2009 Pre-Season Rankings

Really. I was praising the 2007 PR team and Playball was praising the 2008 team. Neither with the intent of hurting the other. When comparing teams, you are going to place one ahead of another. It's not because one is particularly bad, it is because we feel the other is that good. Why dwell on the negative? Also, we would never isolate one specific player and attack him, on this site or anywhere else.

I got me years wrong obviously I meant 2008 and 2009. I'm still writing checks with 2008.

Pitching goes along way...I like Stevenson's pitching staff consisting of 3 Division one prospects. Will they have the offense to back it up?

Out of the city teams, St. Rita and Brother Rice will be extremely tough. I like both of their pitching and Brother Rice has crafty LHP Pat Gannon (Purdue) leading the way as well as some other great arms.

O'Fallon went deep last year with a young team so look for them to be in contention as well.

Wheaton North should be higher. They took a 4th place finish last year being nearly carried by two juniors, now seniors, Trey Martin and Jack DeAno (Vanderbilt).

Speaking of Wheaton North, which is a very good team, Batavia beat them 2-0 last year just before playoff time and returns a strong core behind Jordan Coffey, Brian Krolikowski, Tim Drish, Ryan Welter, and a Venezuelan transfer student who is a RHP/3B. The Bulldogs have underachieved their talent the last couple of years - but they do have some talent - especially on the mound.

What's the skinny on the MSBL this season? Is Schaumburg still the team to beat? It looks like Fremd and Barrington have some horses as well. And if Coach Belo has any talent at Palatine, you know he's gonna get the most out of it.

Barrington has the talent to make a real good run at it. Some of the pitching is young, but the team is going to be very good at scoring runs and the young pitchers will be able to do it. Handler is the best player no one talks about....maybe because he is playing football in college.

If they pitch to Handler he is going to hit 10 or more HR's. If they don't there are enough other hitters to make you pay.

FastballDad, that's a good call there on Handler...he is a BEAST! No one should ever throw that young man a fastball. They also have a fine left handed hitter named John Day who has committed to Evansville. You should see this kid throw, too, what an arm. They have three good pitchers, so if they pick it, they'll be competitive.

Streator should be able to compete with some of the state's best. Will get early test at Galesburg tournament, then play L-P, IVC, and perennial small school power Putnam County. They may be a year away from making a serious state run as they are mostly juniors. Pitching should be a strength this year and next.

Barrington is coming to our place for a non -conference game in april . Coach Harwysco's staff will have to worry about the potent lineup of the Dons.

quote:

If they pitch to Handler he is going to hit 10 or more HR's. If they don't there are enough other hitters to make you pay.

That is why you have to pitch to Handler.

Mr. Nobody is there a lot of new players in the Dons line-up? I thought they were no hit by Barrington last year, but you never know from year to year.

Last year was last year . You dont think the Dons will remember what happened ? I think they will be looking forward to redeeming themselves.

Just thought I would ask Mr. Nobody, best of luck this year, hope for good weather all spring.

quote:

Originally posted by FastballDad:
Barrington has the talent to make a real good run at it. Some of the pitching is young, but the team is going to be very good at scoring runs and the young pitchers will be able to do it. Handler is the best player no one talks about....maybe because he is playing football in college.

If they pitch to Handler he is going to hit 10 or more HR's. If they don't there are enough other hitters to make you pay.

They had an up and down year year, but they are now playing to their potential and have a great shot to go downstate. Saturday vs, Stevenson should be a good one and if Barrington's pitcher has one of his "on" days it could be a good day in Barrington.

Batavia (30-6) beat Wheaton North 6-4 to take the St. Charles North sectional title. DeAno is a heck of a player, as is Martin - but Batavia - with Krolikowski, Coffey, Drish, Welter, Karger, Scofield, Duque, Lindquist, and the younger Coffey are experienced and deep.

Well the original posts here had 2 of the final 4 teams.

It is now down to St. Rita, New Trier, Cary Grove and O'Fallon.

Any thoughts?

I think both the Cary-New Trier matchup and the St.Rita-O'Fallon matchup are going to be great games, but my feeling is that St.Rita is just too powerful not to advance to the championship game, and i think New Trier is just a solid team all around. So, there you go, St.Rita and New Trier for all the marbles.

I think that anyone that has been following the FVC over the last few years knew that Cary would be the best team in the conference. That is why the early season rankings were a little surprising.

Agree rrf. They sure hit last night and played solid defense.

anyone see The New Trier-Barrington game? Who started for the Broncos?

Macdonnel started followed by unak and the oakley for Barrington

Batavia is the team no one saw coming this year. The Bulldogs went 30-3 after a slow 0-3 start and beat a very good Wheaton North team in the Sectional final -- all with Jordan Coffey limited to pitching just a few innings late in the year due to shoulder surgery. They ran into a very good Cary Grove team, a pitcher they couldn't figure out, played an uncharacteristically sloppy game and got beat 10-1 - which sometimes happens in a one-and-done format (see B.R.). Congrats to the old 13U Wasco Travelers - Jordan Coffey, Tim Drish, Brian Krolikowski and Ryan (Beiller) Welter - now Bulldogs on their historic season. Congrats also to all the other Elite 8 qualifiers and good luck to the four teams left standing in Joliet.

Should be an interesting match-up with CG and Nt. I don't know much about the pitching for CG but when I watched them against Batavia every hitter was really swinging the bat. They also played great defense behind their pitcher who did a great job keeping hitters off balance.

I just read a story about the CG first baseman in the NW Herald Kevin Adams and after reading that I have to pull for CG and Kevin in this one. I don't know Kevin, but that story said a lot about the character and dedication of Kevin, his family and teammates. It sure put things into perspective.

Best of luck to everyone this weekend!