Summer Travel Teams - Who's playing for whom?

NO absolutely not, Sorry about that

They are in. The Oak Forest guys are tough nuts.

Let me list all of the 18Us

Jared Hippen - Iowa
Joe Debarnardis - Penn State Univ.
John Ruettiger - Arizona State
Jordan Sivertson - Southern Illnois
Kyle Stroup - Northern Illinois
Tony Zych - Louisville
ZJ Vanderwal - Wallace St. CC
Jake Hermsen - Northern Illinois
Mike Heesch - Nebraska
Mike McQuillan - Univ. of Iowa
Nick Brown - Univ. of Iowa
Nick Egan - Ohio Univ.
Brett Frantini - Northern Illinois
Brian Roberts - Univ. of Illinois
Chett Zeise - Univ. of Iowa
Chris Burgess - Central Mich.
Chris Wakefield - Northern Illinois
Corey Kimes - Univ. of Illinois
Andres Rodriquez - EKU
Ron Czarnecki - Uncommitted
Joe Longawa - Uncommitted
Brian Padove - Uncommitted
Bobby Lynes - Uncommitted
Steve Kaffel - Uncommitted
Matt Huck - Uncommitted
Joe Cesario - Uncommitted
Matt Toomey - Uncommitted
Mike Frigo - Western Michigan
James Dawson - Uncommitted
Billy Zein - Uncommitted
Deigo Martinez - Uncommitted
Marty Dzik - Uncommitted

I am shocked that some of these guys are not committed yet but would not be at all suprised if they are after this weekend. Especially the Oak Forest guys

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Here ya' go SPARKY...




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They've got a Preseason Special going on these now...you may want to pick up a few!




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You know SPARKY...you gotta' be real careful about who you pick up hitchin' a ride on this board!




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you have a pm ofbengals08

Sparky

How was it decided how those two 17u teams would be split up ? Thats a load of talent

For the most part both groups played out in the Fall with us. I simply put a good guy on this team and a good guy on that one. No use having two D1 third baseman on the same team taking innings from each other. At seasons end we will run one team out together. I just need a little more pitching..

BC,

Glad to see you got a number of our guys on board for the summer. You should push Schreiber a little, he's every bit as good as Wakefield and Stroup.

Glad to see none of them ended up with other teams.

Andy,

Thank You,

and to clarify my last post was concerning our 17under. Those kids played out with us in the Fall. I will make it real clear that we for the last couple yrs have combined a little in the Summer.. As the Blazers only go out in the Fall as of now. As of Fall Ball, its always a good battle and we look forward to more this Fall. We will be posting our Fall schedule very soon....

As of right now this is what we have not including Luke and Eric Bainer who have both signed with Army. They will only be with us for a few weeks due to having leave for basic training. We are in the talks to pick up a D1 SS from KY as well as 1 or 2 very high level pitchers from Lexington Ky. Webb and Cox will most likely go high in the draft so we might not see them.

Daniel Webb RHP Heath KY - Kentucky
Sean Bouthilette RHP Elizabethtown KY - Kentucky
Travis Isaak IF Carlyle - Lincoln Trail
Jordan Williams C Christian Co. KY - 09
Zack Cox 3B/P PRP - Arkansas
Alex Wood RHP Crittenden Co. KY - 09
Lucas Hileman OF Anna-Jonesboro - Baylor
Brad Drust LHP Cartervile - 09
Zach Ellliott C Vienna - Rend Lake CC
Austin Montgomery C/OF Marion - 09
Luke Partridge 3B Anna-Jonesboro - 09
Christian Cummins IF Harrisburg - 09
Tanner Bushue RHP South Central - 09
Dominic Patterozzi RHP Edwardsville - John A. Logan
Tyler Wiesemeyer OF Triad - Heartland
Bryn Edwards RHP Carterville - Unsigned
Cale Wine RHP Marissa - Unsigned
Nathan Dorris LHP Marion - 2009
Caine Cloe RHP/C Shelbyville - 2010
Reid Roper If/RHP Harrisburg - 2010

SI - Love the Montgomery kid any way you would consider a trade, LOL

Austin is going to open some eyes. He is a physical specimen and #1 in his class. Ivy leaguers will be all over him unless a biggie gets him. Give me a Santana like pitcher and we have a deal.

Okay paperwork on the way, will see you guys soon.

April Fools...

MN MOM, I'll help you with the split too...lol..

Anyway, heres how our 18u team shaped up for the Summer.

Mike Heesch LHP - Prairie Ridge/UIC
Bryan Roberts RHP - Benet/U of Illinois
Kyle Stroup RHP - Grant/NIU
Tony Zych RHP/MIF - St Rita/U of Louisville
Corey Kimes LHP - Ottawa H/U of Illinois
Nick Brown RHP/1b- Wheaton WS/U of Iowa
Jordan Sivertson RHP/OF -Carmel/Southern Illinois
John Ruettiger OF/LHP - JCA/Arizona State
Chris Wakefield RHP/Utility - GA HS/NIU
Jared Hippen LHP - Rock Falls/U of Iowa
Joey Debarnardis 3B/RHP- Lake Zurich/Penn State
Will Strack RHP - Sycamore HS/U of Illinois
Geoff Rowan C/RHP - Nequa Valley/Northwestern
Jake Hermson LHP/OF- Ws HS/NIU
Bobby Lyne RHP - Carmel/undecided
Brandon House OF - Marion Catholic/NIU
Chett Zeise MIF - WS HS/U of Iowa
Sam Munson MIF - WS HS/Florida International
Mike McQuillan MIF/Utility Brother Rice/U of Iowa
Brett Frantini C - Monooka /NIU
Nick Egan RHP - Wheaton WS/Ohio University
Matthew Huck - RHP St Francis
Chris Burgess - RHP St Charles East/Central Mich


Stick the 17s up later along with our other 18u team.

Hope everyone has a safe Summer!

Illinois Sparks 17U beat Top Tier 17U 10-4 in championship game of best of the Midwest Tourney in Bloomington Indiana today . Great way to start off the summer travel season .

Surprised any games got off today, thought there were flash floods and tornado's in Indiana area last night...........who pitched for either team?

WOW – sounds like BIG BILL and the Sparks are off to a great start! Good-stuff!

OPRF did well this year. Where did their boys end-up? What teams, if any, are the OPRF boys playing on this summer (besides the high school summer-ball)?

Oh, BTW, Congrats to Leddy and the Huskies for a great 2008 season, I don’t think anyone had them picked to finish in the top 10. Well Done Boys!

who pitched for Top Tier vs Sparks???

Any standouts on T.T or Sparks??

Just got an update from the Metrodome in Minn

ILL Sparks 17 --3
Midwest Blazers 0

in second inning

Maldonado staying red hot --homers into left field stands .

Naumman on the mound

this is wood bat tourney

Final Score from the Metrodome

Ill Sparks 17U--9
Midwest Blzrs-- 2

Jason Ormond, Whitney Young High School (Class of 2009) is playing for USA Athletes International representing the United States as a player and ambassador in the 2008 Torneo Citta di Rimini Baseball Tournament in Rimini, Italy. The coaches are David Vince of Clearwater High School and Tracy Paulton of Pinnellas Park High School. Both high schools are in Florida.

Coach Vince has 421 career wins with coaching experience on the international, college, high school level and has been a ten time coach of the year recipient. His record includes 10 district champion teams, 8 district runner-up teams, two state final four teams, 1 state runner-up team, and 1 college conference championship. He has coached baseball in Holland, Spain, Czech Republic, Australia, Sweden, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii. The roster includes players from Florida, Illinois, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Coach Paulton is the Pitching Coach at Pinellas Park High School. His experience includes being the assistant coach at nationally ranked Seminole High School, 6 years as the assistant coach at Countryside High School, where he worked under former major leaguer, Darnell Coles. He also has 10 years of playing experience above the high school level (college, semi-pro), and has worked baseball camps for Florida State, and All-Star Baseball. He is also the owner operator of Super Skill Baseball Academy in Florida.

The team will meet and travel from New York Kennedy International Airport to Rome, Italy on July 8 and then travels north to Rimini which is the tournament venue, located on the Adriatic coast 200 miles south of Venice. The tournament is hosted by the Rimini Pirates Baseball Club, Serie A1 of the Italian Professional Baseball League. The USA Athletes organization was established in 1991 and provides athletes the opportunity to experience international competition as well as the history and culture of another country. The 16 man roster team is scheduled to play the 18-U Italian National Team. USA Team Athletes must sign a release as the sponsoring organization retains all television and video rights.

After playing baseball Italian style, the team will visit Milan and Florence before returning to the United States on July 17, 2008.

Visit www.usaai.org

Illinois Sparks 5
Orlando Scorpions 5
called a tie after 7
at Perfect Game invitational in the Metrodome in MN
Don't have many details -- Jordan Coffey started and went 4 innings, 1 ER, 2 hits, 5 K; Mike Kane went 3-3 with 2 doubles; Nikko Gomez had a triple and a double

Anyone know how the Sparks (Murphy) fared vs. a talented East Cobb Braves team in MN?

I see that Coach Paulton was assistant coach at Seminole High School. Was the head coach named Gangler? (just kidding).

Norwood showed some excellent arms yesterday while defeating Glenview's new legion team. Josh West, Mike Fiala, and Robert Kennedy threw smoke from the right side. Kevin Edwards was outstanding from the left side. Ryan Lessner was tenacious as always.

Smokey...

Miss ya man!

Hope things are well for you and yours..

We just got back from the Metredome in Mn and played 4 games. It looks as if a couple were posted. We only post wins I notice..lol..
We lost yesterday to a very good East Cobb Braves team 5-2

Came back today with nice win over the MN Starz 4-2
Great competition and all I saw were smiles for three days. Thanks to the coaches that allowed your guys to come along. It will be a memory they wont soon forget. Thanks you PG for having us. Good stuff for me too!

Smokey, we have a couple dandys from OPRF, Picci and Jo JO.

Sparky1 - Great stuff. Man do I miss those days.

Where can I find a schedule. Joe and I would love to catch a game.

Smokey,

I"ll email you our schedule. We will be at ISU and NIU here real soon.

Right now, we are in East Cobb Ga at the PG WWBA 18u tournament.

Sparks are sitting 4-0 and playing good baseball.
Weather has been great and competition, is as always , very very good.

Keep your fingers crossed. All the boys from Illinois are making us proud. Saw a Mchenry Hurricane guy hit a walk of grand slam to come from behind in the last inning. Good Stuff!

Sam Dickstein threw a beautiful game for the norwood blues on Thursday afternoon. He needed very few pitches in the 4 innings he pitched. Kevin Edwards came in for the 5th (and last) inning, norwood won in five.
The Augustana bound pitcher is looking good and throwing the ball hard!

Congrats to a great kid and a strong baseball player, Ryan McMillan. He was under recruited and was just recently recruited to play at Western Michigan. This kid is a strong third baseman/ shortstop, can hit the ball and is a genuinely nice young man as well as a great teammate! This kid works hard and sprints on and off the field, all the time! It is great that he connected with a good D1 program. He and the school are both winners! The schools that overlooked him, their lose! Another Norwood player helped by Rich Pildes!

saw that kid play and he was one of the top shortstops I seen all year. Kid plays hard all the time, has some speed, good bat, and very good in the field. Good player all around, surprised Western Michigan had room this late for another guy, maybe he was a preferred walk-on. But either way the kid is good and I am glad someone finally made him an offer.

Midwest Bruins - A new team composed of Lockport Porters 1 Providence JR, 1 HF Senior and 15 2009 Varsity Porter players + 1 2010.