Baseball notes: Oswego East’s Griffin Sleyko ‘rediscovering love of the game’ with his strong pitching start

Griffin Sleyko was an open book when responding to an inquiry as to what the Oswego East senior pitcher did to better himself during the offseason.

The simple answer? Not a whole lot.

“Honest to God, it’s embarrassing to say I really didn’t do much in the offseason,” Sleyko said. “I originally didn’t plan on playing college ball. It wasn’t something I wanted to do. But I refound my love for the sport. I think maybe after this year I’ll end up playing.”

Indeed, the way Sleyko is throwing this spring he may wish to reconsider his future plans. Sleyko’s strong six innings of two-hit baseball in a 1-0 loss to Joliet West on April 10 was the latest evidence presented to that affect.

Sleyko, a tall right-hander, has allowed just nine hits over 17 innings in his last three starts with 20 strikeouts, the Wolves allowing a total of three runs in those games. The Wolves (7-5) have been shut out in two of those games, but Oswego East coach Brian Schaeffer likes what he’s seeing from his new ace. Sleyko retired the last 13 batters he faced in the loss to Joliet West.

“He’s been competing,” Schaeffer said. “We knew what we had with him. He came out at the beginning of the season working on his pitches, working on being able to locate his changeup and slider for strikes and you can see it. He’s executing his pitches. I think he is rediscovering his love for the game.”

As a junior Sleyko posted a 3-0 record over six starts and 34 1/3 innings with a 3.26 ERA and 42 strikeouts. He did so under the radar, and with good reason. Oswego East’s staff last year was headlined by Noah Schultz, picked by the White Sox in the first round of the MLB Draft, and Ashton Izzi, drafted by the Seattle Mariners.

“I think we had a target on our back last year with Noah and Ashton, but we’re pretty hot this year,” Sleyko said.

Indeed, the Wolves took a six-game winning streak into last week’s action, and Sleyko is a big reason why. He struck out 10 batters in a game against Tennessee’s defending Class 2A state champs in March, and has taken that outing and run with it.

“Knowing I can do that against good teams is reassuring,” Sleyko said. “I really didn’t do anything over the offseason, didn’t put any work in. My mindset going into this year was I was going to just have fun my senior year. But I’m doing pretty good against good teams.”

Yorkville’s Kam Yearsley swinging hot stick

Yorkville’s bats have heated up considerably as the calendar flips from March to April.

And nobody’s swung a hotter bat than Kam Yearsley.

The Yorkville junior outfielder hit a downright scalding .833 (15-for-18) over a five-game winning streak that started with a 12-0 win over Plainfield East on April 3. Yearsley is hitting just under .600 on the season for a Foxes’ team that is now 6-5 after a 1-4 start.

“Everything that has been off the bat of his lately has been hit hard,” Yorkville coach Tom Cerven said. “It’s good to see. He’s a great kid, a kid that grinds and wants to be successful. He’s one of those kids that pressed a little bit early on, but it’s starting to click. It’s exciting to see what he’s doing.”

Cerven noticed that Yearsley was expanding the zone more than he needed to early on, swinging at a lot of pitchers’ pitches instead of working the count and using his great batting eye and discipline.

The switch seemed to flip when Yearsley and Nate Harris went back-to-back with homers against Plainfield East.

“Just seeing a little more calmness from Kam,” Cerven said. “Once he got into a good mindset, hit the ball out at Plainfield East you could see things start to change. He’s relaxed at the plate, he has the willingness to work the count and he’s aggressive with pitches that he can handle.”

Yorkville as a team hit just under .180 over its first five games. But the Foxes scored 49 runs over their five-game winning streak. That is more than enough offense for a pitching staff led by Minnesota recruit Simon Skroch, Illinois State commit LeBaron Lee and Northwestern-bound Harris that is the backbone of this Yorkville team.

“We know who we are. We are a strong pitching team, and defensively we’re capable of playing good defense,” Cerven said. “In our mind it’s a race to four runs. If we can score four runs we feel pretty good about our chances. Our first few games showed us a path on how to do it. We’ve played some small ball, and really had to adapt to focus on getting guys over and good smart aggressive baserunning. We’ve shown we can do it, and the kids have bought into it.”

Cody Hazzard dazzles for Yorkville Christian

Yorkville Christian’s three seniors are looking to set the standard for what future teams aspire to for a baseball program still in its relative infancy.

Cody Hazzard sure set a high bar April 8, as far as individual performances go.

The Mustangs’ senior pitcher struck out 17 batters in a 9-0 one-hit shutout of Momence. Hazzard, who will play collegiately at Missouri S&T, threw 73 of his 96 pitches for strikes.

“That is about as dominant as it gets,” first-year Yorkville Christian coach Sean Bieterman said. “He was just attacking with all his pitches, his offspeed that day was lights out, he had command of his fastball in any count. To get through a game like that, you’re just pounding the strike zone. To throw 77% of your pitches for strikes, that’s just silly in how good it is.”

It’s not necessarily an outlier game for Hazzard.

He combined with Nolan Hooper on a one-hitter with 14 strikeouts against Somonauk the first week of the season. Hazzard possesses a high-level collegiate arm that comes at hitters with a fastball in the mid to upper 80s. In Bieterman’s estimation Hazzard’s just scratching the surface to his potential.

“I knew we had a guy that had a tremendous arm, really good upside, good frame and a nice young man,” Bieterman said. “I’m learning how inquisitive he is. He wants to perfect his craft, he wants to continue to improve and learn. He’s also a regular in our lineup, hitting middle of the order, making contributions everywhere. He’s a great leader who sets the tone for our team.”

The Mustangs are sitting at a 4-6 record, riding a three-game winning streak after a tough start coincided with a demanding early schedule that included Class 4A school Plainfield Central and a trip to Tennessee.

Bieterman understands that it’s a work in progress.

Besides three seniors and two juniors, the rest of Yorkville Christian’s roster is a bunch of freshmen and sophomores.

“We joke that we have a bunch of young guys that ride bicycles, not cars. When 60% of the team doesn’t have a learner’s permit you’re doing a lot of teaching and building,” Bieterman said. “One of the cool things is we get to make our future in the program. There is no reference point. We take that pretty seriously, setting our own standard of play. The seniors have bought in and we have three great ones here.”