HH_071918

36 | July 19, 2018 | The Homer Horizon sports
homerhorizon.com
Baseball
Porters, Celtics wrap up play at
respective summer regionals
Randy Whalen
Freelance Reporter
For the Lockport Township
baseball team, the summer
schedule isn’t just about
playing games — it’s a time
to travel, bond and sharpen
skills for next season.
The Porters traveled to
Omaha, Nebraska in mid-
June, a time that usually
corresponds to the NCAA
College Baseball World Series.
There, they played in
the Battle of Omaha, a tournament
that draws teams
from throughout the nation.
Even though the Porters only
played one game there this
summer, because of rainouts,
they won that game.
In the final week of June,
they hosted the Lockport
Porter Wood Bat Summer
Classic. There, six schools
were in the tourney, which
was held over three days. The
Porters won it this season.
Another part of the summer
is that once it comes playoff
time, Lockport always hosts
a regional. That was the case
again last week. The only
thing was the Porters, who
lost in the regional title game
last summer, weren’t there
playing in it.
That’s because they were
one-and-done after an opening
round 7-2 loss to Stagg
on July 9 in a regional game
as part of the Illinois High
School Baseball Coaches
Association Summer Baseball
Tournament at Plainfield
South. Stagg played the host
Cougars in a quarterfinal
game directly afterward and
lost 15-1 in five innings.
“We have to tip our cap to
their pitcher — he’s a young
sophomore that had good
command of two pitches,”
Lockport coach Andy Satunas
said of George Evangelopoulos.
“We hit some balls
early, but right at them. Our
pitcher [senior Jack Vrba] did
well for the first couple of innings,
but we were chasing
them the rest of the game.”
Stagg scored four runs in
the top of the third to take a
4-1 lead. The Chargers added
two runs in the fourth and
one in the seventh.
Lockport (6-4 final summer
record) could only muster
four hits. Senior Collin
Woulfe (2-for-3, R, RBI,
2B, HR) had a home run in
the bottom of the sixth. Senior
Alex Martinez (1-for-2,
HBP) knocked in the first
run on a single to left in the
second inning. Jack Mladic
had the Porters other hit with
a single in the second inning.
Satunas was happy to see
some of his returning pitchers
that the Porters will bring
back next spring, including
Vrba, along with fellow seniors
John Gallet, Joe Tor and
twins John and Nolan Weis.
“The thing I enjoyed most
is that we had some juniors
that were limited to two or
three games this past spring,
and they got to show off their
skills and skillsets,” he said.
“It was great to see some of
the sophomores, too.
“We like to create a map
of what everyone’s journey
in our program is going to
be. That all starts in the summer.”
Celtics to discontinue summer
tourney appearances
For Providence, this is
likely the summer swan
song. The Celtics lost 10-4 to
Andrew in an opening round
regional game on July 9 at
Plainfield Central. Andrew
(1-7-2) then lost to the host
Wildcats 14-4 in the regional
quarterfinal game that was
held directly afterward.
“This was our last summer,”
Providence coach
Mark Smith said. “It’s so
hard to get people to the
games, especially the pitchers.
The kids are able to go to
tournaments [with their travel
teams] and get exposure.”
Just a few years ago, there
was a high of 161 teams registered
for the IHSBCA Summer
Baseball Tournament.
But last year, it dropped to
112 teams, and this season, it
was at 104 teams.
“We don’t make [summer
season] mandatory,” Smith
said. “But we would have
benefited from some practice
time. Still, we got 11 games
in [6-5 record], and I enjoyed
watching the kids play and
evaluating them.”
The Celtics, who pulled off
the unprecedented three-peat
of Class 4A state titles from
2014-2016, were 21-15 this
past spring. They gave Sandburg,
which went on to finish
fourth in the state in Class
4A, everything it could handle
in the regional title game
before losing 8-7, as the
Eagles scored two runs after
two were out in the bottom of
the seventh to win the game.
But Smith liked what he
saw in sophomore middle infielder
Ryan O’Neil, as well
as senior left-handed pitchers
Zach Costello, who was
injured this spring, and Brennan
Geers.
“We have our top three
pitchers back, but we will be
replacing an entire infield,”
Smith said of what to expect
from the Celtics next spring.
“[In future summers], we will
get together and practice, and
maybe play a game or two,
but won’t be in [the IHSBCA
Summer Baseball Tournament].”