For senior Sean Campbell and his Riverside Brookfield High School baseball teammates, it’s definitely a season of new opportunities. Besides the Bulldogs joining the Upstate Eight Conference, they have two more trips to special venues similar to last year’s game at American Family Field, the home of Major League Baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers. Campbell, fellow 2024 All-Metro Suburban Conference selection Jaden Despe and several other returnees make the Bulldogs optimistic.
“Our team is good at playing a good solid defense that our pitchers can rely on,” said Campbell, one of those pitchers and the starting shortstop. “I think this year our lineup has more depth to it and this leads to us having a better pitching staff.”
Last season, the Bulldogs finished 15-16 and won their final MSC campaign with a 4-1 record, not playing Westmont a second time. They lost to Kenwood 12-4 in the semifinals of the Class 4A Nazareth Academy Regional.
“Our goal is to compete for a conference championship and win a regional. From there it is one game at a time,” RBHS coach Mark Ori said.
Center fielder Despe had a .316 batting average in 2024 with a home run and 17 runs batted in. Campbell (.310, 16 RBIs, 5 doubles, team-high 11 stolen bases in 12 attempts) provided similar numbers.
“My 2024 personal success has carried over by still working hard on the things that I discovered that were in my ability,” Campbell said.
Seniors Aiden Pankros and Michael Oppegard are veterans for the pitching staff. Pankros had a 1.49 earned-run average and 29 strikeouts in 30 innings with a 1-2 record in 11 games on three starts. Oppegard (2-5, 4.07 ERA) had 21 strikeouts in his 20.2 innings pitched.
Pankros is coming off his first individual berth at the state boys swimming and diving meet in the 50-yard freestyle.
Right fielder Ethan Smith (HR, 16 runs), second baseman Brady McCallum (HR, 8 RBIs) and outfielder Zach Ryzewski (6 RBIs), all seniors, played at least 20 games in 2024. Seniors Gino Pigoni (C) and Ethan Rivas (OF) and juniors Ronnie Murray (P) and Aiden Polich (P/OF) also return.
Murray should be a key addition to the pitching staff as well as two junior newcomers, third baseman/pitcher Damian Noe and first baseman/pitcher Eli Costello. Other newcomers are juniors Andrew Baez (pitcher), Ben Biskupic (infield/catcher), Tommy Bogden (second base/pitcher), William Darrah (catcher), Connor Dominick (infield/outfield/pitcher), Michael Kallas (outfield), Finn Lubeck (pitcher), Josiah Navarro (outfield/pitcher) and Marco Villardito (outfield/infield/pitcher).
The Bulldogs have games against Oak Lawn at the Schaumburg Boomers stadium April 11 and Lincoln-Way East at Northwestern University, May 2.
“The ultimate team goal is to win state but overall to just grow and improve as a team,” Campbell said.
LTHS baseball
Another 20-win season for the Lyons Township baseball team in 2024 still ended with the feeling of unfinished business.
The Lions (21-12) started the season 11-3 but ended 3-8, including a six-game losing streak that ultimately cost them a chance at their first West Suburban Conference Silver Division title since 2019. They also lost to talented Brother Rice 4-1 in the Class 4A Brother Rice Regional final after winning two straight regional titles.
“It was a great year, but we kind of fell apart a little bit at the end of the year,” LTHS senior Luke Nicholaus said. “Really for us, it kind of ended on a bad note a little bit. But the fact that our team beat the state champs (Providence Catholic 4-2 last May 15), and I think this year we’re even better, that’s a positive.”
Outfielder Nicholaus and Division I senior pitcher Tucker King are returning 2024 All-WSC Silver selections and among another solid lineup with already five college-bound players.
King (University of Cincinnati) and Nicholaus (Olivet Nazarene), both third-year starters, and senior pitcher Mercer Kranz (Rock Valley) are set for next season. Verbally committed are junior outfielder Tommy Georgelos (Eastern Illinois) and sophomore Blake Ragsdale (Texas Christian), the starting shortstop his freshman year.
“Last season’s success as a group has carried over tremendously. Just the way it all ended so fast took a toll on everybody,” King said. “We still vividly remember a team that we beat earlier in the season (Brother Rice) celebrate all over us. It has pushed all of us to work extra hard this offseason and make sure that we do not let anything like that happen again, hopefully.”
King was 7-1 in 2024 with a 2.36 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 35.2 innings, and limited opponents to a .198 batting average. Kranz struck out 22 in 22 innings.
Nicholaus (.345, 2 HR, 17 RBIs, 9 extra-base hits) was among the Lions’ most consistent hitters. Ragsdale had 16 RBIs, 21 runs and nine stolen bases in 32 games.
Senior pitcher/first baseman Dom Pisciotti (2-0, 3.76 ERA, 25 strikeouts in 22.1 innings) also returns coming off his outstanding season as starting quarterback this past football season. Senior outfielder Cam Clarke (.250 in 22 games), senior infielder/outfielder Noah Fitzgerald (.385 in 13 games) and senior pitchers Luka Luburic and Mac McCarthy also are varsity returnees.
“We’ve got a lot of good pitchers coming back,” LTHS coach Kevin Diete said. “(As a team) we’ve tried to say, let’s use (last season) as fuel to your fire and let’s continue to get better.”
Junior Division I prospect Jack Slighton (7 strikeouts in 5 innings) will join King in the starting rotation and also plays catcher and infield.
Besides the key addition of center fielder Georgelos, Diete said Nicholaus may switch or rotate to right field after playing left field the past two seasons.
Three other key new juniors are infielders Lou Ratcliffe and Lon Roberts and catcher Justin Heydorn. Other varsity newcomers are senior catchers Angelo Lundeen and Stephen Kudia, senior pitcher Danny Kienzle, junior pitcher/infielders Tanner Fridrych and Jaedyn Martinez, junior pitchers Dylan Justinich and Marco Morrone.
Pitcher Evan Gardner and Ragsdale could be joined by other sophomores depending on how the season progresses.
“The team strengths so far are how disciplined everyone is and how everyone just has a passion for being great,” King said. “We all just want to do whatever it takes to win.”
Last season’s 12-6 Silver record finished second to Downers Grove North (16-2), which swept LTHS in their late-season three-game series.
Another tough sectional is expected to once again include Nazareth Academy and Mt. Carmel, besides Brother Rice.
“We’ve just got to be consistent,” Diete said. “We were real consistent in the first third and middle third last year. It was our last third where we kind of started to fizzle out. We’ve talked a little more about conditioning. (We hope to) make sure we’re able to push ourselves in the long run and not fatigue as much as the season progresses.”
