Behind the Scenes of Boys Varsity Baseball

With the boys baseball conference just starting earlier this week, Monday, April 10, the boys have been hard at work every day to start conference play off on good footing.

Currently, there are 20 boys on the Varsity section of the team. Their captains are senior Meyer Rogoff, and juniors Eisen Kim and Peter Korzun. The team is coached by counselor Mitch Stern.

The boys have practice every day for around two hours, practicing a variety of things, “We try to hit all phases of the game each practice so whether it be individual defense or team defense hitting or small bill or bunny running you know bases just whatever we need to work on, try to hit a little bit of it each time we practice,” Stern said.

If they find some weak spots during games they will put their focus on that during the next practices, trying to fix them before their next game.

However, repetition is key for baseball so they will continue practicing everything, “Practice always follows the theme of repetition. Baseball is a sport where getting your defensive and offensive reps every day helps you become a better ball player. Repetition can increase your confidence, helping your performance on the field,” Rogoff said.

The team’s biggest strengths according to senior Jack Butera are their communication and chemistry with one another. The boys are a closely knit team, and they have a lot of team bonding opportunities which help them perform better as well. The boys recently went to Nashville, Tennessee over spring break. Their bond grew much more over the trip and their baseball skills grew as well as they competed in four games on the trip.

“Our team chemistry is awesome. We recently had a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, and we participated in many team bonding events. Bowling, escape rooms, going out for dinner, etc. Having this close team bonding greatly impacts our communication with each other on and off the field,” Rogoff said.

The Wolves, however, need to focus their improvement on the little things. Rogoff thinks once they handle the little things correctly then they can focus on handling the bigger issues with ease.

Another thing the boys are struggling with is the lack of experience on the team. Last year they had a majority of seniors on the team, 9 of them being starters.

“We have a lot of new guys and I think those new guys just need to get used to what it is like to be playing on the varsity level,” Butera said.

They might not have a lot of experience, but Rogoff and Stern agree that the new boys on varsity are very talented, maintain a mental toughness and high energy, and showcase good attitude, effort, and discipline.

The boys are ready to play with the maximum effort put into both the game and their practices. Their next game is Monday, April 17 against Highland Park.