POPLAR GROVE, Ill. — North Boone baseball head coach Andrew Baden stated the obvious: “It’s hard to ask anybody to replace Chandler Alderman.”
Luckily Baden doesn’t have to call on any one player to step up after the graduation of last season’s stellar ace, who was listed as the No. 8 left-handed pitcher in all of Illinois and is now pitching for NCAA Division I Middle Tennessee University.
Instead, the fifth-year head coach is looking forward to seeing each one of his athletes on his deep squad stepping up to continue the Vikings’ recent success.
“We did start four sophomores and a freshman in most games last year, so as young as we were last year, we’re that much more experienced now,” Baden said. “Depth is not going to be an issue, it’s just about finding a couple guys who are going to be lights out in those big games.”
North Boone finished 19-9 last season and placed fourth in the rugged Big Northern at 11-7. It fell 3-0 in the regional finals to Byron, who went on to play its way into a super sectional.
The exit just left the Vikings yearning for more.
“I definitely want to bring home a plaque this year,” senior Matt Self said.
“When these seniors were freshman, winning was not part of the culture,” Baden said. “They’ve turned the tide of that. And that last piece that they want to get is to bring a trophy home at the end of the year. That’s the one thing that we haven’t accomplished as a group since they were freshmen.”
Stepping in for Alderman on the mound will primarily be Self and senior Eli Lopez, both of whom have two seasons of varsity starts under their belts.
“Eli’s fastball has gotten up there and his off-speed is incredible,” Self said. “If he can sequence it how he wants to, it’s going to be a problem facing him. And then there are younger guys like Owen (Meredith), he’s got great off speed, and Grady (Condon), he’s got good velocity followed by off speed. It’s a deep rotation.”
Baden added that players like Condon, Meredith and JJ Ford were all in more of relief roles last season and will look to throw some more frames this year.
“I definitely need to get a little bit stronger and get some more speed on my fastball and work on my off-speed pitches because I know the Big Northern has good hitters,” Ford said.
While Ford wants to work on his work from the mound, his work from the plate is already very refined. Baden said he expects the junior and Lopez to be his two best hitters.
“They are probably going to hit 2-3,” Baden continued. “RJ Wolski worked up into the cleanup pole on a pretty good team last year, so I expect him to take a huge jump forward this year. Grady Condon came up and started pretty much every game last year as a freshman. I expect those two to be two hitters that step up their game from last year.”
Baden also described Wolski as a “catcher who Gold Glove elite defensively with a rocket of an arm.”
In addition to his stellar work pitching and hitting, Lopez also provides a strong glove at shortstop in a strong infield. The Vikings have no lack of options at short where Meredith and Ford can also play, but the three can also bounce around to third and second.
Replacing Alderman at first is junior Ben Neri.
“He absolutely mashed last year and he’s a first base only, so he was stuck (last year) and didn’t really have a place to play. But he was a varsity bat last year and hit four or five home runs on JV, so he can swing it.”
The outfield will consist of a rotating batch of players who can all lock it down defensively and provide a spark offensively. Danner, Condon and Self were all guys seen patrolling the grass last season.
Lopez expects several new faces to step up this year and make a quick impact.
“Guys like Quinn (Danner) and (Margarito Espain) have been utility guys that are going to get more playing time this year,” Lopez said. “(Brandon) Slater has improved. Chris (Doetch) and Jack (Christensen) started playing this year. We’re loaded in terms of talent.”
North Boone has to be in order to compete in one of the toughest conferences around. Baden said that over the past half-dozen years, at least one team from their regional has advanced to a super sectional.
“(The Big Northern) is tough every year,” Lopez added. “Someone is always really good. Every team fights. The last couple of years Lutheran has been close with us and it gave us a great game last year. Even Winnebago, in the playoff game, gave us a tough one. With teams like this, the environment is great and we’ll be battling.”
The Vikings open the season at home on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. against Woodstock North.
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