Riverside Brookfield High School pitcher Wyatt Murphy has no aspirations of playing college or professional baseball — which has helped him approach his senior season with excitement and freedom, like snowboarding, one of his favorite pastimes.
“I’m enjoying [baseball] more, definitely,” Murphy said. “I’m getting the bittersweet feeling of it going away, but just kind of playing more loose because it’s my last year.”
Following his last outing Thursday at Ehlert Park, Murphy didn’t even realize he delivered four no-hit innings in the Bulldogs’ 12-1 five-inning Metro Suburban Conference victory over Elmwood Park.
RBHS (11-9, 4-0 in MSC) has won four straight and six of its last seven, heading into a busy week, including Friday’s 2 p.m. game against Libertyville at America Family Field, the home stadium of the Milwaukee Brewers. Admission is free.
Cooper Marrs was 4 for 4 Thursday with a home run, triple and four runs batted in. Sean Campbell was 3 for 3 with two RBIs, and Tohma Tucker had an RBI double.
Murphy had five strikeouts. One unearned run came in the third after one walk, one hit batter, a wild pitch and a run-scoring ground out. Robert Drake threw a 1-2-3 fifth with two called strikeouts to end the game.
“I had a few flukes and walks. Not the best start for me, but it was all right,” Murphy said.
Murphy has a 4-1 record, 1.39 earned-run average and 45 strikeouts in 35.1 innings with a five-inning no-hitter against Westmont on April 18. He’s most pleased about his one loss — five strikeouts and five hits allowed over four innings with no earned runs in the 12-3 loss to two-time defending Class 3A state champion Nazareth Academy on March 26.
“It’s definitely the best game I’ve had either in a while or ever,” Murphy said.
Pride in his pitching is a trait he’s developed from older brother Owen, who is pitching professionally with the Rome (Georgia) Emperors, the Atlanta Braves’ high Class A affiliate.
“It was insane motivation for me with baseball and just stuff outside of school, just seeing him succeed and the amount of work he put in made me want to put more work in,” Murphy said.
“[Owen] kind of motivated me to continue baseball, high-school-wise, but it motivated me to kind of look into my own interests. It made me look into myself more. I know I really don’t want to do baseball as a job. I started learning guitar, looking into engineering, started building stuff.”
Another of Murphy’s interests is to build spaceships. He plans to study aerospace engineering at Arizona State or Colorado State.
“I’ve always loved snowboarding, so I’ve always wanted to go out west, just be in the mountains,” he said.
Unfortunately for Murphy, a snowboarding injury to his left shoulder affected his pitching last season. While it was his non-throwing shoulder, the separation and partial tear affected his mechanics.
“I was still probably throwing the same speed but way off to the left, way off to the right,” Murphy said.
“He didn’t really start throwing his best until his last couple of starts,” RBHS coach Mark Ori said.
“He’s throwing harder. He just looks a lot stronger this year. Since game one, he’s just had a little extra, a little go on his fastball. He looks polished. He could [play in college].”
Marrs (.371, 3 HR, 14 RBIs) and Campbell (.351, 1 HR, 10 RBI) remain among the Bulldogs’ top hitters, with Gino Pigoni (.385, 13 RBI) and Jaden Despe (.306, 12 RBI).
Marrs (3-0, 1.07 ERA, 20 strikeouts in 18.2 innings) also has been pitching strong after battling an offseason wrist injury. Drake is 2-0 with 24 strikeouts in 18.2 innings.