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The North Shore is on the cusp of surviving another bitterly cold winter. Spring is officially 13 days away, but for the Lake Forest Scouts Varsity Baseball team the Spring season has already sprung. Tryouts for the Scouts have concluded and now the team’s main focus is the upcoming 2017 season. After a terrific season last year in which the Scouts went to IHSA Sectionals with only a few seniors bolstering their youthful lineup, Lake Forest has a lot to be happy about approaching the first pitch of the 2017 season.
Last year the Scouts finished their season six games over .500 (20-14), on top of making a trip to the sectional with a roster that was mainly full of sophomores and juniors. When I asked 7th year head coach Ray Del Fava what one of the best attributes of his ball club would be this spring, he responded almost immediately without hesitation. “Experience will be one of the biggest strengths from our position players. Looking at the lineup from the end of sectionals last year there were many sophomores and juniors that are returning this year. It is encouraging to see so many guys come back, but we did lose a few guys from out pitching staff.”
The Scouts did lose Cal Coughlan, one of the better statistical pitchers in Lake Forest history, who is now playing for the TCU Horned Frogs this year. Coughlan pitched 61 innings while maintaining a 2.18 ERA during the 2016 season, which is almost twice as many pitches as any other player on the team. Coughlan also did a significant amount of damage in the batter’s box as he maintained a .426 batting average and a .530 on base percentage (OBP). In perspective, if a hitter ever reached those numbers in the MLB they would be deemed as unquestionably the greatest hitter of all time. Among other players that the Scouts lost last year was Matt Peterson. Peterson, who was one of the Scout’s top pitchers, maintained a stunning 1.909 ERA in the 33 innings that he pitched last year. Losing some incredible seniors is inevitable, but even when the Scouts fell in sectionals last year, Lake Forest’s coaching staff kept their heads up knowing that the future of their ball club was bright.
As mentioned prior, the Scouts’ lineup was primarily comprised by younger players. Brad Czerniejewski, who will be playing with Cal at TCU next year, had the second highest batting average at .423 along with a .468 OBP. Topping a .423 batting average would be tough for any ball player, but with the skill that Brad features, he may even be on his way to topping Cal’s batting average from a season ago. Returning junior Drew Golde is one of the three players from the class of 2018 that are playing on their Varsity team for their second straight year. Golde had an impressive season in his sophomore campaign. With a .363 batting average Drew Golde had the third highest BA on the team to go along with a fantastic glove in the field. The talent for the Scouts doesn’t just stop there. Returning seniors Johnny Salm and Jason Cast are expected to make a more considerable impact for the Scouts in the field and at the plate this season. The Scouts seem to be stacked in every category this year except for the one resting 60 ft. 6 inches away from home plate at West Campus.
If there is one flaw in this year’s Scouts baseball team, it is their pitching. When I spoke with Coach Del Fava, he told me that “pitching is the great unknown.” Losing Cal and Matt opens up one of the most important positions on the baseball diamond. Just like most head coaches and pitching coaches, Del Fava knows a good pitcher when he can throw strikes. In fact, he said that the biggest key to winning games is throwing strikes. If pitchers are throwing strikes and making opposing teams hit the ball into play, then the Scouts could be lethal. On the other hand, if the game turns into a walk-fest then the chances of the Scouts pulling off wins will be slim. Christian McCauley and Andrew Gough are two rising stars that specialize in throwing strikes. McCauley and Gough pitched the most innings last year behind Coughlan and Peterson, both maintaining relatively low ERAs. However, with Conference play extending from two game series’ to three, the Scouts can’t just rely on two arms to carry them back to sectionals and further. This year, some players who rarely pitched last year will have to step up and support this year’s small pitching staff. Coach Del Fava reiterated that he had been looking into other pitching options and found that Paul Turelli could be a potential player that fits in the Scouts’ pitching rotation. Last year Turelli played some games as a catcher and others at an assortment of field positions, but never did make it to the bump. Del Fava sees past the inexperience and identified Turelli as a player who has the arm, speed and the body of a pitcher who can do some damage come regular season play. If Paul Turelli is throwing strikes, you can expect to see him pitching a handful of games over the course of the 2017 season. If the Scouts can figure out their pitching dilemma, they could be one of most dangerous teams in the conference.
To compete in the NSC conference you can’t have a team that hovers around mediocrity on offense, defense, or in terms of intangibles. Three of the four teams that made it to last year’s sectionals were from the Scouts’ conference, the NSC. To make things more intense, the Scouts will now be playing three game series against their competitors compared to the two game series that they played last year. “Stevenson, Mundelein, Libertyville and Lake Zurich will all be teams to beat”, said coach Del Fava. All of those schools have had an immense amount of success the past few years making the Scouts match-ups even more potent. Coach Del Fava assured me that this team is ready for the upcoming obstacles that their conference will present. Having been around the game for some time, including a long stint as the Head Baseball Coach at Loyola Academy for many years, Del Fava said in candor that their biggest obstacle this spring will be the weather and rescheduling games.
The Scouts open their 2017 season in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on March 26th. Once Spring Break concludes, the Scouts will return home opening their regular season April 3rd at Stevenson. Then, they will play their first home game of the year the following day against Stevenson once again. There is plenty of things to be hyped up about for the Lake Forest Scouts 2017 season. Now it is time for the players to showcase their talent.
