Eau Claire next season. Carter Wachtel, who will play at College of DuPage, and Will Stukes, who will play at Wheaton College, will also be keys to Meadows' success.

Wheeling will be leaning hard on a pair of juniors to help lead them this season. Shortstop Zach Zalewski, who hit .395 last year and tied a school record with 14 doubles and catcher AL Marchetti, who hit .402 and was named all-conference, will be keys to the Wildcats' success. Caleb Martinez, Gavin Stanke and Zach Zangara will also be counted on.

Leyden is counting on its smarts along with its talent this season. The Eagles boast a combined 3.5 GPA to aid them in their battle in the West Suburban Gold. James Traficanti, who is a junior and was all-conference last season, is coming off a season where he had an .840 OPS. Matt McBride, Brandon Galanis and Brian Hernandez will also be key contributors.

St. Viator is dangerous. The Lions return 7 position players and 7 pitchers from a team that lost in the Class 3A sectional finals last year. Arizona-commit Tony Pluta leads a group that includes Casey Hintz, Ian Farrell, Brian Hatch, Zan Von Schlegell, Connor Nicolas, Joe Bollard, Dominic McKevitt, Michael Nix, Dylan Harer. Pluta, who will catch, will also be the leader on the mound along with Hintz, Ty Schafer, Bollard, McKevitt, Jake Van Booven and Sean Hogan.

Maine East will be young but have some very important senior leadership. The Demons will be looking to take a step forward behind seniors Mason Ishii, Gabe Escobar, Alex Isho, Jeffrey Tom and lishan Zaid. Jalen Moraga, who started last year as a freshman, will have a prominent role at shortstop.

Maine South is the defending co-champion of the Central Suburban South. The Hawks will be led again by Andrew Randazzo (Lincoln Land CC) who is coming off a season where he hit .432. Charlie Schau (Madison JC), Leo Corbett (Benedictine), Elliot Higgins (Concordia) along with Kerim Orucevic and Arran Barliant should make the Hawks contenders again this season.

Maine West will be looking to attack with an outlaw. Josh Outlaw will be tough to corral for opponents of the Warriors. Outlaw, along with John Rings, Kyle Ramirez and Charlie Parcell also will be a solid rotation for Maine West. With those four leading the way, The Warriors should challenge in the Central Suburban North.