Posted: June 17, 2009

Nicolet baseball

Picked for seventh in the North Shore Conference in pre-season polls, the junior-dominated Knights are proving people wrong so far, as they are off to a 10-1 overall start, including a 4-1 push in the league race.

"We knew what kind of class (the juniors) would be," veteran Knights coach Dick Sykes said. "They have a ton of talent and were in the Little League World Series twice."

Sykes, whose team finished 23-12 last year and lost in the WIAA sectional finals to Brown Deer, will have seven starters return. These include seniors Andy Allen (pitcher/outfielder) and Thomas Appleby (pitcher/outfielder) and Nino Ianello (infield/pitcher). Appleby has improved tremendously this summer, Sykes said.

Junior returning starters include outfielder Brian Huntsinger, catcher/pitcher Sam Kohnke, infielder Sal Maniscalco and three-year starter infielder/pitcher Rob Mayer. New junior shortstop Brandon Zall has helped the infield turn 10 double plays already.

Kohnke has been the head of a surprisingly deep pitching staff. He is 4-0 and has not given up an earned run yet. Others expected to help in that area include Allen, juniors Bobby Herrick and Aaron Westling and Appleby.

"This team likes each other, they love baseball and the junior group has been playing together for 10 years," he said. "They've won titles at every level they've played at. A very solid group of people and players."

Nicolet sits right behind Homestead (which gave the Knights their only loss of the season) in the North Shore standings. They will have an 8 p.m. rematch with them in Mequon on Monday and then will host West Bend West in a 5:30 p.m. tilt Tuesday.

Whitefish Bay baseball

Behind Major League draftees Kevin James and Charlie Markson (see story on page 18), the Blue Dukes are off to a 2-3 North Shore and 7-4 overall start.

"We have eight returning starters so we're hoping for a good finish," said Bay coach Jay Wojcinski, "but we still have three or four sophomores in the lineup and sometimes youthful mistakes have hurt us."

Returning starters include the senior pitcher/infielder James (who was picked by the Rays) and senior outfielder Markson (selected by the Tigers). Markson is just getting into shape after a bout with mono.

Other returning starters include junior infielder Brian Kroll, sophomore infielder Mike Leckie, junior catcher Tommy Koehn, senior outfielders Tony Carabjal and Charlie Knipper and sophomore first baseman Garrett Demuth.

Also returning are sophomore utility player Patrick Harrington, senior utility players Zach Hayes and Elliott Powell and sophomore pitcher/outfielder Jack Fagan.

"We're not worried about things right now," said Wojcinski. "We know this is a very balanced conference, where five or six teams could win it in the end."

He's been pleased with the offense so far and said that the defense, which was a liability last year, will still need to improve. James, Knipper, Markson and senior Michael Burns will anchor the pitching staff.

Bay will be at the Whitnall Wood Bat Classic on Saturday and then will be at West Bend West on Monday and at Germantown on Tuesday in a pair of 5:30 p.m. tilts.

Brown Deer baseball

Fresh off their 19-16 WIAA state semifinal season, the Falcons are off to a 4-5 start this summer.

The Falcons, who graduated seven seniors, including NOW Newspapers All-Suburban selection Kevin Wild, are led by All-Suburban Coach of the Year Mike Donahue.

They do return senior outfielder/pitcher David Kuczynski (.394 last season) and junior outfielder Danny Korpela (.374). Also expected to play a big role is sophomore utility player Brett Youngbeck (.310) while other letter winners include senior infielder/pitcher Doug Kozak and junior catcher/pitcher Joey Mattefs.

The Falcons will carry four sophomores and two freshmen on their roster this summer. They will host Wauwatosa West in a 7 p.m. Woodland Conference game on Friday and then will visit New Berlin Eisenhower for a 3 p.m. doubleheader on Tuesday.

Shorewood baseball

A heady group of seniors will hopefully lift the Greyhounds this summer as they are off to a 2-10 overall start including a 2-2 beginning in the Woodland Conference.

"They're a great group," said Shorewood coach Tom Meyer of the seniors. "Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of depth. We're hitting the ball sporadically, our pitching needs to come around but our defense has improved from last year."

Meyer, who also led the Milwaukee Riverside team into the state spring tournament this week, will build around seniors Malachi Krishok (catcher and utility), pitchers Robert Duffy and Josh Rathkamp, outfielder Karl Gaebler and utility player Patrick Sellars. A sophomore making an impact is shortstop Declan Gruber.

The Greyhounds will host Pewaukee in a 5 p.m. Woodland game on Friday and then will visit Cedarburg for an 11 a.m. non-conference game on Saturday. They will host Wauwatosa West in a 3 p.m. Woodland twinbill on Tuesday.

Homestead tennis

Winning five-set matches will be one of the first things on the agenda for the youthful Highlanders next spring after their 5-2 WIAA State Team Tournament quarterfinal loss to area rival Brookfield Central in Madison on Friday.

"We were optimistic, had a week to prepare and had some confidence after doing better than they did in the individual tournament (the week before)," Highlanders coach Jackie Egelhoff said. "Everybody knew who they were going to play so it came down to the mental and emotional battles.

"We figured they'd (the Lancers) come out better than they did (in the individual tournament) and they did. It was a good effort on our part, but we still lost two, three-set matches which could have given us a 4-3 win. It was a good effort, but we have things to work on."

Central eventually lost in the semifinals to Marquette, which easily won another state team title. Winning matches for the Highlanders against Central were Alex Jesse at first singles (6-2, 7-5) and the first doubles team of Cameron Mikkelson and Connor Peck (6-2, 6-3).

On the bright side, the North Shore Conference and WIAA sectional champion Highlanders will lose only three seniors out of their first 10. Topping the list will be Mikkelson, who won the state doubles title with Peck, state place-winning second doubles player Jake Bodner and singles player Sean Mackman.

"These kids were very much team players, very supportive of one another," Egelhoff said.

Glendale NOW.com

See a photo gallery from the Nicolet baseball team's victory over Whitnall