Seniors Eli Costello and Marco Villardito were among the most improved returnees this season for the Riverside Brookfield High School baseball team. The pair joined senior Damian Noa and junior Nick Baca on the All-Upstate Eight Conference East Division Team.
“I just came in more open-minded, tried new things with my batting stance. Some things worked. Some things didn’t,” said Costello, who improved his batting average to .389 with a team-best 24 walks. “I really focused on two-strike hitting. I had a decent amount of two-strike hits, which led me to get more walks. I think the zone that I painted in my eye was a lot better at the plate.”
Once again, the Bulldogs suffered a tight and tough Class 4A Regional semifinal loss, this time 6-2 to Whitney Young in the Young Regional semis on the Dolphins’ home field after taking a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. RBHS (20-12), the sectional’s No. 7 seed, beat No. 11 Whitney Young 4-2 back on March 20.
“It’s a tough sectional. We knew this was going to be a good game. We had the momentum early,” RBHS coach Mark Ori said. “We didn’t do anything to lose that game. They just did a few more things ting to win it. It was a great baseball game, high energy all the way on both strikes. Pitchers threw strikes and competed.”
Besides reaching 20 wins, the Bulldogs finished second in the UEC East to Glenbard East. Season highlights included beating Montini after a 2025 loss, Lyons Township and Maine South.
“We had a solid year, successful season. We had some big wins,” Ori said. “We surprised a lot of people. Some people thought it was going to be a down year. We battled through some injuries and had a great season,” said Villardito, who hopes to walk on at Illinois Chicago. “I couldn’t have asked for a better year. I felt like I made an impact on every game.”
The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead with one out as Costello walked, Baca doubled and Connor Dominick had an RBI single. Michael Kallas walked and Braeden Novak had an RBI single to load the bases, but a double play ended the threat.
RBHS had one runner reach second over the next three innings. The game ended with two strikeouts after the Bulldogs loaded the bases.
Whitney Young tied the game with runs in the fourth and fifth innings followed by two runs in the sixth and seventh. Noa (4 strikeouts) pitched the first 5.2 innings before being relieved by senior Ronnie Murray (2 strikeouts).
Injuries to Noa, Nico Caputo and Jack MacLennan affected the lineup. Freshman James Organ was a late call-up to play center field. Kallas overcame a knee injury that hampered his football and swimming seasons to play in 19 games.
LTHS baseball
Lyons Township outfielder Tommy Georgelos was grateful for a healthy senior season, especially after missing the end of the 2025 regular season and state playoffs with a hamstring injury.
“Injuries are always frustrating and annoying, staying there watching,” Georgelos said. “That definitely drove and motivated me this season. It was nice to make it through the whole season and being there with all of my teammates.”
Georgelos provided a spark Saturday with a run-scoring triple in the bottom of the first inning of the Class 4A Reavis Regional final, but the No. 3-seeded Lions finished with just four hits and lost to the host Rams 4-1.
No. 6 Reavis (24-12) went ahead in the top of the second with three runs helped by two errors and added a run in the fourth. Pitcher Jim Avila won his 11th game with five strikeouts, three walks and one hit batter.
This was only the third time the Lions scored one or no runs, the previous two also losses in West Suburban Conference Silver Division play.
“I thought we were off to a good start and we only got four hits. You’re not going to win many games by not hitting and not scoring runs,” LTHS coach Kevin Diete said. “I know people are going to be looking at who we should have thrown but it could go either way. I’m proud of our guys for fighting. Especially towards the end of the season we won some tough games and we lost some tough games. I give a ton of credit to (Reavis). They played good defense and got the hits when they needed to.”
Leadoff hitter Parker Zasada’s apparent deep fly out to right-center field ended up dropping and brought in two runs to give the Rams a 3-1 lead. The inning began with a walk by starting pitcher Charlie Danaher, followed by a single, infield throwing error that scored the first run and first baseman Lou Ratcliffe throwing out a runner at the plate.
Owen Cypress relieved in the fourth, striking out three of the four hitters he faced. Standout senior Jack Slightom pitched the sixth and the seventh with two strikeouts and a bad-hop single. In the fourth, Georgelos hit a leadoff double and Brady Koren walked but Georgelos was stranded at third. The Rams also pulled off two double plays.
“Our sectional is definitely the hardest in the state. That’s how you want it to be. You want to play and beat the best,” Georegelos said. “Reavis is good and played well and that’s baseball but we definitely feel like we had more in us. We wanted to go farther and make the best run we could.”
The Lions shared their first Silver title since 2019 with seniors Slightom and Lon Roberts, junior Blake Ragsdale and freshman pitcher Tommy Cavaliere earning All-WSC Silver honors.
“That was a big goal we had going into the season,” Georgelos said. “Everyone was happy after that Downers North win (9-4 in 8 innings to tie). That was the best moment of the season.”
Nazareth baseball
The Roadrunners (27-9) won their ninth straight regional Saturday by beating Timothy Christian 10-2 in the 3A Nazareth Regional final. Landon Thome (3 for 4, triple, double) and Kamran Alikhan (home run, 3 RBIs) led the No. 2-seed Roadrunners, who play No. 3 Montini Wednesday in the Nazareth Sectional semifinals.