You know it’s spring time when baseball season approaches. The NWN had the chance to sit down with head coach Garry Gustafson and assistant coach Mitch Stern to chat about the upcoming boys’ varsity baseball season.
NWN: Tell us a little about your team.
Stern: “We have a lot of good, returning, solid returning players and a mixture of some up-and-coming players so I think overall the mix is going to be a good one for us.”
Gustafson: “We’re going into the season with a very good work ethic and kids are working every day in practice. They’re itching to get outside with the weather being so poor, but the kids come into practice every day and they’re focused. I think they’re getting prepared for the season, and we have a good mix of kids. The chemistry should be there to put together a good season for us.”
NWN: What would you consider as a strong point for your team going into the season?
Gustafson: “We have some leadership in Kyle Colletta, a four year varsity starter. The kids are going to be pushing one another so I think we’ll get good pitching and play good defense and hopefully we’ll be able to swing the bats and score some runs for our pitching staff.”
Stern: “We’ve got solid pitching, pretty good defense behind our pitchers, and if we can hit I think we can go pretty far. Baseball is one of those sports where on any given day anybody can beat anybody, but we’ve got a pretty solid team.”
NWN: Who are some vital players this year?
Stern: “We’ve got a kid who’s been on varsity for four years (senior Kyle Colletta) since he was a freshman, and a kid who transferred in last year from New Trier (senior Seth Rosenberg) who’s a very good player. We also have some other seniors who have been waiting in the wing to get their shot, and now’s their time. A team is only as good as their seniors and their leaders, and I think we’ve got the guys to do it.”
Gustafson: “Colletta’s a kid that will go down as one of the greats to come through Niles West. He’s a leader by example and a kid that will lead for us as one of our captains.”
NWN: How do you think you stack up against other conference opponents?
Stern: “Our conference is always very difficult. We usually have several Division 1 baseball players. Pitching is always very good– every game you play you run into a good pitcher. This past summer, Maine South has been the team that made it the farthest so they’ll probably be the favorites going in, but the rest of us will be fighting to knock them off.”
Gustafson: “I think time will tell, but we’re gonna outwork and outplay most of these teams. We’ve got a fairly young team, but that doesn’t mean we’re gonna take a back-seat to anybody. I think we’ll compete with every team we play, provided we go in and outwork people and get better every day. If we do that we can compete with anybody in the conference.”
NWN: Is there a goal, record-wise, that you guys have for the end of the season?
Gustafson: “We really don’t set goals for wins and losses. You don’t know how the season is going to go injury-wise so what we’re hoping to do is just go out and play hard and compete every game. We go into every game thinking we’re going to win, and if we have that attitude we don’t need to set many lofty goals.”
Stern: “You’d be lying if in the back of your mind you didn’t want to be the State Champions. But you always work towards playing your best and then whatever happens on the field happens on the field.”
NWN: What are some marquee match-ups your team is looking forward to this year?
Stern: “I would say for sure come out in May when the weather gets nice. We’re an exciting team to watch regardless of our opponent. And certainly come out in the end of May once regionals start and the state playoffs start. That’s where it gets the most exciting- it’s win or go home!”
Gustafson: “The whole central suburban league is full of great ball games. With New Trier, and Maine South and Glenbrook South being as loaded (with talent) as they are, the 16 game conference schedule we play will be a dog fight. Every conference game will be a dog fight.”
