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Way too early baseball talk

PC Dad_MC Grad

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2018
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CCL looking to be another battle zone this spring. PC, BR, MC, StL and SR ready to do battle. Who is stacked in CCL? Plainfield North coming back strong? Sandburg? How about teams from the north that I know little about. Crystal Lake South? Mundelein?

Thoughts or comments? I know there is a Baseball forum on Edgy’s site but I know we are always looking for things to discuss on the football forum especially with Bears out, Bulls horrendous and Hawks still trying to find themselves.
 
In the summer Plainfield South won with St. Lawrence and Lyons looking the most impressive to me. Joliet Catholic looked very strong as well
 
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MC is a year away from making noise again. They have 3 outstanding juniors in Ed Howard (Oklahoma), Tony Livermore (Northwestern) and Josh Houston but they are light on the mound. Kevin Dowling (Murray State) is a strong outfielder. Wait and see type of year
 
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MC is a year away from making noise again. They have 3 outstanding juniors in Ed Howard (Oklahoma), Tony Livermore (Northwestern) and Josh Houston but they are light on the mound. Kevin Dowling (Murray State) is a strong outfielder. Wait and see type of year
MC has fire power with their bats even without good old #27. Saw them play 4 times last year. It’s all about the pitching especially come playoff time. PC will be solid on the mound with Barnett and Manikowski both comfortably throwing the the low 90s with good junk. Helmin is one of the best contact hitters in the state.
 
Never too early for baseball talk...you are correct PC Dad, McCormack might be the best left handed hitter on our local high school scene since Cliff Floyd. Hard to imagine anyone with more talent than JCA this year.
 
PBR's early list includes (in no particular order):

Plainfield North
Marist
Brother Rice
JCA
H-F
 
PBR's early list includes (in no particular order):

Plainfield North
Marist
Brother Rice
JCA
H-F
Would be shocked if Plainfield North got as far this year. Much different senior group
 
MC is a year away from making noise again. They have 3 outstanding juniors in Ed Howard (Oklahoma), Tony Livermore (Northwestern) and Josh Houston but they are light on the mound. Kevin Dowling (Murray State) is a strong outfielder. Wait and see type of year
We will definitely get an idea of what MC has out of the gate as they open with Edwardsville, JC, Oak Park first 3 games.
 
I like the Hilltoppers this year. 6 D1 commits, 3 who are pitchers plus another pitcher who is a d1 kid who has not yet committed. I have no doubts they will have a strong regular season. It It is now time to make a deep playoff run. It has been a while.

Some of the talent includes:
P Gurka Minnesota
P Gould UIC
OF/P ZIegler Missouri State
INF Cushing Texas Tech
INF Knapczyk Louiisville
P Vera Illinois
C/DH Fleischauer Grand Valley State
P Hize Not committed, ranked as #7 RHP in state in Jr class

In addition, JC was loaded on the lower levels last year. Underclassmen went a combined 58-6.
 
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I like the Hilltoppers this year. 6 D1 commits, 3 who are pitchers plus another pitcher who is a d1 kid who has not yet committed. I have no doubts they will have a strong regular season. It It is now time to make a deep playoff run. It has been a while.

Some of the talent includes:
P Gurka Minnesota
P Gould UIC
OF ZIegler Missouri State
INF Cushing Texas Tech
INF Knapczyk Louiisville
P Vera Illinois
OF Fleischauer Grand Valley State
P Hize Not committed, ranked as #7 RHP in state in Jr class

In addition, JC was loaded on the lower levels last year. Underclassmen went a combined 58-6.
If they can score 3 runs a game they could very well go undefeated and win state.
 
Montini should be pretty decent this year! A lot of juniors and sophs started last year along with one freshman all of whom hit the ball well. Only 3 seniors regularly started last year on the team and they still won their regional. Lost to Naz in semi's by two runs. Should have 3-4 really good pitchers and if they hit like they did last year they will be very good.
 
Montini should be pretty decent this year! A lot of juniors and sophs started last year along with one freshman all of whom hit the ball well. Only 3 seniors regularly started last year on the team and they still won their regional. Lost to Naz in semi's by two runs. Should have 3-4 really good pitchers and if they hit like they did last year they will be very good.
How is their pitching?
 
They got a couple of kids who pitched a lot last year. Two will be juniors but both have good size and speed on the ball. Another kid is also a junior who came on in relief and also did very well. One young man who was a freshman looked good when he came up at the end of the year.

The thing about the team this coming year is they all can hit the ball and all are very good in the field on defense. The team also has speed at all of the positions. Real good junior to be Center fielder and senior shortstop. We had 5 kids who started who were sophmores and 1 freshman who started. I was impressed with how playing against upper class loaded teams didn't faze them.

My main concern for the team would be at catcher as we graduated our starter at that position and I didn't get a chance to see many soph games this year.
 
They got a couple of kids who pitched a lot last year. Two will be juniors but both have good size and speed on the ball. Another kid is also a junior who came on in relief and also did very well. One young man who was a freshman looked good when he came up at the end of the year.

The thing about the team this coming year is they all can hit the ball and all are very good in the field on defense. The team also has speed at all of the positions. Real good junior to be Center fielder and senior shortstop. We had 5 kids who started who were sophmores and 1 freshman who started. I was impressed with how playing against upper class loaded teams didn't faze them.

My main concern for the team would be at catcher as we graduated our starter at that position and I didn't get a chance to see many soph games this year.
They sound solid. I just have not heard of any Montini players from the PBR sites etc.
 
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Their schedule is not overly stacked. I see they play Lyons, MC and StL. After that not much competition. Also the Bajenski tournament will tell how competitive they are. They 2A or 3A?
 
I know that the PBR site didn't have anyone from Montini on their list for the past several years. We only had three seniors who started most of last year. Last year we beat Lyons and StL during the regular season but got cream by MC at the Bajenski tournament. IMO they should be better than last year with all the younger players who got so much playing time with some players who did well and some who did very well. A lot of the younger players played on summer travel teams and it showed compared to previous years where we only had two or 3 kids who did likewise. How does providence look this year? Enough of the cold and snow, lets play ball.
 
I know that the PBR site didn't have anyone from Montini on their list for the past several years. We only had three seniors who started most of last year. Last year we beat Lyons and StL during the regular season but got cream by MC at the Bajenski tournament. IMO they should be better than last year with all the younger players who got so much playing time with some players who did well and some who did very well. A lot of the younger players played on summer travel teams and it showed compared to previous years where we only had two or 3 kids who did likewise. How does providence look this year? Enough of the cold and snow, lets play ball.
Providence will be strong on the mound. Two picthers who throw low to mid 90s with great junk. Two Arizona State recruits, one who has hitting ability like that stud from MC last year. Returning many starters. Lost great hitting 1B and C to graduation. Will miss their bats. PC will contend as they always do. Smith always has them ready to play. Last year was a bad year on the field, way too many errors. This is what eventually did them in when the lost that dramatic playoff game last year vs Sandburg. Error by our 3B kept that inning alive. PC plays a brutal schedule with the likes of Plainfield North, MC, StL, BR, SR etc. Smith could care less about winning the CCL, he just wants the boys ready come playoff time.
 
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High school baseball always has some errors. We had a few ourselves last year but for the most part were pretty solid on defense. We beat some good teams last year, St Rita and St Laurence but lost to some teams we should have beat.

The last time we played Provy in baseball was in 2016. We lost 12-10. Are we playing you guys this year. Where did you get the schedule for Montini for this year. i went on Max preps and they don't have it.
 
High school baseball always has some errors. We had a few ourselves last year but for the most part were pretty solid on defense. We beat some good teams last year, St Rita and St Laurence but lost to some teams we should have beat.

The last time we played Provy in baseball was in 2016. We lost 12-10. Are we playing you guys this year. Where did you get the schedule for Montini for this year. i went on Max preps and they don't have it.
8 to 18 Montini Catholic, under Baseball
 
thanks! But these look like they are the exact same teams as we played last year in the same order that we played them. We played St. Rita early last year at home and according to this schedule we would host them again. I could be wrong as you never know!
 
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