Lyons Township High School senior Jack Slightom has become used to Major League Baseball scouts coming in droves to watch him pitch. Last month, Prep Baseball Report ranked Slightom No. 4 in Illinois, No. 1 among Illinois pitchers and No. 113 nationally. The University of Cincinnati recruit is expected to be selected in the MLB draft, July 11-13.
“The first time (with scouts), it was cool. I was excited and the excitement kind of took over a little bit. The first outing was OK but then after that it was good,” Slightom said. “I just acted like they weren’t there. I usually don’t know who or how many until after the game, talking with my agent.”
In similar fashion, Slightom made some personal history, April 28, with his first no-hitter for the Lions in a 10-0 five-inning home victory over York.
“I didn’t really know until the fifth inning when it was over,” said Slightom, who struck out eight with one walk. “It was fun, especially being my first one here (at LT). It was pretty much fastball. I was just able to attack, just ride the whole game.”
The Lions (17-5, 8-2 in WSC Silver) won two of three against the Dukes (9-12, 5-7) to remain tied for first in the loss column with Hinsdale Central (14-7, 7-2).
Slightom is now 5-0 with no earned runs allowed and 49 strikeouts in 25.1 innings with six walks. Ratcliffe homered with three runs batted in.
In Friday’s 7-2 victory, freshman pitcher Tommy Cavaliere (4-0, 0.80 ERA) delivered a three-hitter with four strikeouts after York won 4-3, April 29, the Lions’ third loss by one or two runs. Nick Hines was 2 for 3 with three RBIs Friday.
“I would say overall our pitching has been pretty consistent. Our hitting has been inconsistent. Our defense has been inconsistent,” LTHS coach Kevin Diete said. “We’ve got to get those three phases together and then we’ll be a dangerous team.”
The battery of Slightom and catcher Justin Heydorn were among the nine seniors the Lions honored Saturday before their 7-3 WSC crossover loss to Downers Grove South.
Other seniors are Abe Caseres-Cuello, Tanner Fridrych, Tommy Georgelos, Dylan Justinich, Marco Morrone, Lou Ratcliffe and Lon Roberts. Caseres-Cuello (Milwaukee Tech), Fridrych (Illinois Wesleyan), Georgelos (Eastern Illinois), Heydorn (North Central), Morrone (Hamline), Ratcliffe (Wisconsin-Oshkosh) and Roberts (Webster) also plan to play college baseball. Justinich will attend Iowa.
“A lot of us have been on (varsity) since junior year. The dugout was absolutely buzzing with the juniors cheering for us,” Heydorn said.
“I think we have such a special group of guys. We’re just really dedicated and we have just a good camaraderie.”
The senior class has continued one team tradition from a couple of years ago – team breakfasts at the nearby Honey Bee Café in Western Springs, usually on Saturdays.
“This (senior) class is some of the tightest we’ve ever had. We don’t have a single kid that’s kind of odded out,” Slightom said. “All nine of us are completely together, bought in, always working.”
Heydorn continues quite an LTHS family tradition. His grandfather and father both attended the school.
His father, Jim Heydorn, was a longtime LTHS baseball coach on the sophomore and freshman levels. Justin now is witness to numerous fish frys at his house with other former LTHS baseball coaches, including former varsity head coaches George Ushela and Terry Sullivan.
“I’ll hear umpteen stories every year (about) this player, that player,” said Heydorn, who has been a catcher since his early days of Little League. His dad was a catcher at Carthage.
“It means a lot with my dad playing baseball and my grandfather attending here,” Heydorn said. “Being able to continue that is really special.”
There is also a special on-field relationship between Heydorn and Slightom.
Heydorn said they pretty much have free reign to call Slightom’s pitches. For other pitchers, LTHS assistant coach Ryan Malloy communicates with Heydorn through the PitchCom on-field device.
“It’s fun to be able to say, ‘Yeah, I catch the No. 1 pitcher in the state,’” Heydorn said.
“His command is so there. If I want it outside, it’s there. Inside, it’s there. That makes it so fun to work hitters when you have a guy that can execute on command.”
LTHS boys gymnastics
The Lyons Township boys gymnastics team is on the bubble for a ninth consecutive team berth to a state meet. The 10 highest-scoring sectional teams advance to the Illinois High School Gymnastics Coaches Association State Meet. Based on season-high score and the former sectional-seeding formula, the Lions enter the Downers Grove North Sectional Friday as the No. 11 seed.
The Lions scored a season-best 131.00 points Friday at the West Suburban Conference Meet after a previous-best 128.20 on Senior Night April 28 against Willowbrook/Addison Trail co-op (136.60).
“I do think we have a really good shot because these guys are hungry now. They see it,” LTHS coach Sam Zeman said. “(Senior Night) was a rough meet and we still had our highest score (to that point). And we know it’s just going to get better from here on out.”
The Lions were fourth at the Silver Meet and shared fourth with Hinsdale Central in the final overall standings.
TJ Carr (44.80) and Patrick Raddatz (42.10) were seventh and eighth in all-around and Dante Rodriguez (40.30) and Evan Ries (38.40) were 10th and 11th. Carr was fourth on still rings (8.7) and sixth on horizontal bar (8.1), Rodriguez tied for fourth on vault (8.9) was 10th on parallel bars (7.4) and tied for 10th on floor exercise (8.1) and Raddatz was seventh on parallel bars (8.2) and tied for seventh on pommel horse (6.9).