NL_050919

44 | May 9, 2019 | the new lenox patriot sports
newlenoxpatriot.com
Baseball
Providence alum Anderson has day to remember
Steve Millar, Sports Editor
Steve Ruzich has
coached the South Suburban
College baseball team
for over 30 years, but he
said he’s never seen anything
like the performance
Providence graduate Logan
Anderson delivered in
an April 7 doubleheader
against Elgin.
Anderson, a freshman
infielder, became the first
player in Bulldogs history
to hit four home runs in
one day, doing it in just 14
innings as both games of
the twin bill were seveninning
affairs.
“I’ve never experienced
anything like that,” Anderson
said. “The most home
runs I’d ever hit was two
in a game.
“We came in early that
day for batting practice,
like normal, and I went
through my normal routine
in the cage, hitting
off the tee and then off the
machine. I was just feeling
it that day. The games
started and I was getting
pitches I liked and hitting
them. When I kept seeing
fastballs, I knew I wasn’t
going to miss them.”
Anderson hit two home
runs in the first game. After
he went deep again
early in the second game,
everyone in the South Suburban
dugout started realizing
it was going to be a
special day.
“It’s kind of like a nohitter,”
Anderson said.
“You don’t talk about it. I
was just like, ‘I’m going
to go out there and play
baseball and if it happens,
it happens.’”
It happened.
Anderson crushed his
fourth home run of the day,
the dugout went nuts, and
he enjoyed his run around
the bases.
“Rounding the bases, I
couldn’t help but smile a
little bit,” Anderson said.
“It was crazy. I was like,
‘That’s four?’”
Ruzich couldn’t believe
what he was seeing, either.
“That was unreal,” Ruzich
said. “He had one of
those days. In all my years,
I’ve never seen anyone do
that. I told him he better
eat the same thing and
wear the same clothes for
the next game.”
Even crazier is that Anderson
nearly made it five.
He came up in the seventh
inning of game two and hit
a ball that had home-run
distance, but was just foul.
“I came up with the
bases loaded and everyone
was expecting me to hit
one,” Anderson said. “I got
a fastball on the first pitch
and I turned on it, hit it out
but it was a couple feet
foul. I was like, ‘Wow.’ I
ended up with a sacrifice
fly.”
In high school, Anderson
was a three-sport
standout at Providence,
also starring in football
and wrestling. Baseball,
though, was his choice to
pursue in college.
“My heart wasn’t in
the sport of wrestling,”
he said. “I stayed with it
because I had the most utmost
respect for my coach,
Keith Healy. Football, I
was thinking I could go
somewhere and not play or
get hurt and be done. Head
injuries are always something
that could happen in
football, too.
“Baseball’s had my heart
since I was a little kid.
When you have a good day
on the baseball field, there’s
nothing like it.”
Through 45 games,
Anderson led South Suburban
in home runs with
six, ranked second in RBIs
with 37, and was hitting
.277.
He quickly earned a
place in the middle of the
lineup.
“We expected him to be
able to give some thump to
the middle of our lineup,”
Ruzich said. “He bats in
our fourth spot, where
there can be a lot of pressure
on a hitter, especially
a freshman, but he’s handling
it well.”
Providence graduate Logan Anderson hit four home runs
for South Suburban College in an April 7 doubleheader.
Photo courtesy of South Suburban College
Any doubts Anderson
had about his ability to hit
in that spot as a freshman
are gone now.
“My confidence has definitely
gone up,” he said.
“I don’t want to toot my
own horn, but when you
have a day like that, how
could it not go up?”
Softball
Providence win streak reaches school record 17
STEVE MILLAR
Sports Editor
When Providence
romped to a doubleheader
sweep of Trinity on May
1 with wins of 12-0 and
19-2, the Celtics accomplished
two things.
Not only did they
clinch at least a share of
the GCAC Red title, they
broke a school record with
their 17th straight victory.
“The girls obviously
want to win every game,”
Providence coach Jay Biesterfeld
said. “We haven’t
really set a goal for any
kind of streak or anything,
but the girls keep playing
hard, they’re playing well
every day, and, all of a
sudden, it’s 17 straight.”
Maggie Joutras had a
huge game in the doubleheader
finale - driving in
five runs – while Shannon
Smith had two home
runs and four RBIs in the
opener.
Joutras was batting seventh
in the Celtics’ lineup,
while Smith hit third.
Where someone is hitting
hasn’t meant much
for Providence this year,
as the Celtics have gotten
production throughout
their lineup.
“At any point, anyone
in the order can do some
damage,” Biesterfeld said.
“That makes it a little
easier for us to relax. If
we don’t score with the
top of our order in the first
inning, we’re confident
we can score lower in the
lineup. There are no holes
in our lineup.”
The Celtics (21-3, 10-1
GCAC Red through May
5) have averaged 10 runs
a game during the winning
streak and have reached
double digits seven times
in the 17 games.
Teagan Sopczak, Corey
Maloney, Lex Leighton,
Nicole Mucha, Maggie
Hurley, Claudia Utz
and Brittany Rabe have
all been big contributors
offensively, while Laila
Summers and Mucha have
handled much of the pitching
duties.
The Celtics had a chance
to clinch the GCAC Red
title outright with a win
over Fenwick on May 8.
Providence finished
third in Class 3A last season
but is up in 4A this
season and will compete in
the Thornwood Sectional.
The win streak has
boosted the team’s belief
that it can make another
deep postseason run.
“It definitely helps our
confidence,” Biesterfeld
said. “We’ve had some
close games during the
streak that were tight late
in the game and the girls
never waiver, they just focus
on what they need to
do.
“We’ve been in a lot of
tight games the last couple
years, a lot of these kids
went to state last season
and they want nothing
more than to get back.”