By Dominic Scianna
Two years ago, Lane Tech baseball coach Sean Freeman and his squad captured the Chicago Public League (CPL) boys city championship at Wrigley Field, beating Brooks College Prep 2-1. This year’s team is eerily similar to that 2022 team, posting impressive wins so far this season with a potent offense that can strike at any moment.
“This team is probably more talented individually than our championship team from two years ago, but that team had great senior leadership and played hard all the time and played for each other,” said Freeman, after a 17-2 victory at Whitney Young on April 8. “This team has great camaraderie too, and the nice thing is we’re never out of a game even if we start slow because of our offense.”
Freeman and his team won’t look ahead to this year’s CPL Championship Final, which will be back at Wrigley Field on Monday, May 20. This team focuses on its consistency and only looks ahead to the next opponent on its regular season schedule.
“I want the team to stay hungry and compete,” he said. “I talk to them every day about it (getting ahead of themselves) and we just try to go 1-0 today because nothing’s promised tomorrow. That’s how baseball is – If you start feeling too good – the baseball gods have a way of humbling you very quickly.”
Lane (11-1, 5-0 Jackie Robinson North) got the jump on Whitney Young in the top of the first inning led by senior Ethan Borggren’s opposite-field home run off Dolphins starter Jimmy Anastasi for a 2-0 lead. Borggren, a senior and Northwestern University commit, finished with three hits and four RBI on the day.
Two errors by Young (3-8) in the top of the third extended Lane’s lead to 4-0 before the Dolphins battled back to close the gap at 4-2 in the bottom half of the inning, with timely hits by Kingsley Evans (a double and an RBI), and Cole Hockman (2-for-3 with an RBI) for coach Chris Cassidy’s squad.
That’s when the Lane bats came to life to erase any comeback hopes for the home squad, scoring 13 runs in the final two innings to post the 17-2 win and get the victory for starting pitcher Oliver Evans.
“We feel we have everything we need to get to the CPL Championships again,” Borggren said. “We’re a really good team and when we get it going, we can really do some damage.”
Evans gave up just two earned runs and struck out five batters in his four innings of work to earn the win. Freshman Sebastian Wilson also had three hits and an RBI, along with key contributions from junior Henry Murray (a double and three RBI) to go with sophomore Ronan Owens’ (double and three RBI). Whitney Young was led by Luke Yolich (3-for-3 with a triple) in the loss.
“It gives me confidence on the mound when we are hitting well,” Evans said. “Coach also makes sure we are on top of things and that we’re all business for all seven innings. He brings great energy to the field and that keeps us focused.”
Photos by Sergio Zaragoza/Lane Tech Junior
