2007 Carthage Baseball Review/2008 Season Outlook
2007 Season Review
Sometimes it’s not how you start a season, or even how you play the middle portion, it’s how you finish. The 2007 Carthage College baseball team (37-13, 16-5 CCIW) didn’t start well at all. The Red Men went 7-6 in their non-conference schedule, prior to the start of CCIW play, including a 6-4 spring trip to Port Charlotte, Fla. The defense was bad, with 22 errors in 13 games, and timely hitting was virtually non-existent.
The Red Men rebounded a bit in early-April, winning 10-of-12 games, mostly against the weaker teams in the CCIW, but including a critical two-of-three at Augustana College (Ill.) on April 14-15. The team hit rock-bottom the following weekend by losing all three games at first-place Illinois Wesleyan University to fall to 17-11 overall. The sweep by the Titans all but clinched the 2007 conference championship for Illinois Wesleyan.
Then, something unbelievable happened. Everything jelled. With the league title out of reach and an NCAA berth looking like a stretch, the Red Men won their next 20 games, the longest winning streak in school history. The team won 12-straight games to conclude the regular season and then swept the CCIW Baseball Tournament in three games to secure the league’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA Central Regional Championship in Bloomington, Ill.
At the regional, the Red Men avoided their 2006 first-round upset by nipping Washington University (Mo.), 5-4, on the first day. Carthage won its second-round game, 6-4, over Webster University and won its third-round contest over Luther College by a 6-3 margin to break the 1997 school record of 17-consecutuve wins. There were two other CCIW teams in the regional. Top-seeded Illinois Wesleyan was eliminated in two games, but Augustana (Ill.) battled through the loser’s bracket to face Carthage in the championship round. Another close game, but another Red Men victory, as Carthage extended its streak to 19 games with a 5-4 decision over Augustana (Ill.) to win the regional for the first time since 2002.
“Nineteen wins in a row,” asked Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV (627-253-5, 20 years) after the regional. “Who would have thought that? We went from battling to become a .500 club to regional-championship team. It was quite a turnaround. Winning streaks are great, but winning streaks at the end are special.”
At the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship in Grand Chute, Wis., Carthage drew four-time national-champion Eastern State Connecticut University in the first round. Another close game? Not this time. Out of the blue came a Red Men slug fest and a 15-4 first-round win.
“After playing so many close games this year,” said coach Schmidt after the first-round win, “I never saw this one coming. I kept wondering how it was going to get interesting. We had timely hitting, hits with two outs, and that’s what wins games. We executed so much better than we did early in the year, but the key to the winning streak was our frame of mind. We eliminated all the worries and all the expectations and just played. All those other things, like trying to win the conference championship, were just getting in the way. After mid-April, nobody expected us to do anything, and sometimes that’s a great way to play. So, I played that card. I told our guys that Eastern Connecticut had four American Baseball Coaches Associations All-Americans on the team, and nobody expected us to win. It’s fun to play baseball that way, and it’s very hard to play when everybody expects you to succeed.”
The next night was a classic in-state battle with Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Carthage led, 4-2, after three innings, but the Pointers tallied eight runs in the middle three innings to take a 10-4 lead in the sixth off Carthage pitcher Jacob Husing. The Red Men picked away at the lead and trailed by only two, 10-8, in the seventh, but Wisconsin-Stevens Point put things away with two runs in the eighth for the final, 12-8 margin. Not that anyone was looking ahead, but a win over the Pointers would have out Carthage in the “driver’s seat” game the next night against the remaining unbeaten team in the tournament. “The Wisconsin-Stevens Point contest was a great college baseball game,” said coach Schmidt, “and we just came up a little short at the end. We just had a 20-game run where a lot of things went our way, and that’s what it takes to win 20 games in a row. We fought back, but once they went up by four in the eighth, we didn’t have an answer.”
Instead, an emotionally-drained Carthage squad had to return the next morning to play a tough State University of New York-Cortland team that had already beaten the Red Men, 6-2, on their spring trip. Carthage managed only four hits against the Red Dragons, who eliminated the Red Men by a 5-2 margin.
“The second-round loss to Wisconsin-Stevens Point was an emotional roller coaster,” admitted coach Schmidt. “We always tell our kids that we play the game against ourselves, but let’s face it, the Wisconsin-Stevens Point game was a hard-fought game in a great atmosphere. Mentally, that loss took a lot out of us against SUNY-Cortland. That’s not an excuse, but I think it’s a fact. In the sixth inning, we worked really hard to get three-straight singles to load the bases, but after that, we just didn’t get a good swing. If we could have got one good swing and scored a couple runs, we might have jumped on them. As long as they had a three-run lead, they could pitch the way they wanted to and attack us offensively. That inning was a huge turning point.”
“I think ‘want-to’ got in our way at the national championship,” admitted coach Schmidt. “We wanted to get it done so bad, everyone wanted to do that little extra. In baseball, trying to do more than you can do usually puts you in trouble, especially at the plate. We came to this championship wanting to force a couple of teams to beat us, and I think we did that. For six weeks, I’d been saying ‘I don’t know how we’re winning—we’re not that good,’ but we reeled off 20 wins in a row at the end of a season. That’s an incredible accomplishment. We did that because we were that good. This was not the most-talented team I’ve ever had, but this team had a lot of heart. I didn’t tell them that until the end—why say something different when you’re winning? We had good players and good kids who worked their tails off, and we have a great coaching staff. When we were 17-11, our coaches hunkered down, forgot about expectations and went to work. That’s how we ended up at the national championship. Sure, we wanted to win a national title, but the way we got to the championship was the real story of this team. Twenty-straight wins, all of them close—that’s an unbelievable accomplishment.”
Carthage, makings its sixth national appearance and its 14th regional appearance, finished sixth in the final American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division III poll. Red Men pitcher Jeff Livek (graduated-senior, Schaumburg, Ill., 9-2, 2.30 earned run average) was named American Baseball Coaches Association and “D3baseball.com” third-team All-America and was selected by the New York Yankees in the 28th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft.
Six Carthage players were named to the ABCA All-Central Region team, including two to the first team. The first-team honorees were leftfielder David Hermes (Sr., Fort Atkinson, Wis., .397, 13 doubles, 3 triples, 3 home runs, 37 RBI) and pitcher Jeff Livek. Third baseman Tyler Yapp (graduated-senior, Madison, Wis./La Follette, .380, 16 doubles, 4 home runs, 44 RBI), centerfielder Boe Baitinger (Sr., Appleton, Wis./East, .335, 12 doubles, 4 triples, 33 RBI, 26 stolen bases) and pitcher Chris Krepline (Sr., Brillion, Wis./Reedsville, 7-2, 2.81 ERA) were named second-team all-regional, and pitcher Jacob Husing (Sr., Iron Mountain, Mich., 8-4, 3.32 ERA) was named to the third team.
Seven Red Men were named 2007 All-CCIW, five of those to the first team. The first-team honorees were leftfielder David Hermes, Tyler Yapp, catcher Mike Hughes (Jr., Round Lake, Ill., .338, 13 doubles, 28 RBI), pitcher Jeff Livek and pitcher Chris Krepline. Centerfielder Boe Baitinger and pitcher Jacob Husing were named second-team all-conference. Carthage’s Augie Schmidt IV shared the CCIW “Baseball Coach of the Year” award with Illinois Wesleyan University’s Dennis Martel.
Starting pitching was the glue that held the 2007 team together. Instead of starting rotation with an “ace” at the beginning, pitching coach Cory Everts had a staff with three number-one starters. Jacob Husing, who opened all but one series, had six complete games and averaged 7.3 innings per start. Jeff Livek had a team-leading seven complete games and averaged 7.5 innings, and Chris Krepline had six complete games with a 6.7 average. You can also throw in fourth-starter Trace Ruffie (So., Mount Prospect, Ill./Arlington Heights-Hersey, 4-1, 2.04 ERA) with three complete games and a 6.9 inning mark.
Lost to graduation were pitcher Jeff Livek, third baseman Tyler Yapp, catcher David Wuis (Kalamazoo, Mich./Comstock, .385, 18 RBI), second baseman Steve Rucks (Elgin, Ill./Larkin, .376, 35 runs scored, eight doubles), first baseman Chris Sadjak (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove, .314, 26 RBI) and pitcher Ryan Roufus (New Berlin, Wis./Milwaukee-Pius XI, 2-1, 2.33 earned run average).
2008 Season Preview
Carthage returns 18-of-28 letterwinners and a veteran team on the field, with six-of-nine starters coming back. Ty Heegeman (So., Appleton, Wis./East, .365) and Mike McGuire (Sr, Hoffman Estates, Ill../Barrington) will battle for Chris Sajdak’s first-base job. Tony Gragnani (Sr., Niles, Ill./Skokie-Niles West, .286, 23 runs scored, nine stolen bases), is expected to replace Steve Rucks at second base, although he could face competition from transfer Joe Ferro (So., Romeoville, Ill./College of Lake County, 2007 first-team All-Skyway Conference). Seth Romano (Sr., Roselle, Ill./Lake Park, .329), Corey Richardson (So., Appleton, Wis./North), Josh Albers (Fr., Green Oaks, Ill./Libertyville) and Steve Herzau (Fr., Elk Grove Village, Ill./Elk Grove) will battle to replace Tyler Yapp at third base. with Romano also in the mix to replace Jose Alba (not returning, Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates, .328, 25 runs scored) at shortstop. Mike Hughes and Mark Sobol (Jr., Woodstock, Ill./Marian Central Catholic) will share time behind the dish.
Centerfielder Boe Baitinger and leftfield David Hermes will anchor the outfield, with seniors Steve Coughlin (Sturtevant, Wis./Salem-Westosha Central, .293), Tyler Creekmore (Winthrop Harbor/Zion-Benton Township, .308) and Chris Shannon (Schaumburg, Ill./Hoffman Estates-Conant, .393) battling for playing time in rightfield. Transfer Tony Rdzok (So., Zion, Ill./Zion-Benton Township/College of Lake County, 2007 first-team All-Skyway Conference), Will Hodges (Fr., Oak Park, Ill./Naperville-North) and Mike Petti (Fr., Mundelein, Ill.) could also work their way into the crowded outfield mix. “On the field,” says coach Schmidt, “we’ll have a lot of competition leading up to the Florida trip, particularly at first base, third base and in the outfield.”
Jacob Husing, Chris Krepline and Trace Ruffie (So., Mount Prospect, Ill./Arlington Heights-Hersey, 4-1, 2.04 earned run average) will be the top-three starting pitchers, with Mario Perez (Fr., Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) probably taking the fourth spot. “Replacing Jeff Livek is going to be tough,” admits coach Schmidt. “He was such a workhorse, and that took the pressure off the rest of the pitching staff. His loss will show, but we feel we have enough returning starters to be alright.”
Getting off to good start is the focus of the 2008 team. “I’ve already talked to this year’s team about not doing what last year’s team did and putting ourselves behind the eight ball and digging our way out,” says coach Schmidt. “We won 20 games in a row in 2007 and dug our way out, but you can’t count on doing that. Our goal this year is to be ready for that first game and to put a consistent thing together from day one to the end of the season, whenever that is. We have a senior-laden team, but so do a couple of other CCIW schools.”
“This group, most of whom went through the national-championship experience last year, is very hungry to do it again,” says Schmidt. “ Last year was so much fun, and this year’s team really wants to go back. I’m hesitant to jump on the bandwagon just yet, because I remember when last year’s team was 17-11 and struggling. I need to do a better job this year of keeping everyone focused on playing really good baseball and not worrying about national rankings and high expectations.”