Baseball notes: Glenbard West’s Braeden Groszek taking on a bigger role this season

Glenbard West senior second baseman Braeden Groszek is taking on a bigger role this spring.

A second-year varsity player, Groszek wrapped up his college recruiting in November by committing to North Central College. Now, six games into this season, Groszek is slated to make a big impact on the field.

“I worked really hard this past offseason and last offseason,” Groszek said. “I want to have fun and confidence in myself.”

Groszek said he prepared for this season by hitting the weight room and working on the finer aspects of the game. Batting in the second spot in the order, Groszek is hitting almost .440 this season.

“I think the weight room was a big part of my offseason,” he said. “I made sure I got after it. That really helped my game a lot. I made sure that I got out and hit every day and to keep up with my skills. I think last year I had one or two doubles, but this year I already have tallied three doubles, so all that extra work in the weight room helped me a lot.”

Glenbard West (0-6) has yet to win a game this season, but a tough schedule played a factor in the slow start. The Hilltoppers have experience on their side for a turnaround with 14 seniors on the roster.

“I think sticking together is going to be our biggest focus,” Groszek said. “We have a lot of talent but just have to pull together.”

Glenbard West coach Andrew Schultz said Groszek and senior outfielder Joey Campanella are two players off to fast starts. Campanella is batting .500 on the season.

“Joey has been fantastic,” Schultz said. “Braeden is also playing really solid for us. We’ve got two guys at the top of our order who really started well and hopefully we can carry over some of that momentum.

“We’ve had some frustrating and disappointing moments because we expected to be doing a little differently. The kids are being optimistic.”

Glenbard West certainly could use some luck. Competing in an out-of-state tournament, the Hilltoppers were on their way to a victory Tuesday with a 7-2 lead in the fourth inning before rain halted the game and a potential win.

“All week was going to be suspect weather and the forecast [Tuesday] wasn’t looking good, but in the last 24 hours it was clearing up,” Schultz said. “In the third inning, the storm clouds started rolling in. It was a kick to the tail. We were hoping to finish it.

“We’ve played some good innings and a couple of good games, but we haven’t played seven full innings. We’ve faced six quality opponents. We’ve just come up a little short. We think this group is pretty talented. We had high hopes and expectations. This is not the start we were hoping for, but I’m still feeling pretty good about turning it around. It’s a long season. We’re not quite 20% of the way yet.”

Groszek said the West Suburban Silver opener Monday against Oak Park-River Forest will be a good test after the spring break trip.

“We play really good competition in our conference, so just knowing that and trying to keep the guys locked in and knowing we can compete is important,” he said.

Nazareth’s fast start

Eight games. Eight victories.

That’s not surprising considering Nazareth’s lineup and pitching staff is full of college-bound players.

But the Roadrunners, who defeated Riverside-Brookfield 12-4 Tuesday, are piling up runs at a high pace in the first two-plus weeks. Nazareth, the two-time defending Class 3A state champion, has scored 10-plus runs in three games despite the cold weather.

“Offensively, as the weather warms up, our bats will warm up,” Nazareth coach Lee Milano said. “We’re averaging five to six runs a game, which is good. But we will hit better. We have to do certain things better like keeping the ball out of the air and hitting [more] line drives. The ball doesn’t carry right now well at our field [early in the season]. But we’re happy to be undefeated. We still have a ton of things to work on and clean up.”

Milano said the team’s motto is “stay humble and stay grateful.” Like the past few seasons, the Roadrunners will have a big target on their backs in their quest for a three-peat.

”We met and created our identity as a team and what we wanted to focus on,” Milano said. “It’s a unique opportunity not many teams get. But we can’t get caught up in the big picture. That lends itself to distractions. We try and ignore all of that, what we call noise. We try and play one game at a time, but break it into one inning, one out and one pitch at a time. We have six returning seniors who have been here for four years. All the guys have done a great job as far as leadership and navigating different things of the game.”

Extra bases

Benet is enjoying a spring break trip to the Gulf Shores in Alabama. The Redwings were slated to play six games and even enjoyed a workout on the beach Monday. They posted an 11-0 win Tuesday with Gino Zagorac striking out seven in five innings. … Wheaton Academy (4-1) posted a 10-0 win over Cypress Bay on Tuesday thanks to Brandon Kiebles leading the way with two hits and an RBI.