1999 KANELAND BASEBALL

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Review the 1997 Kaneland baseball Season

Review the 1998 Kaneland baseball Season

Preseason Review

This season, varsity boys' baseball will be working to improve last year's record, when they finished the season 3-25 with no conference wins.

"Our goals are to play as competitive as we can and to win the regional," said Coach Steve Auchstetter.

Varsity Baseball

Kaneland 9 Sandwich 6

Kaneland played their first baseball game of the season and for the first time ever a Kaneland baseball team has a winning record (1-0).

Even though it was played on Thursday it was really Wenzday for the Knights as Senior Shaun Wenz was the starting and winning opening day pitcher. Not only did Wenz pitch his team to victory, thanks to some exciting relief help from Ron Easto, but Wenz also hit two home runs, one a grand slam, and drove in 5 runs in the 9-6 victory.

And to make the win all that much sweeter the Knights played one of the top teams in the area, Sandwich (who is projected to be conference champs), whom they thought they had little chance of beating.

Wenz pitched 4 strong innings allowing only two hits as the Knights trailed only 1-0 going into the fifth inning. That's when Wenz took matters into his own hands with the bat and proceeded to hit a grand slam home run to change the whole complexion of the game.

However, on the mound he was getting tired and in the 5th inning he started to struggle. As a result Sandwich worked their way back and after throwing 111 pitches Wenz's pitching day was over with two outs in the sixth and Kaneland holding a slim 7-6 lead.

But even though Wenz was done pitching his bat wasn't, as he proceeded to hit another towering home run over the left center field fence to assure what may be the greatest baseball win in Kaneland history.

Aaron Berkland also had a swell game going 4-for4 with a double and 2 RBI's, while catcher Mike Balensiefen went 2-for-4. Ron Easto picked up a rare Kaneland save and Josh Dimitri and Brad McDade both hit doubles.

Kaneland Vs. Aurora Central Catholic

Rained out.

Kaneland 9 Oregon 22

It was a awful windy day. But it wasn't the wind that blew the Knights away, it was a team from Oregon who blasted the Knights 22-9.

But the game was really quite close with Knights battling back from a 4-0 first inning deficit to make it Oregon 8 - Kaneland 6 going into the fifth inning.

But Starting pitcher Brad McDade who was having to battle the wind along with the Oregon batters was approaching 100 pitches and was running out of gas.

Unfortunately for the Knights a tired McDade was sent out to start the fifth inning. With little left he walked two, gave up a double and then a home run as Knights hopes for a win disappeared.

That's when the wheels came off and 4 out of the next 5 hitters reached base on errors. By the time the inning was over the Knights had committed 5 errors and given up 10 runs.

For the day the Knights committed 9 errors accounting for 11 unearned runs by Oregon.

The good news was that until the fifth the Knights were fighting and scrapping their way back into the game and for the day the Kaneland bats where were alive and well, out hitting their opponent 14-11.

Dave Issel had a super day going 4-for-4 with a home run and a double. Josh Dimetri was 3-4 with double, while Mike Sondelski and Shaun Wenz both went 2-3. Everybody scored for the Knights except 4 players.

Kaneland Vs. Batavia

Rained out.

Kaneland and Batavia played two innings in a rain soaked affair with the game being stopped twice by lighting. Then on the second pitch from the Kaneland pitcher in the third inning the ball slipped out of his hand to the ground prompting the umpire to call the game.

We won't say who was leading at the time.

Kaneland Vs. Aurora Christian

Both games cancelled due to field conditions..

Kaneland 10 Lemont 9

Unbelievable! The Kaneland Knights are undefeated in the SPC conference with a heroic come from behind 10-9 win over Lemont. The Knights 1-0 in the conference are now 2-1 in the young season and hitting a lofty .418 as a team.

But this unexpected start wouldn't have happened if wasn't for some half a dozen heroes. First being in the person of sophomore center fielder Dave Issel who with 2 outs in the last the of the 7th inning with his team trailing 9-8, hit a double deep to the outfield scoring the tying and winning runs to end the game.

It was a truly exciting game as the Knights fell behind 4-1 in the third inning. Then they fought back and pulled ahead 5-4 going into the 5th inning. But with only a inning and a half left the Knights found themselves down again, 9-5. However, two runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a two run two out single by Mike Balensiefen brought the Knights to within Two.

In the last of the 7th the Knights got some help with a error, followed by singles from Brad McDade, (who was the winning pitcher by facing just one batter in the top of the inning) and Mike Sondelski. With one run in and two ducks on the pond, Issel hit a 2-0 pitch deep into left field and it was lights out for Lemont.

Issel ended the day going 2-3 with 3 RBI's. Despite Issel's climatic hit there were plenty of other stand out players including Mike Sondelski who went 4-for-5 with a triple, 2 runs scored and 2 runs driven in. Also there was Aaron Berkland going 2-4 and also with 2 RBI's and 2 run's scored. And Shaun Wenz who was 1-2 with a double, 2 walks, 2 runs scored and was the starting pitcher who battled the Lemont batters all day.

But outside of Issel's hit, the star of the day was catcher Mike Balensiefen who went 2-4 with 3 RBI's and throw out 5 base runners. That's right 5 base runners. No, really - that's FIVE base runners.

So, after 3 games, the 2-and-1 Knights have 6 players hitting .500 or above! They are Issel, Sondelski, Wenz, Berkland, Balensiefen and Josh Dimitri.

Kaneland 3 Lemont 4

Well, the joy of victory lasted only 24 hours, as the Lemont Injuns returned the favor and scored two runs in the last of the seventh to beat the Knights the same way Kaneland won the night before.

It was a tough loss for the Knights as they hoped they could continue their early season good start. And things looked good as they lead 3-2 on the hitting and base running of Shaun Wenz who scored all three Kaneland runs and the arm of Colin Baumgartner who had pitched a brilliant game through six innings giving up only 5 hits, (4 of them infield hits).

But Baumgartner, who didn't allow a hit for the first three innings wasn't the same in the final inning as his tired arm had lost it's pop. He just couldn't get past the last inning as 4 of the last 5 batters rocked him with line drive singles and the game was quickly over. As a result the Knights suffered their second loss of the season against 2 wins.

For the first game time this year the Knights got less than 12 hits, ringing up only 8. Of the 17 hits by both teams all were singles except Mike Sondelski's double. In addition to scoring the only Kaneland runs Shaun Wenz went 2-for-2 with a walk. Wenz has now gotten on base 12 of his last 14 appearances! The only other Knight to get more than one hit was Josh Dimitri who went three for three and is now hitting .600!

Kaneland vs Evergreen Park

Saturday's double header against Evergreen Park was rained out and the games are rescheduled for 4/22 at Kaneland and 4/26 at EP.

Kaneland 15 Elmwood Park 1

It was amazing! It was amazing the Knights baseball team got a game in. It was amazing because it rained from the time the Kaneland bus arrived until they got back home. It was amazing as it was the largest margin of victory in the history of Kaneland baseball 15-1. And most of all it was amazing as 13 Kaneland players got hits.

The Knights who are fighting to stay above .500 and to earn a place in Kaneland sports history as the best Kaneland baseball team ever, had that rare combination of good hitting and good pitching happen during the same game to move to 3-2 for the season.

Shaun Wenz went the route for the Knights pitching a 3-hitter, allowing only one walk against 6 strike outs, giving up just one unearned run. Wenz is now 2-0 has been the starting pitcher for all Kaneland wins.

On the hitting side the Knights not only scored 15 runs but they also had 16 hits. Brad McDade lead the Knights with a pair of doubles and 4 RBI's, Mike Balenstiefen had a double and a single driving in 3 runs, while Colin Baumgartner had a pair of singles.

But it was the bats off the bench that had to please coach Auchstetter the most. As a result 4 Knights are hitting .1000! Howie Collins became 2-for-2 for the season with a double. Tony Signorella, Colin Nolan, Mike Hartman got hits making them 1-for-1 for the season. While Mike Merfeld, Curt Oland and Doug Robinson got their first hits of the year.

Moreover, Mike Sondelski and Shaun Wenz last year's leading hitters, keep their 5 game hitting streaks alive, each going 1-for-3, with Balenstiefen continuing his 4 game streak.

The Kaneland team as a whole is now hitting over .400 for the season.

Kaneland 8 Elmwood Park 7

More cool stuff happened to the Kaneland Knights baseball team as they beat Elmwood Park for the second day in a row 8-7. The win moved the Knights to 4-2 for the season surpassing the most wins of any Kaneland baseball team ever and they advanced to 3-1 in the conference! In addition the Knights have committed only three errors in the last two games and are hitting a staggering .399 for the season.

Colin Baumgartner started for the Knights and did a great job holding the Tigers at bay for the first five innings allowing only one run on five hits. But with the Knights having a comfortable lead of 7-1 going into the sixth inning, the Tigers started swinging the bats. They scored 3 runs in the 6th and added three more in the seventh to cut the lead to 8-7. They had the tying run on second base and the lead run on first base with two outs when reliever Brad McDade struck out the last batter as a sigh of relief was heard from the Kaneland dugout.

The Kaneland attack was lead by Shaun Wenz who went 3-4, with a single, double, and triple and Mike Balensiefen who was also 3-4 with 4 RBI's and two runs scored. Lead-off hitter Mike Sondelski also helped going 2-3 with a double and two runs scored. As a result the top four hitters in the Knights lineup went 8 for 14, accounting for all but two of the Kaneland hits. Sondelski and Wenz also continued their 6 game hitting streaks.

Kaneland Vs Evergreen Park

The make-up game with Evergreen Park was cancelled again to rain.

Kaneland Vs Hinckley-Big Rock

Another Rained out game that probably won't be rescheduled

Kaneland 2 Ridgewood 7

Here it was Kaneland's chance to see if they could be conference contenders. They entered the day 3-1 in the conference only one game behind conference favorite Ridgewood who was 4-0. However, Ridgewood had the luxury of playing 18 games already this season to Kaneland's 6! Even Kaneland's softball team had played 15 games.

And the difference in games played showed as the Rebels put a well polished team on the field, while the Knights although maybe as talented could not match the better tuned team. Moreover, it was only the third time the Knights had played in the last 11 days.

With Brad McDade on the mound the Knights battled keeping the game in reach trailing 5-1 going into the final inning. But the Knights normally productive bats where no match for Rebel pitching as they managed to get only 5 hits.

McDade led the Knights going 2-for-3 and Shaun Wenz cracked a triple to keep his hitting streak alive at seven games. Colin Baumgartner and Howie Collins accounted for the other Kaneland hits.

But in all fairness to the Knights, just about every call went against them and every bounce seemed to go Ridgewood's way. Though it was clear by the end of the day that the Rebels are probably going to go very far in the playoffs and that they are a very fine ball club.

Kaneland 0 Ridgewood 10

In the night Cap the Knights fortunes turned even worse collecting only 2 hits of starter Mike Batch. Batch pitched a splendid game striking out 14 Kaneland batters. Shaun Wenz got the unlucky call to go against Batch and kept it somewhat close at 5-0 going into the last inning. But as has been the case in almost every Kaneland game the Knight pitchers tire in the late innings.

Wenz and Mike Balensiefen got back to back singles in the forth to account for all of Kaneland's offense. Football stand out running back Sam Palazzo went 4-for-5 for the Rebels with a pair of triples and a double.

The Knights started the day batting a impressive .399 as a team. They ended the day at .347!

Kaneland 3 Evergreen Park 5

Kaneland traveled to Evergreen Park and in a snappy game of only 1 hour and 25 minutes the Mustangs took advantage of a late inning Kaneland miscue to score 2 unearned runs to caulk up a 5-3 victory. As a result both teams are tied in the conference standings at 3-4.

Knight's starting pitcher senior Colin Baumgartner effected the outcome of the game not only by his pitching, but also hitting and fielding. Despite a nice pitching performance of 3 hits and 2 runs over the first 5 innings, Baumgartner a little tired also hurt his own cause with a fielding error in the final inning. The error resulted in two unearned runs allowing the Mustangs to score 3 runs in the last inning on just one hit.

Baumgartner however helped his cause with the bat going 2-for-3 with a double to raise his batting average 50 points. But the key hits came from Dave Issel with a solo home run and a two-out two-run single by Curt Oland in the seventh inning.

The Knights actually out hit the Mustangs 6-4. Kaneland dropped below .500 for the first time this year at 4-5.

Kaneland 8 Burlington Central 18

The final score read "Burlington Central 18 Kaneland 8", but there was a real game going on for the first 4 innings with the score tied at 5-5 going into the fifth inning.

However, Colin Baumgartner was asked to relieve starting pitcher Shaun Wenz with only two days of rest since his last outing against Elmwood Park and could keep the Rockets at bay.

The Rockets, now 11-5, exploded for 11 runs in the sixth inning on 10 hits and 5 Kaneland errors. Tack on the 4 errors the Knights had in the previous innings and it was the worst game of the year for the Knights as they extended their losing streak to 4 games.

Kaneland bats however did their job with 9 hits over six innings while scoring 8 runs. The Mike's led the hitting brigade with Mike Sondelski going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and Mike Balensiefen going 2-for-3 with 4 RBI's. Shaun Wenz was on base all four of his trips with a pair of walks, a double, plus getting hit by the pitcher. Brad McDade and Kurt Oland both had doubles and Matt Lay finished the night with a single.

The Knights dropped to 4-6 for the season as they prepare for Friday nights game at Cougar Stadium.

Kaneland Vs Yorkville at Elstrom Stadium

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Kaneland 0 Yorkville 10

Maybe the Knights stayed up to late celebrating Friday nights great victory, or maybe the Foxes pitching is really that good, or maybe Kaneland just had an off day, but whatever it was the Knights offered no resistance to Yorkville pitching as they were shutout 10-zip and 4-zip in a Saturday doubleheader.

Brad McDade went the route in the opener giving up 11 hits.

The Knights bats knocked out 8 hits, but could never get more than two a inning and left 9 runners on base in the six inning game. Mike Sondelski was the only Knight to collect more than one hit as he went 2-for-4. Dave Issel got the only extra base hit with a double.

Kaneland 0 Yorkville 4

It was a shame. The Knights wasted one of the best pitching performances of the year as Doug Robinson limited the offensive minded Foxes to just 4 runs (2 for the first five innings) as they suffered a 4-0 setback in the back end of the doubleheader.

It was a beautiful Saturday without a cloud in the sky but, the Knights obviously who were not playing with their normal intensity only got as many hits as the Foxes got runs - 4. Pitcher Doug Robinson, Ron Easto, Aaron Berkland, and Shaun Wenz got the only Kaneland hits.

Yorkville pitcher Tim Zaspal struck out 11 Knights and set done the last 10 Kaneland hitters in a row.

With the two loses the Knights record dropped to 5-8 and 3-6 in the conference.

Kaneland 7 Sycamore 8 (10 Innings)

For the second time in four days the Knights baseball team entertained the fans with a thrilling baseball game. Only this time they came up on the short end of the score, in the first of three straight games against the Sycamore Spartans, 8-7 in 10 innings.

But it wouldn't been even close if wasn't for the super relief pitching job of Ron Easto who went six innings allowing only 4 runs and a climatic home run by Colin Baumgartner.

Baumgartner came up in the last of the seventh with the Knights trailing 7-4, two outs and two runners on. Holding the last hope for the Knights Baumgartner swung and sent the baseball sailing over the left field fence for a three run home run. Game tied and the Spartans who thought they had the game in the bag looked shocked.

Baumgartner's home run capped a 4 run Kaneland inning and sent the game into extra innings.

Neither team could score for three innings until Sycamore crossed the plate with two outs in the tenth inning. In the bottom half of the inning the Knights had runners at the corners, but the last two hitters could not pull another Baumgartner and the Knights lost a heartbreaker.

Baumgartner and Shaun Wenz both went 2-4 with Baumgartner getting three RBI's and Wenz scoring two runs. The Knights committed only one error to Sycamore's six.

Kaneland 1 Sycamore 5

The normally active Kaneland bats became silent Tuesday as the Knights traveled to Sycamore and could manage only two hits off of Spartan pitching. As a result the Knights wasted a nice pitching perform from senior Colin Baumgartner as he kept the Knights in the game.

Baumgartner also tried to help his own cause with double. Mike Sondelski got the only other Kaneland hit with a lead-off single to open the game.

Kaneland 0 Sycamore 26

It don't figure. Against the same team on the same field just two days earlier it took Sycamore 10 innings to squeak out a one run win. This time it was totally different, as the Spartans crushed the Knights 26-0 in a game that took only 5 innings.

The score wasn't the only thing that was bad. Sycamore out hit the Knights 19-4, out fielded the Knights committing 1 error to Kaneland's 8 and out walked the Knights 10-0. Moreover Sycamore had 36 base runners to just 6 for Kaneland.

But enough! It was just one of those days and this is a team can come out the next game and beat anybody. Dave Issel, Colin Baumgartner, Matt Lay all had singles and Ron Easto laced a double for Kaneland's only offense.

The loss left the Knights 5-11 for the season.

Kaneland 0 Westmont 26

Reeling from a 26-0 beating by Sycamore Kaneland traveled to Westmont to regain there winnings ways against a team that had less wins than the Knights. But to their surprise the Sentinels played their game of the year and by the time the dust had settled the Knights had suffered their second whipping in a row losing 32-5!

There wasn't much to say about this one except 4 Kaneland pitchers had no success against the Westmont bats as they allowed 20 hits. That's a total of 39 hits of Kaneland pitchers over the last 9 innings.

The only Knights to get two hits was Kurt Oland who was 2-for-2.

Kaneland 0 Westmont 4

Colin Baumgartner put a stop to the Kaneland pitching problems for at least one game as he held Westmont to just 4 runs. But now the Kaneland bats were silent as the Knights could muster only two hits as they lost the back end of a doubleheader to Westmont 4-0.

It don't figure - The Knights play a team 4-15 while they are 5-11 and get smacked around. Then they get a nicely pitched game against the same team and can't hit a lick. It just don't figure.

One point off interest during the doubleheader was Westmont opening game pitcher and second game center fielder Rick Struck. He finished the day with: 3-home runs, 3-singles, scored 7 runs, had 9 RBI's and was put out only once!

Kaneland 2 St. Francis 2

Kaneland played a very good Wheaton St. Francis team (at 21-7) to a standoff as the rains stopped what was shaping up to be a really good game.

With the score 2-2 in the bottom of the third inning and a Kaneland runner on second base with just one out, the game was called due a downpour before the game could become official.

Kaneland 5 Riverside-Brookfield 15

The Knights finished a shortened regular season with a doubleheader against Riverside-Brookfield. Despite a 3-0 lead after the first half inning the Knights were never in either game.

RB (13-10-3) scored 10 runs in their half of the first inning and the Knights could not recover as they beat the Knights 15-5.

Kaneland had only 5 hits to R-B's 16. Howie Collins had a triple, and Mike Sondelski, Dave Issel, Aaron Berkland and Colin Baumgartner had the other Kaneland hits. Baumgartner took the pitching lose.

Kaneland 0 Riverside-Brookfield 13

In the second game the Knights bats went totally silent outside of Aaron Berkland's lone single. Berkland was picked off first and R-B faced the minium amount of hitters - 15 in 5 innings as the Knights went three up and three down in every inning.

Meanwhile R-B had little problems with Kaneland pitchers scoring runs in every inning except the first, winning going away 13-0.

The IHSA Class A Sectional

Kaneland 4 Sandwich 9

The Knights started off as though they were going to win their first sectional tournament game ever as they jumped off to a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Sandwich. But the Indians came back with 9 unanswered runs and Knights ended their season at the same place they begun - Sandwich.

Losing 9-4, Kaneland finished the season 5-16 (3-12), having lost their last 12 games in a row after an promising 5-4 start. Colin Baumgartner pitched most the way for the Knights giving way to Brad McDade in the seventh.

The Knights managed only 6 hits for game with Shaun Wenz collecting two of them. Mike Sondelski, Dave Issel, Mike Balensiefen, and Baumgartner got the only other hits. Wenz, Balensiefen and Baumgartner hits were good for RBI's.

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