Sports
Prep Baseball Update: Wheaton North Closes in on 20-win Season
The Falcons are getting solid production from their junior players as the postseason approaches.
Record: (through Thursday, May 12): 18-7 overall, 13-5 in the DuPage Valley Conference
Update: The Falcons, scheduled to host York on Friday, are on the verge of a 20-win season after winning six of their last eight games since May 2.
“We’ve been swinging the bats pretty well for the most part and scoring a decent amount of runs,” said Wheaton North coach Dan Schoessling.
Find out what's happening in Wheatonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Falcons went on a home-run hitting binge on Wednesday while routing Naperville North 12-3. Senior , a University of Alabama-Birmingham recruit, slugged a home run and triple while driving in five runs vs. the Huskies. He’s hitting .366 on the year. Kevin Fahy also blasted a home run in the game.
Jake Schieber—who had a homer to go along with two singles and four RBIs in the Falcons’ 6-5 victory Monday over Naperville North—is leading the team in home runs (eight) and RBIs (27).
Find out what's happening in Wheatonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
On the mound, Andrew Mamlic posted victories over Naperville North on Tuesday and on May 6. “He’s been lights out for us,” Schoessling said. “He’s been spotting his fastball really well, gets ahead of the hitters and is able to mix his pitches well. He’s not walking a lot of guys so that makes things easier. He’s got really good command right now.”
The Falcons enjoyed a memorable run to the Class 4A supersectionals last spring. They’ll be hosting their own regional and begin play on Wednesday, May 25 against the winner of the Wheaton Warrenville South-Proviso West matchup (May 23).
Quoting coach Dan Schoessling
On the team’s offense: “We’ve been scoring a lot of runs lately—12 runs Wednesday, 15 on Tuesday (a 15-3 triumph over Naperville North). Last Friday (May 6) we won 11-9 (over Naperville Central). The bats have been picking us up on the days where we needed them to so that’s been the key for us.”
On the team’s defensive play: “We’ve struggled defensively being consistent. Some days we look very good; other times we’ve given the (opposing) team extra outs. That’s hurt us when we’re playing good teams. We let the top of the order back up there sooner than we should and that makes it tough on our pitchers.”
On the team’s pitching: “It’s definitely kept us in games most of the year, for most part. Throughout the year, the pitching has been good. There’s only one or two days I can think of that we have gotten beat because we’ve had a poor performance on the mound.”
On the most pleasant development this season, either individually or team-wise: “We’ve had quite a few juniors that have stepped up. Micah Penn and Kevin Fahy have swung the bats well. Ryan Jordan has done a really good job for us behind the plate. Jake Schieber is another junior who’s leading us in a lot of offensive categories.”
On the postseason: “The regionals are almost two weeks away so we just have to continue to build on what we’ve accomplished so far. We still have to have good practices. Anything can happen in the postseason. There’s two teams in our regional that have already beaten us (Glenbard North and Wheaton Warrenville South) so it’ll be a good challenge to walk away with a regional title, that’s for sure.”
