Baseball notebook: Illinois Valley baseball off to a good start

Baseball is going good this spring around the Illinois Valley.

St. Bede improved to 7-0 with a come-from-behind, exciting 4-3 win over rival Hall on Monday.

Putnam County is off to a 6-0 start after a 4-3 win over Annawan-Wethersfield in eight innings.

Ottawa Marquette won its first five game to go to 7-1.

Ottawa has won four straight to improve to 6-1.

Amboy has won five straight to improve to 6-1.

Bureau Valley won its first four games and now stands 5-2.

Mendota lost its season opener, but has won its last four to improve to 4-1.

“We’ve got some good baseball in the area this year,” St. Bede coach Bill Booker said. “You look how good Hall is. You go north and Mendota is much improved. Go west and Bureau Valley is playing good. South, you’ve got Putnam County and Roanoke-Benson (6-1). East, you’ve got Marquette and Ottawa playing good.”

Booker said his Bruins are playing well in all areas.

“We’ve had good pitching and played good defense and had timely hitting. It’s basic baseball that we’ve done a good job on,” he said.

Seeing double: The lineup cards for Monday’s Hall and St. Bede baseball game came with an interesting twist. Gino Ferrari was playing first for the Bruins, not to be confused with Hall second baseman Geno Ferrari.

The Ferraris, who are not related, know each other well and get a kick out of their similar names.

“It’s a strange coincidence,” Gino Ferrari said.

Lincoln Trail debut: The Bureau Valley baseball and softball teams will make their debut in the Lincoln Trail Conference this week as they adjust to a new schedule format.

The conference plays single games on weekdays with doubleheaders scheduled each Saturday.

“It will be a little different for us just from how we try to manage the pitch counts over the course of each week. We’ve got a plan for that I’m happy with and having a veteran group makes that first go around a little easier,” BV baseball coach Ryan Schisler said.

The Storm baseball team will travel to Biggsville West Central for its first round of Lincoln Trail play on Saturday while the Storm softball team hosts Monmouth United.

He’s Back-es: L-P senior Brady Backes made his season debut on Saturday at Princeton just six months from undergoing ACL surgery. He started and pitched two innings in the Cavs’ 7-3 win, allowing two earned runs on no hits and walk with two strikeouts. He threw 56 pitches with 34 strikes and 22 balls.

“It was nice to finally be back on the field,” Backes said. “Six months doesn’t sound like a long time in terms of ACL surgery recovery, but it definitely feels like it. Six months and four days after surgery against Princeton was always the goal, so it feels good to be able to meet that goal, and do it against Princeton.”

His dad, Derek, who is a 1996 Princeton graduate, said his son wanted to pitch two weeks earlier, but he and the L-P coaches shut that idea down.

“He’s very determined and motivated. It makes me nervous,” said Derek Backes, a distance runner at PHS and Millikin University.

Brady Backes will pitch for Parkland College next year.