Baseball: La Grange Park's 'Sandlot crew' makes history, reaches state

Luke Nicholaus was 7 years old when he first got the baseball itch.

It was his first Major League Baseball game, to see the White Sox.

“I thought, ‘Wow, this is so cool,’” said Nicholaus, an 11-year-old from La Grange Park. “I thought it would be so fun to play at a high level and get really good at this sport.”

He’s now part of history in his town.

Nicholaus, 11 other boys and one girl are on the La Grange Park 11-year-old Little League All-Star team that has qualified for this week’s state tournament in Freeport. It’s the first time La Grange Park has ever been in the state tournament.

“It’s really exciting – one of our coaches said we are the first team to make it to state out of 195 teams,” Nicholaus said. “I was looking at myself and thought, ‘That’s even better than what the [2016] Cubs did. It’s amazing to be on a team that got so far.”

The core of the team, self-nicknamed “the Sandlot crew,” has been together since they were 8 years old.

The La Grange Park Little League season runs from April through the end of June, at which time an All-Star team is selected.

The team had to win its district tournament and sub-state at Hinsdale to reach Freeport.

“Our district is very hard to get out of,” La Grange Park coach Ralph White said. “We played two very good games against Riverside, a game against Brookfield, beat Hinsdale 10-2, lost to Clear Ridge – our only loss before state – and then we beat Alsip 12-2. That made us eligible to go to state.”

Nicholaus homered to help spark the Alsip win, “the biggest home run I ever hit.”

“It was like a high-ish pitch – usually I like the high pitches,” Nicholaus said. “I hit it over some Hinsdale kids in center. They were standing against the fence. Somebody told me the ball hit one of them in the head.”

Nicholaus, who likes the Cubs but considers himself more a Sox fan, works on his swing often in the backyard with an old heavy bat, a George Brett replica.

“Whenever I have free time, I usually practice baseball,” Nicholaus said. “Me and my dad go to local parks and stuff and we of course swing the bat.”

Practice makes perfect with this crew.

The “Sandlot” nickname’s origin was when the kids were still 8 years old.

Several of them wanted to do extra baseball after the season was over, to come out and play baseball at the park.

“We called it the ‘Sandlot,’” White said. “It derives from the first 45 minutes to an hour of instruction on different aspects of the game, and then we let them pick teams and play baseball. Every year we would send out emails, ‘Sandlot meets at 4 p.m. on Wednesdays.’ It grew legs.”

White’s son, Blake, said the friendships are the best part of the team.

“They’re all encouraging, and they are nice to me, and they all make me feel special,” White said. “That’s why I really like to play.”

They showed that team spirit in a recent game, encouraging a teammate and pitcher who gave up a few runs in a game.

“They went out and said, ‘Hey, you did fine, you’re good,’” coach White said. “It makes you proud that those are the types of kids you are coaching and raising. They’re all just well-rounded kids. They care about each other. They don’t allow each other to fail. That’s their best attribute, is they care and love each other.”

The town seems to love them, too.

Nicholaus noted the huge crowd at their sub-state game, eager to get on the field afterward to take pictures. Blake White loved the community support, and riding around town on a firetruck afterward with the whole team.

“What’s made this special is that the whole town came out,” coach White said. “There was a lot of people to watch the game, and to give their support. It’s special.”

Team members are Luke Nicholaus, Matt Kielczynki, Cristian Zaragoza, Quinn Tullis, Gavin Wolf, Michael Kanzer, Conor Ray, Mack Long, Lonnie Roberts, Tess Berson, Blake White, AJ Jones, Joseph Gojdas, and Matt Peterson. Coaches are Ralph White, Conor White, Billy Roberts and Dom Eorio.