Loyola Academy’s Opening Week About Bouncing Back
Loyola Academy baseball didn’t play a single game in 2020.
The Ramblers had eight college players on the roster, but none of them got to showcase their talent on The Hill for their senior seasons.
COVID-19 wiped out a chance for Loyola to build on its 2019 sectional championship with one of its most talented rosters in recent memory. A story that was hardly unique yet equally unfortunate across the country last year.
This time around, expectations are different.
After all, Loyola only has two college commits (both pitchers). But, before Opening Day, second-year head coach Chris Ackels emphasized that the Ramblers are looking to “upset some people.” Through four games, Loyola has embraced that gritty not pretty mentality.
The Ramblers split a two-game series with rival New Trier, used an early scoring surge to beat Evanston under the lights, and then staged a six-run rally in a 11–7 loss to Glenbrook North this weekend.
Loyola is 2–2, however, its two losses have been decided by a combined five runs. As Ackels expected, this year has been about responding to adversity.
Loyola won in Winnetka and nearly pulled off the sweep of New Trier
Loyola got off to a rough Opening Day start. The first inning saw Ed Mahoney rocket a liner straight to New Trier third baseman Graham Mastros, who then doubled up Charley Radtke at first base. The sequence followed a patient at-bat from Radtke, who drew a full count before singling to center.
Things turned for the worse in the bottom half of the inning when Mastros deposited a home run over the right field fence, giving the Trevians a 2–0 lead.
“I’m sitting there going, ‘Man, it can’t get any worse,’” Ackels said. “These guys did not care. I mean they got punched in the mouth in the first inning, and the energy level in our dugout didn’t budge. Didn’t change a bit.”
Senior right-handed pitcher DJ Morand wasn’t rattled. Instead, the Xavier commit turned in four impressive innings, allowing just one more hit the rest of the way and striking out six batters, including two in a row to get out of the first frame.
The Ramblers cut their deficit in half during the second inning, thanks to a Haden Kriston double and a Mikey Regan line drive single.
Loyola then capitalized on New Trier pitcher Jimmy Ertmann’s command issues in the third inning. The junior walked four straight batters and ultimately was pulled, but the damage was already done.
Second basemen Brendan Cohn scored on that last free pass, and, after the pitching change, Radtke reached home on a wild pitch. Noah Klein added a third run with an RBI groundout to stake Loyola to a 4–2 lead.
Right fielder Max Sawyer was responsible for the Ramblers’ final three runs, first knocking a single to right in the fifth and then doubling to center in the seventh. That said, Klein might have had the biggest moment of the game.
The senior got out of a bases-loaded, no outs jam in the bottom of the fifth. He struck out catcher Leo Miller. Next, he went low to induce a double play turned by Regan.
Loyola ended up 7–2 winners, starting the season 1–0.
“I’m so proud of the guys,” Ackels said after the game. “For a lot of different reasons. I’m proud of the way they’ve handled themselves for the past two years.”
New Trier jumped out to a 3–0 lead in the back half of the rivals’ home-and-home series last week.
Loyola right-handed pitcher Daniel Reischl —a Wisconsin-La Crosse commit—was up and down throughout his four-inning outing. He struck out five yet allowed three hits and four earned runs.
A dropped third strike and passed ball, though, didn’t make things any easier on him in the second inning when the Trevians strung together three runs despite recording just one hit in the frame.
On the other side of things, junior right-handed pitcher Dalton Hastings had himself a day for New Trier. His breaking ball was working, and he tallied nine punchouts in a complete game effort, conceding just three earned runs.
But, in the bottom of the second, Loyola got the best of Hastings. It started with a Sawyer single to right field. Then Kriston drew a walk. Regan scored them both by roping a two-bagger down the left field line. Cohn rounded out the three-run response with an RBI groundout to tie the game at 3–3.
New Trier reclaimed its lead in the third frame, courtesy of a two-run shot from designated hitter Louis Florida. The Trevians upped their advantage to 6–3 in the fourth after Reischl hit back-to-back batters, walked another, and then tossed an errant pitch to the backstop, allowing Samuel Zacks to score.
New Trier piled on two more runs in the fifth and sixth innings, taking an 8–3 lead into the bottom of the seventh.
In an inning that featured four walks and an error, Loyola rattled off four consecutive runs, three of which came with two outs. Catcher and team captain Declan Dunham ripped a single to center to bring the Ramblers within one, but a controversial batter’s interference call settled an 8–7 New Trier victory.
Opposite starts against Evanston and Glenbrook North yield opposite results
Although Evanston used a two-run first inning to stroll out to an early lead on Friday night, it wasn’t long before Loyola was in the driver’s seat.
Wildcats starting pitcher Owen Brooks was out of control from the start. He lasted two innings and walked six batters, allowing five earned runs.
Loyola knotted things up in the opening frame after a Regan walk, a Sawyer double, and a couple of wild pitches.
Five more walks — including back-to-back hit-by-pitches — ended Brooks’ day. Radtke drove in two with a double to right field and later scored on a JP Nelson walk. Danny Sheikh, who went four innings with seven strikeouts and one earned run, got things in order for Evanston, but it was too little, too late.
Regan scored on a passed ball near the end of the second to make it 6–2, Loyola. Plate discipline rewarded the Ramblers with another run in the fifth, restoring their four-run lead after the Wildcats scored on a fielder’s choice in the third.
A single from catcher Brandon Brokowski and a double from second baseman Peter Barbato made things interesting in the sixth, yet senior Sean Baum eventually closed the door on a 7–5 victory.
Loyola was on the receiving end of a second-inning beatdown on Saturday when Glenbrook North came to The Hill.
The Spartans scored six runs in the frame after notching a trio of singles and a pair of doubles. In the process, they chased junior righty Stephen Lombardo. Lefty Liam Heaney finished the inning, but the Ramblers needed five arms to round out the day.
Perhaps the story of the game, though, was the performance on the bump from Glenbrook North’s Spencer Geake, who went four innings while allowing just one run and fanning five batters.
He also went 2-for-4 at the plate. Reliever Zachary Kim had a similar day, as he picked up the save, in addition to hitting a double and posting three RBI.
The Spartans continued to stretch their lead until the bottom of the fifth when Loyola turned a 10–1 blowout into a three-run game.
It was the result of a whopping six walks, two singles — namely, an RBI line drive to left from Klein — and an RBI fielder’s choice groundout by Mahoney.
Except Kim prevented the Ramblers from getting any closer, and Glenbrook North added a final insurance run to lock up an 11–7 win.
Now, Loyola enters the second week of the 2021 season sitting at .500 with a three-game series against Highland Park on tap.
Still, as Ackels said following the Ramblers’ season-opening win over New Trier, he’s not as focused on his team’s record as he his on its demeanor.
“All you can ask for is a group of kids who believe in themselves, who buy into the system, who buy into the game plan, believe in themselves to execute that plan, and who love the hell out of each other.
“If you have that, it’s going to be a good season.”
