Apology and Explanation Season Review. ISSUE 22 Fall 2016 NEWSLETTER. Inside This Issue

Transcription

1 PORTER BASEBALL NEWSLETTER ISSUE 22 Fall 2016 Published by Porter Baseball Apology and Explanation As you probably are already aware, it has been quite awhile since the last newsletter was issued back during the 2016 season. A lot has happened in the meantime and we regret that much of what is in this issue might be considered old news. This issue will be a summary of our 2016 spring and summer seasons as well as what is happening this fall. There were several factors involved with the delay some of which were our fault and one big one that was out of our control. The big one was that the company that hosts our address (Comcast Xfinity) switched over to a new system. During this switch ALL of our contact groups (over 30) were lost. At that time we had over eleven hundred individual contact addresses of which over eight hundred were organized into those groups for ing purposes. After two months of waiting for the problem to be 2016 Season Review The start of the 2016 season was a challenge for all of us. Just before tryouts began, Coach Andy Satunas was called out of state to deal with a family emergency. This required that the coaches come together to plan and conduct which is, under normal circumstances, a challenging endeavor. Taking almost 100 athletes on 3 levels and using a multitude of facilities spread over a sprawling campus was what faced Porter coaches. But everyone pulled together, communicated long distance with Coach Satunas, and conducted a very successful week long tryout. The coaches would especially like to say thank you to all of the aspiring players who had to deal with ever changing times and locations and handled tryouts tremendously. After that first week in March our 4 teams (two freshman, sophomore and varsity) were finalized and began to practice in earnest. Just as in tryouts, times Inside This Issue Inside This Issue Explanation 1 Getting Started Season Review Writing Great Newsletter Articles Porters Movin On Up 1 2 Inserting Your Own Art Porters In College Season Updates 2 3 Booster Drawing Club Readers News to Other Articles An Article Special for Everyone Games Pictorial 83 Porter Fitting Baseball an Article Odd into a & Tight Ends Space 3mmmm 9 Alumni The Elements HR Derby/Softball a Newsletter Game 105 corrected, it was apparent that Comcast was not going to be able to recover the groups so the decision was made to go ahead and reconstruct our entire address book. Needless to say this took a tremendous amount of effort and time to complete. It is done. We apologize for this and we are taking steps to insure that this doesn t happen in the future. We are in the process of creating an additional account as a backup in case our primary account has problems again. and locations continued to be a challenge. Every level continued to practice with the target of the 3 rd week of March to be ready to play. The Porter varsity began a new season that emphasized tournament play. Half of their non-conference games (9 of 18) would be played in various tournaments. Had it not been for bad weather more tournament games would have been on our schedule (WJOL was cancelled). The Porters played in the Super Preps Tournament in Louisville where only 1 full game was played due to weather delays and time limitations put on the games. They also participated in the Tiger Classic in Edwardsville and the Steven Bajenski Memorial Tournament here in Illinois. The Porters finished the season and 10-4 (2 nd ) in the Southwest Suburban Blue Conference. Our lower levels experienced mixed success. The Please see REVIEW next page

2 Page 2 PORTER BASEBALL NEWSLETTER Review (CONT D) sophomore team experienced a roller coaster year, at times experiencing success and at others struggling. Overall, they finished the season and 7-7 (4 th ) in the SWSC Blue Conference. Our freshman teams had great success on both levels for different reasons. Our Freshman White squad had a shaky start going 2-7. However they rallied, worked very hard and stuck together to go 9-4 the rest of the season to finish Congrats to those players for a fine season. The Freshman Maroon squad had an absolutely awesome season going 30-3 that included a perfect 14-0 SWSC record which earned them the conference title. The future looks bright for these hard working, hard playing Porters. Congrats. The summer began immediately with tryouts held over a period of several days during which players underwent drills, practices and scrimmages. Two teams were determined and summer play began. The varsity again concentrated on tournament play instead of individually scheduled games with many players splitting time with countless travel teams. First up was the Battle of Omaha in early June. The Porters went 3-1 in the 19U event defeating teams from Missouri, North Dakota and Minnesota before losing to host Burke H.S. in the semi-final. Returning home the Porters hosted the Porter Wood Bat Classic Tournament before finishing in the Lockport Regional of the IHSBCA Summer Tournament. All in all it was a productive evaluative summer in which coaches learned a lot about the players returning for Porters Movin On Up! Cocco Hill Beaton Huber McGuire Stevens Before the 16 season began Porter Baseball proudly counted no fewer than 27 past players playing at the collegiate level. At the end of the 2016 season 6 more Porters committed to playing baseball at the next level. Anthony Cocco will attend Kaskaskia College in Centralia, IL, Stephen Hill will stay closer to home and play at South Suburban CC in South Holland, IL. Jake Beaton will attend Harper College in Palatine, IL, Jake Huber will travel to Rock Island and play for Augustana College while Joe McGuire and Mike Stevens will remain teammates and play for Black Hawk College in Moline, IL. Good luck to all of them.

3 PORTER BASEBALL NEWSLETTER Page COLLEGE SEASON FOR FORMER PORTERS At the start of the 2016 season no less than 27 former Porters were playing in college at various levels from Jr. College to Division I. There was also an alumnus that entered his first full season of professional baseball. Let s take a look at some of those and let you know how they did. JOSH ALTMANN (12 ) Josh started the season in spring training in Arizona and even played with the parent club Texas Rangers in a few games. After playing in extended spring training he was assigned to the Class A Hickory Crawdads in the South Atlantic League. Just this week he was promoted to the High Desert Mavericks of the California League which is advanced A. Last week,josh in 71 games with Hickory was batting.260 with 59 hits in 227 AB s with 6 HR and 30 RBI. He has played a variety of positions but is seeing a lot of time at 1B. RON SESSLER (13 ) After 2 great seasons at JJC, Ron moved to Judson University. In his first season with the Eagles (40-25) Ron started 62 games in the outfield. In 207 AB s, Ron had a batting average of.329 (3 rd ) with 68 hits, 9HR s and a slugging % of.551. He also had an excellent defensive season handling 90 of 92 chances for a.978 fielding %. DOUG MATTHEWS (13 ) Doug, a junior, played in 28 games for the Concordia Cougars. He batted.294 with 19 RBI. The big highlight of his season was in the Div. III Midwest Regional in LaCrosse, WI against St. John s U. With CUC trailing by 2 in the bottom of the 9 th inning, Doug came to the plate with 1 on and 2 outs. You guessed it, Doug hit an opposite field HR to tie the game. They now call it Matthews Magical Blast. The Cougars went on to drop that game in 11 innings. COLE BELLAIR (15 ) Cole had an outstanding 1 st year at Illinois becoming the first true freshman starting pitcher since 2013 and being named to the All-Big Ten Freshman team. He was equally successful out of the pen not allowing a run in 7 appearences. Cole appeared in 16 games and started 9. He had a 2-3 record with an awesome 3.34 ERA striking out 35 and walkng only 13 in 59.1 innings pitched.

4 Page 4 PORTER BASEBALL NEWSLETTER AUSTIN MASTELLA (12 ) Austin just completed his final season of college ball at Lewis U. He finished the 16 campaign starting 45 of 47 games for the Flyers batting.315 in 168 AB s including 53 hits, 4 HR s and 29 RBI. He also excelled defensively in the OF handling 54 of 56 chances for a.982 fldg. %. Mastella enjoyed a stellar career for Lewis playing in 142 games. He finished with a.311 batting avg. including 157 hits (29 2B, 2 3B, 17 HR) and 95 RBI. He also had an awesome career fielding % of.984 handling 242 of 246 chances in four yrs. averaging only 1 error per season! Congrats on a great collegiate career, we are proud of you. CONNOR RYAN (13 ) Connor, a junior for the UIC Flames, had a breakout year appearing in 18 games, starting 12. In 66.2 IP, Connor finished with a 3.78 ERA and a 2-3 record. He ranked 9 th in the Horizon League ERA leaders and opponent avg. A highlight of the season was being named Horizon League Pitcher of the Week after tossing 7 hitless innings vs. Oakland. He also had a 13 inning scoreless streak and posted 4 scoreless streaks of 5 innings or more. TOMMY HOOK (12 ) Tommy just completed the 2016 season for the NIU Huskies as a redshirt junior. A versatile player who has literally played all over the field (except P), Hook appeared in 47 games and finished with a.262 BA with 45 hits in 172 AB s including 17 RBI. His defensive credentials were outstanding handling 174 of 178 chances for a.990 fldg. %. Tommy also returns to us each summer to be one of our youth camp instructors and is especially popular with our campers for his enthusiasm and love of the game. JEREMY QUADE (15 ) Q had a great freshman year for the North Central College Cardinals starting all 43 games as an outfielder. He finished with an awesome.316 BA with 190 AB s including 60 hits and 22 RBI. He also had 10 2B s and 24 of 28 SB s. He led the Cardinals in AB s (190 which is 1 st on the All Time North Central list), SB s (24) and Runs Scored (46). Defensively, playing mostly CF, Jeremy handled ALL 125 chances for an amazing fldg. %. JAKE STANTON (14 ) Big Jake, a sophomore catcher for the Big Blue of Millikin U., started 11 games and made 35 plate appearences. In that limited role Jake batted.257 with 14 RBI and 4 HR s.

5 Page 5 PORTER BASEBALL NEWSLETTER RUSS HOH (14 ) Russ was a major contributor to North Central s great season appearing in 11 games starting 7. In 50 innings, Russ posted an awesome 1.80 ERA which led the team. He yielded only 10 ER and held opponents to a.246 BA. He had an equally outstanding BB/K ratio giving up only 9 BB to 38 K s. A highlight of his season was earning Pitcher of the Week in the CCIW Conference April 5 th. CCIW Conference rankings were 1 st in ERA, 1 st in ER Allowed, 2 nd in BB Allowed, 4 th in Opp. BA. NICK DAVITO (12 ) Nick, a red-shirted junior for the Lewis U. Flyers, came back with a strong 2016 campaign. He made 19 appearences on the mound all in relief. He finished 4-0 with 2 saves in 21 IP and an ERA of He had an excellent BB/K ration of 5/16. He will be looked upon for major innings for the Flyers in the 2017 season. MIKE FORMELLA (14 ) Forms made 17 appearences and starting 9 for the Concordia Courgars as a sophomore. In 60 IP, Mike had an ERA of 5.55 allowing 37 earned runs while striking out 37 opposing batters. A highlight of his season was striking out 5 St. Joseph batters in a 9 inning complete game 3 hit win. NOAH MASA (14 ) Noah had his 2016 season shortened by a season ending knee injury after appearing in eight games. In those 8 appearences Noah pitched 14 innings and posted an ERA of 3.77 while having no decisions and 1 save for the UIC Flames. He did have an excellent BB/K ratio of 5/15. Noah is expected to make a full recovery and be a major part of UIC s 2017 season. MATT DEGRAW (12 ) Here is an update on Matt, who missed his entire 2016 season due to shoulder surgery and was redshirted. According to our very reliable source, he has recovered well and will look to be back in the starting rotation for the Saints. A hard worker, there is no doubt about that. In his 1 st year (2015) for the Saints after a great career at JJC, Matt appeared in 11 games starting 4 and posting a 1-2 record with an ERA of 5.68 in 25+ innings.

6 Page 6 PORTER BASEBALL NEWSLETTER AVERY LOCHOW (14 ) Avery just finished his 2 nd season for Purdue Calumet (which has been renamed Purdue Northwest). He appeared in 21 games, starting 9 and finished with a.250 batting avg. and stealing 3 of 5 bases. THOMAS SMITH (13 ) Smitty finished up his career at Joliet Junior College playing in 61 games for the Wolves with an outstanding.332 BA. He made 216 plate appearences with 68 hits (10 for extra bases) 30 RBI and scoring 40 runs. Thomas had a.385 OBP and.385 SLG% as well. Defensively, Smitty posted a.954 Fldg. % (285 TC/13 E) including assisting in turning 34 DP and 152 Assists. Thomas will be playing for St. Francis University next season. DAVIS PURVIANCE (15 ) Davis had an outstanding freshman year at Joliet Junior College. He finished the season hitting.347 with 50 hits in 144 AB s (14 for extra bases) and 14 RBI. His OBP was.424 with a SLG % of.444. An offensive highlight of his season was his game vs. Jefferson in which he went 5 for 6 including a 2B and 3B. His season was temporarily halted early when Davis ran into an OF fence catching a flyball that broke several bones in his face. Returning, Davis didn t miss a beat. Defensively he made 75 of 79 chances for a.949 Fldg. %. JEFF PATTISON (13 ) Jeff completed his career at JJC appearing in 37 games for the Wolves and had 82 AB s with 12 hits and 9 RBI. TED SNIDANKO (13 ) Ted saw limited action at Purdue appearing in 17 games and starting 3..

7 PORTERS BASEBALL NEWSLETTER Page 7 TREVOR CIELENSKI (15 ) In his first collegiate season, Tervor saw limited action for the Kougars of Kishwaukee College. In 42 plate appearences he batted.229 with 8 hits, 11 runs and 3 RBI. JORDAN JOHNSTON (15 ) Jordan just completed his 1 st season at Heartland Community College. He made 10 appearences for the Hawks including 1 start. In 11+ innings Jordan had a 1-2 record with 2 saves. Other Porters in college were TYLER HAIR (15 ) who was red-shirted his freshman year at Northern State U. (SD). AUSTIN MORALIS (15 ) suffered an arm injury his freshman year at Heartland CC and missed the entire season. Both Hair and Moralis are looking towards next year. BEN WISHBA (15 ) was with North Central College but later transferred to St. Xavier U. DEREK BANGERT (13 ) had attended two yrs. at Heartland CC and then received a scholarship to play at Middle Tennessee St. but a shoulder injury ended his season there. Derek is now planning on attending and playing for Bradley University in Peoria in CHRIS GRAZIOLI (14 ) was a member of the St. Mary s U. (MN) baseball program. Booster Club New Website and Other News The Porter Baseball Booster Club chose new officers at their June meeting. Chris Bentley was elected as President while Dana Ruane (Vice-President), Ray Fedor (Treasurer) and Pam Strysik (Secretary) all return for another term. Patti Heintz (Director of Player Book/Photography)and Denise Salvino (Direcor of Sponsorships) also return in the same capacity. The Boosters have developed a new and separate website that better meets the needs of their organization. You can access that website at You can also contact any of the officers directly by through this site. In addition, the site has links to a picture gallery, minutes of meetings and to special events sponsored by the Boosters. A special link is dedicated to the Strikeout Cancer Day event which this year raised a record $10,500 for pediatric cancer and the Mark Staehely Foundation. The site hopes to act as a means to communicate to parents at all levels about coming booster events and to timely and important information throughout the season. Soon to appear on the site will be a schedule of monthly meeting dates and times. Most meetings in the fall and winter are held at Lockport East in the Maroon Room at 7:00pm. During the season meetings are moved to Flink Field. The annual Flink Field Cleanup will soon be scheduled for late September or early October. Parents, coaches and players volunteer 3-4 hours to ready Flink for winter. We also paint and/or repair any facility as needed.

8 PORTERS BASEBALL NEWSLETTER Page Special Event Games in Pictures On April 29 th, the baseball program s Alumni Night honored its All-State players. 19 former players and families attended. Players representing Porter teams from 1955 to 2013 were in attendance as well as former head coaches Clyde Odle and Jim Hall. (pictured: Kneeling (l-r) Nick Mitidero (05 ), Eric Sternberg (05 ), Bill Malinowski (61 ), Bruce Fulton (61 ). Standing (l-r) Derek Bangert (13 ), Mike Serafini (00 ), Tom Lammers representing Jake Christensen (05 ), Kevin Troc (01 ), Jeff Stanek (98 ), Ron Coomer (84 ), Rich Gardner (86 ), Bill Mondrella(88 ), Jon Manley (87 ), Jon Cisna (09 ), Jerry Pius (59 ), Bob & Ray Ballentine representing Chuck Ballentine (63 ), Rollie Bolattino (61 ), Coach Odle, Bill Haller representing Tom Haller (55 ) and Coach Hall. The Porter varsity is joined by the team from JCA at home plate to honor and show appreciation to all of those Americans who have and are serving in our nation s armed forces. Several veterans attended and LTHS staff member Lt. Col. George Pohlmann (in the gold Army sweater) threw out the first pitch. Military Appreciation Night on April 22 nd is an annual event which was started and continues to be organized by former Porter coach Dave Jeglinski. 5 years ago, head coach Andy Satunas began this special day with the help of former A.D. Kent Irvin. Satunas wanted his program to do more than just play baseball and thought that a day of raising money for a good cause AND playing baseball was just the ticket. LTHS A.D. Kent Irvin had a family connection to the MARK STAEHELY PEDIATRIC CANCER FOUNDATION and the Strikeout Cancer Day was born. In the last 5 years we have raised over $40, for this charity was a record year raising $10,500. Our Boosters, the LTHS softball program and the Minooka baseball program s dedication to this day has been tremendous & should be congratulated. On Friday Night, April 15 th, the Porters hosted players from the youth baseball organizations that serve the LTHS communities of Lockport, Homer and Crest Hill. As you can see from the pictures above, the players had a great time meeting some of the Porters and their coaches in the varsity dugout before the game with Joliet West. Local youth players from Crest Hill Baseball, Lockport Boys Baseball, Homer Athletic Club and various other local travel organizations participated in our pregame festivities for the Porters, which included lining up on the 3B line for the national anthem and taking the field.

9 PORTERS BASEBALL NEWSLETTER Baseball Alumni Baseball Game Former Head Coach Jim Hall is hosting his annual Porter Baseball Alumni Day on Sunday, October 2 at Flink Field. It is being scheduled during LTHS Homecoming Weekend to coincide with the Porters football game vs. Bolingbrook on Friday, Sept. 30 th. HR DERBY..1 pm SOFTBALL GAME.2 pm Page 9 A Proposal for Porter Baseball There s an old saying that goes; once a Porter always a Porter. This past year we received an odd request from former Porter SS/OF Kyle Billig that exemplified this saying. Kyle (10 ) was wondering if we could leave the gate to Flink Field open one Sunday afternoon. We often get requests from players like this. Usually it s so they can get extra hitting in the cages, etc. Later we found out that hitting baseballs was the last thing on his mind. Coach Hall is providing the main food and beverages but is asking those that do attend to bring a dish to pass. He would also like for those that plan on attending to please contact him so that he can determine the amount of food and beverage to provide: jimhallbaseball@comcast.net Passings Porter baseball was saddened this past year with the passing of Pete Fulton (63 ) in July of Pete was an All-State 1B for the Porters on Coach Kappmeyer s 63 Final Four team. He was a 3 sport All-Stater in football and basketball as well as baseball. Pete is a member of the LTHS Hall of Fame. His nephew Tom (90 ) and great nephew Collin Cronberg (15 ) were also players for the Porters. The Porter baseball family was also saddened when Alan Satunas, the father of head coach Andy Satunas, passed away in February just before tryouts for the 2016 season were to begin. The entire program pulled together in support of Coach Satunas and completed a very successful week of tryouts as Coach was with his family. You see, what he really wanted to do at Flink was to get down on one knee and propose marriage. On the field where Kyle played for the Porters, he asked Danni Wydra to be his bride. The wedding is September 16, Congratulations Kyle and Danni! Porters Pieces (Odds and Ends) Who is this guy?????? You might not recognize this Porter from 2013 from these pictures only. BUT, if it were an audio clue most of us who were around this Porter would know EXACTLY who he is. The audio would probably be very VERY long and contain a rapid fire delivery. All kidding aside this young man was a great teammate, a very coachable player and a major contributor both on and off the field for the Porters. ANSWER: ORTEIPIDALOC EKIM:

10 Go Porters! Where Winning Is Tradition A Porter Baseball Newsletter PUBLICATION Porters Baseball Coach Andy Satunas (asatunas@lths.org) Lockport Township High School 1333 East Seventh Street Lockport, Illinois Phone: Fax: We re on the Web! Visit us at: porterbaseball.org porterbball@comcast.net