If all goes well for the OPRF baseball team in the Class 4A playoffs, the Huskies will have the opportunity to erase a bad memory of Standard Bank Stadium in Crestwood.
OPRF is to kick-off its trek to the ballfield, home of the super-sectional title game on June 2, against either Farragut or Kelly today (Wednesday, 4 p.m.) in the opening round of its own regional.
Standard Bank Stadium certainly isn’t a foreign ballpark to the OPRF baseball team, but the two games the Huskies played there this season left a bad impression on the team. Earlier in the season, Lyons Township got the better of OPRF (24-9) with a 9-6 and 3-2 doubleheader sweep at the ballpark. The Huskies could face their West Suburban (Silver) Conference rival again in the Mt. Carmel Sectional title game on May 31, and the Lions (19-9-1) may still be reeling from losing the conference title to OPRF.
“There are quite a few scenarios that can play out with this sectional,” said OPRF head coach Chris Ledbetter. “It’s certainly a tough sectional, and I’m just glad we are playing well at this point in the season, especially with coming off winning the conference title.”
The Huskies head into the playoffs with three dominant pitchers in Drew Golz, Kyle Glancy and Scott Rasley. Golz, who will play college ball next year at the Air Force Academy, is 5-1 with a 2.19 ERA. Glancy is 6-3 with an ERA of 1.41 in 39 1/3 innings pitched. Rasley (4-3) has fanned 47 batters in a little over 40 innings on the mound.
The Huskies may also be in line for a re-match with cross-town rival Fenwick, who they shutout 5-0 on May 9. The Friars (19-8) have struggled with consistency this season, but with a slew of power hitters in Reid Rooney, Mike Falsetti, Joe Ketcik and Mike Stephany, could pose a threat coming out of the Lyons Regional. They are likely to take on LT at Lyons on Saturday at 2 p.m. In Fenwick’s 15-1 rout of St. Joseph last week, Ketcik went 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Rooney and Falsetti both had multiple hits that scored runs in the Friars’ 6-2 win over Nazareth on Saturday.
But in order to take on its cross-town rival, Fenwick will first need to get through LT and then No. 1-seed Mt. Carmel on the Caravan’s home field.
“It’s not exactly the position we want to be in,” said Fenwick head coach Dave Hogan, regarding the possible playoff scenarios, after his team lost a 9-8 nail-biter to St. Ignatius on May 10.
The Huskies, seeded No. 2 in the Morton Sectional, are likely to take on Morton (No. 7 seed) for the regional championship at OPRF on Saturday (1 p.m.).
