This year's state tourney is being played at the home field for the Joliet Jackhammers, a minor-league franchise in the Northern League.
Hmmmmmm.
Maybe some year down the road, the Field of Dreams that will be where the Lake County Fielders play in Zion can host the state meet.
What's needed is hotel rooms for the 8 teams (4 in Class 3A and 4A in class 4A) that play on Friday and Saturday. We probably have plenty of hotels around here to accommodate them.
Recently in prep baseball Category
The North Suburban Conference Prairie Division softball and baseball titles appear to be headed in the same direction -- north.
In softball, Antioch has total command of the league race and surely will represent the division in the NSC Championship Game.
In baseball, Lakes High's program is on fire, and has won 11 straight. While the Eagles have a danger game against powerful Deerfield today, the Eagles clearly could be a factor when the IHSA playoffs begin and they drop down to compete at the Class 3A level.
The North Suburban Conference scheduled league baseball games for Monday-Tuesday of each week this spring.
Nothing wrong with that except that it has rained every Monday and Tuesday for the last three weeks.
Seems like, each year, the prep baseball season is getting shorter and shorter and shorter. And, in an attempt to extend the season, the state tournament is now being played long after virtually every school has finished up for the year.
As a result, there is zero buzz at the schools for the prep baseball playoffs. And yes, the same holds true for softball.
One wonders if it is feasible to play prep baseball with the season starting in mid-August, when football practice starts, and playing the state tourney in october (the Fall Classic, so to speak).
Prep golf used to be a spring sport and it was shifted to the fall because the golfers are at their best then, having played all summer.
The same theory holds true for baseball.
Would making baseball a fall sport be a good idea?
Is there a better high-school baseball program in the area than the one at Carmel High?
Every year, that program is strong. This year, it has started out 5-0.
In fact, it's kind of interesting that East Suburban Catholic Conference rivals Joliet Catholic and Carmel are both state powers in football and baseball, but really, really, really struggle in boys basketball.
Why is that?
Gotta tip the cap to those area high-school baseball programs that are playing ball this week in places where it is warm. That's a lot of candy bars to sell during the off-season and a lot of cars to wash, but getting games in is worth it.
Carmel High, for example, is off to a 5-0 start and crushing the opposition in sunny Arizona. This is the first year ever that the Corsairs have left the area for spring-break week. If Carmel had stayed home, they'd be in the gym practicing all week.
Well, over here in The Locker Room, we wish it was so.
Obviously, it's not going to happen for a while. But when it does, a pitcher to keep an eye on this spring is Libertyville High junior Troy Barton. He's a 6-foot-6 righty who throws bullets and looks like he's the kind of you guy will be able to say -- 10 years from now -- I saw the kid pitch in high school.
He actually worked 5 innings for Libertyville on Tuesday in a game in Scottsdale, Ariz., and fanned nine.
