April 20 was Andrew Hagins Day as the Oak Park and River Forest High School varsity baseball team conducted a pregame ceremony for the class of 2006 graduate who died suddenly last December.
Before a large crowd at OPRF’s new baseball field, Toni Hagins delivered an emotional speech that emphasized how much her son loved Huskies’ baseball and what it stands for — brotherhood, community, and family. Several of Hagins’ teammates were present, and Mrs. Hagins threw out a ceremonial first pitch to the roar of the crowd.Â
Bobby Fratto (left), a teammate of Andrew Hagins, presents Toni and Mike Hagins with a commemorative jersey of their son’s #25 during the pregame ceremony on Andrew Hagins Day, April 20. | Carol Dunning 
Nadia Abuomar, Andrew Hagins’s fiancee, releases a pigeon during the Andrew Hagins Day pregame ceremony, April 20, as Toni Hagins watches. | Carol Dunning 
Toni Hagins, mother of late Oak Park and River Forest baseball alum Andrew Hagins, delivers a speech during the pregame ceremony on Andrew Hagins Day, April 20, with the current OPRF varsity baseball team watching in the background. Each player wore Hagins’s #25 on tshirts during the ceremony. | Carol Dunning
The ceremony lit a fire in the OPRF team, and they honored Hagins in a way he surely would have approved, routing visiting Hinsdale South 13-2 in five innings.
“We obviously knew Andrew was a great baseball player,” said OPRF coach Kevin Campbell. “But what OPRF meant to Andrew, and what Andrew meant to OPRF baseball, was just inspiring. That was the message we sent to our guys throughout the entire week, and obviously by the outcome of the game, they really took that message and ran with it.”
After starting pitcher Johnny Nelson escaped a jam in the top half of the first inning, OPRF (9-10) went to work in the bottom half. Ethan Moore led off with a walk, and back-to-back balks by Hinsdale South pitcher Leydon Spang moved him to third. Timmy Leark and Mason Phillips drew walks to load the bases, then Brady Green unloaded them with a grand slam to left.
“I just stepped in the box trying to have fun,” said Green. “[Spang] just threw an elevated fastball, and I put a good swing on it. The wind helped a lot.”
“One of the things we teach our guys in that situation is hunt the fastball,” Campbell said. “Brady did exactly that, and we built off that energy the rest of the game.”
The Huskies added a fifth run in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Slade. In the second inning, an error by Moore, followed by consecutive walks put Nelson in a tricky situation with no outs. But he was able to limit the damage to two runs, and OPRF got one of them back in the bottom half when Moore scored on a wild pitch.
Oak Park and River Forest pitcher Johnny Nelson prepares to fire against Hinsdale South, April 20. The sophomore allowed two runs in two innings but minimized the damage as the Huskies rolled to a 13-2 victory. | Carol Dunning 
Oak Park and River Forest High School’s Brady Green (#22) is greeted at home plate by teammates after hitting a first-inning grand slam against Hinsdale South, April 20. The Huskies’ rolled to a 13-2 victory. | Carol Dunning
“Johnny’s a high-projection arm for us,” Campbell said. “He pitches with a lot of intensity, and we think he’s going to play a really big role for us going forward.”
Leading 6-2, the Huskies put things away with a seven-run fourth inning. Moore hit a two-run homer down the right-field line. Joe Leshnock got an RBI on a fielder’s choice, Slade had a two-run double, and Anderson Koch delivered a two-run single.
Peter Farren relieved Nelson and allowed two hits over three innings.
“Peter’s been one of our best arms out of the pen all year,” Campbell said.
OPRF entered the Hinsdale South game having lost seven of the previous nine, but the Huskies feel confident things are about to turn around.
“After a day like today and what this meant not only for our team, school, and community, I think this is the turning point of the season,” Campbell said.
“We needed today very bad,” Green said. “It helped put us in the right direction as a team. Our boys are ready to go.”