Prep Baseball: Warriors ready for playoff push

Carter Ward has been a big run producer for Westminster Christian, but an injury could limit him in the postseason.
(Shauna Bittle/Staff Photographer)

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Westminster Christian began preparing for the 2008 Class 1A playoffs 347 days ago.

That's when the Warriors saw their 2007 postseason run come to an end with a 12-1 loss against Pickneyville in the Class A state quarterfinals at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.

Ever since that time, Westminster's primary focus has been on returning to Joliet for the second year in a row, and that quest gets under way Wednesday in the semifinals of the Ashton-Franklin Center Regional when the Warriors take on the winner of today's play-in game between No. 11 Paw Paw and No. 9 Kirkland-Hiawatha.

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With every player from last year's squad returning this spring, expectations were higher than ever for Westminster. So far, the Warriors have largely lived up to the hype, earning the No. 1 seed in their sub-sectional and compiling a 22-9 record against a challenging schedule that included only two fellow Class 1A teams.

"Our whole schedule that we put together this year was geared toward seeing the best competition possible so we'd be prepared at the end of the season," Westminster coach Jeff Moeller said. "I think we've played a pretty good schedule for single A."

Meanwhile, St. Edward, Hampshire and Genoa-Kingston are also beginning postseason play on the Class 2A level this week. The Whip-Purs and Cogs both will compete at the Stillman Valley Regional while the Green Wave is heading to the Aurora Christian Regional.

Here is a regional-by-regional look at the upcoming postseason:

• At Ashton-Franklin Center Class 1A Regional Offensive success combined with solid pitching have been Westminster's keys to success this season.

The Warriors are averaging nine runs per game and have five players batting .365 or better. Senior Cory Hodge is enjoying tremendous success at the plate, leading the area through last Friday with a .538 average and 38 runs scored to go along with four home runs and 23 RBIs.

Seniors Ben Palmer and Casey Schuring and junior Brandon Siewert anchor the Warriors' pitching rotation. Palmer is the ace of the staff and sports a 5-3 record, a 1.57 ERA and 73 strikeouts.

Westminster could potentially be without catcher Carter Ward, who is a key part of the team's offensive attack with an area-best seven home runs and 41 RBIs. He missed the Warriors' previous four games with a right hamstring injury and his earliest possible return would be Saturday's regional final.

The Warriors have been scuffling going into the postseason, losing five of their past six games. However, with Westminster hosting the sectional, there is plenty of inspiration for the Warriors to capture the regional crown.

Kirkland-Hiawatha is the only team in the regional the Warriors played during the regular season. Westminster cruised to a 14-0 5-inning triumph in that meeting on April 7. Should the Warriors advance to Saturday's regional title game, it would play either No. 4 Ashton-Franklin Center or No. 6 Alden-Hebron.

"We're just trying to get focused and get our minds on the postseason because we know it's one (loss) and you're done," Palmer said. "We're going to treat every game like the state championship until we hopefully get down (to Joliet)."

• At Stillman Valley Class 2A Regional Hampshire's 14-12 record is a good indicator of how the season has gone for the Whips.

Although there is plenty of talent on Hampshire's roster, inconsistency has been a common theme for a team that has only two seniors on its roster.

The third-seeded Whips will try to shake their up-and-down ways starting with Thursday's regional semifinal game against No. 7 Rockford Christian Life.

Hampshire has played in regional championship games in each of the past three years, but it wasn't until last year that the Whips finally broke through for their first-ever regional crown. Now they hope to duplicate that success.

"I wish I could be more positive because I think we're better than last year, but we've been so inconsistent," Hampshire coach Steve Ream said.

Despite its relative youth, Hampshire has a number of players back from last year's regional title team, including junior Zach Crinigan -- who is batting .387 with 19 RBIs -- and sophomore Ryan Burke, who as the Whips' pitching ace has a 3-2 record and 1.46 ERA. Burke is also batting .378 with 18 RBIs.

The Whips swept a doubleheader against Rockford Christian Life on April 24, narrowly winning Game 1 by a score of 4-1 before rolling to a 15-1 win in Game 2.

"I'm glad the first game (of the doubleheader) was close because that tells the guys there is no reason to be overconfident," Ream said. "Our only danger is playing too relaxed or too scared. We do both sometimes and I'm never sure how we're going to come out."

No. 8 G-K (9-13) begins postseason play today when it takes on No. 10 Rockford Christian in the play-in game. The winner advances to play top-seeded Stillman Valley on Wednesday.

Junior Trevor Muench is a key asset at the plate and on the mound for the Cogs. G-K split a doubleheader with Hampshire last Saturday and lost to Stillman Valley 10-0 in five innings on April 14.

The winner of the regional advances to the Byron Sectional.

• At Aurora Christian Class 2A Regional St. Edward owns the No. 5 seed going into its regional semifinal meeting with No. 3 Aurora Christian on Thursday. All of the regional's games will be played at Waubonsee Community College.

At 7-12, the Green Wave might not immediately jump out as a team likely to mount a postseason run. However, when its 5-9 record in the competitive Suburban Catholic Conference is taken into account, it's not that far-fetched to imagine St. Edward getting hot and potentially advancing to the Driscoll Sectional.

"I feel we can compete with most teams," St. Edward coach Gene Belmonte said. "We've played some of the best teams in our conference very close. I think people seeded us (No. 5) pretty much based on our strong conference schedule, and I think we're ready to sneak up on somebody."

Senior catcher Kyle Horn leads a young Wave squad that normally has four sophomores in its starting lineup. Horn is batting .535 with 23 RBIs. Junior pitchers Riley Coleman and Jim Fraczek anchor St. Edward's pitching staff.

The Green Wave didn't play Aurora Christian during the regular season. Thursday's winner advances to play either No. 2 Lisle or No. 3 Timothy Christian, who play Wednesday. St. Edward lost to Lisle 4-2 on April 1.