It is a yearly tradition for the Scouts Varsity Baseball Team to take an out-of-town trip every spring break to go play teams from different places across the country. This season, the Scouts drove down to Louisville, Kentucky. In Louisville, the team played three against three teams: South Oldham, Conner, and Ballard. Later in the week, the Scouts played Tinley Park on their way home back to Chicago.
To begin the trip, the Scouts faced the South Oldham Dragons. Patrick Walsh started at pitcher for the Scouts and threw for 2.2 innings. He allowed four runs and struck out four batters. With the support of fellow pitchers Charlie Melin, Luke Callahan, and Andrew Marks, the Scouts defense allowed seven runs in the game. The Scouts offense totaled eight hits, two more than South Oldham. Jack Lamberti shined for the Scouts offensively where he had a homerun, two RBIs, two runs, and a stolen base. In addition, Stephen Cole had a double and one run. In total, the Scouts scored five runs falling to South Oldham, 7-5. The Scouts did have a comeback starting in the fifth inning after being down 7 to 2, but weren’t able to come back in time after seven innings.
Later that day, the Scouts competed against the Conner Cougars. After the second inning, the Scouts led the Cougars 5-4. Nate Uhart was the starting pitcher for the Scouts and pitched for 2.2 innings. The Cougars were able to catch Uhart as they hit four homeruns against him. In the end, through four pitchers, Uhart, Avery Kizawa, Joey Schnack, and Hudson Scroggins, the Scouts let up seven home runs, tying a Kentucky state record. With the seven home runs and seven additional hits, the Scouts let up 14 runs. On offense, the Scouts had six hits and five runs. Lamberti, Max Helmer, Charlie Graham, Nick Angelos, and Nate Robbins each scored a run and added a hit. Ryan Valentincic added a hit as well. Lamberti and Robbins each had one RBI. The Scouts struggled on offense as they had 11 strikeouts. After two consecutive four run innings for the Cougars, and a scoreless rest of the game for the Scouts, the final score was 14-5 in the Cougars favor.
After the first day, the Scouts sat on an 0-2 record.
After a day break, the Scouts returned to the field to face the Ballard Bruins. Ballard has been a highly ranked team in Kentucky for a very long time, currently ranking as the best team in Kentucky by Maxpreps. In the first inning, the Bruins jumped on the Scouts scoring nine runs. Nate Brezak started for the Scouts on the bump and allowed eight earned runs. Letting up nine total runs with only two outs, he was replaced by Andrew Hymans. The Scouts only had two hits coming from Cole and Dylan Cran. In addition to pitching and hitting struggles, the Scouts struggled in the field with four errors compared to the Bruins’ zero. The game ended 12-0 after four innings.
After three games in Kentucky, the Scouts were 0-3. On their travels home, the Scouts prepared for their game against the Tinley Park Titans.
After three games in a row on the wrong side of the score, the Scouts wanted to win and make their spring break trip worth it. Their game against Tinley Park was exciting to say the least. Luke Pasquesi was the starting pitcher for the Scouts and was relieved by Luka Tupanjac, Melin, Scroggins, and Kizawa. The Scouts defense was stronger this time around as they only had one error and allowed eight runs. On offense, the Scouts attacked the ball and got lots of runners on base with 16 hits alongside nine walks. Lamberti, Charlie Quick, and Graham each got multiple hits for the Scouts, with Lamberti going 4 for 6 and Quick and Graham each going 2 for 3. Lamberti also had 3 RBIs. In addition, Pasquesi, Bink Hartline, and Quick all hit doubles. In total the Scouts scored 21 runs. With the Scouts having 16 hits and the Titans having 14, it was a very exciting game and the Scouts were very happy to come out on top with a score of 21-8.
“It was definitely nice to end the week on a win,” said Valentincic. “I think we should have won that first game against South Oldham, but it was beneficial to see the type of competition we saw. Playing teams of that caliber was a good assessment of where we’re at as a team, and what we need to work on before conference play.”
At the end of the trip, the Scouts finished 1-3. At this point in the season, the Scouts are 2-3 and are looking to turn their record around. Playoffs are in mid-May and the Scouts are doing whatever they can to be prepared for playoffs.
