It’s no secret Jack Szott left Metea Valley as the best pitcher in program history.
Just look at the numbers from a year ago – 9-4 with a 1.08 ERA and 117 strikeouts in 71 1/3 innings – and they tell the story.
With Szott, the program’s single-season and career strikeout record holder at 117 and 157, respectively, off to Western Michigan, the Mustangs begin anew in 2016.
But as Metea Valley coach Craig Tomczak gets his team ready to enter the DuPage Valley Conference this year, he knows his team will have to replace more than just Szott.
“It’s not just Jack,” Tomczak said. “Jack was a big part of it, but we lost our top five or six inning-eaters from last year. We only have, I believe, 10 or 11 varsity innings coming back from last year. So, yeah, Jack was our ace. But it’s Jack, it’s Mike Sfikas, it’s Sam Janus, it’s Jacob Petersen – kids like that that were able to provide much of the depth last year.
“We lost them all, so pretty much our entire pitching staff this year – we’re starting from scratch.”
Matt Vass (pitcher and first base), Mitch Reyes (pitcher and first base) are two who’ll play both ways for the Mustangs as they look to replenish some pitching depth.
Petersen, who hit .447 with 27 RBI while patrolling first base, and shortstop Andy See, who hit .410 with 18 RBI, are two of the biggest losses in the lineup.
Conner Lovely and Jack Feeley are two of the three returning bats the Mustangs have to build their lineup around, along with three-year starter Blake Nicolls.
Lovely hit .348 while patrolling second base and Feeley hit .343 with 24 RBI in 2015.
“The lineup is pretty much going to start with those guys,” Tomczak said.
Infielder Jack Dziewiatkowski and two junior catchers J.P. Vega and Devin Myers will all help surround Lovely, Feeley and Nicolls, along with outfielders Ashton Creal and Ryan Mecaskey.
After winning 21 games last year, the switch from the Upstate Eight to the DVC will test the young Mustangs.
“I think throughout this, where we’re at as a group right now,” Tomczak said, “I don’t want to say youth but more inexperience because we’re going to have a lot of juniors contributing this year. We’ll be a lot better team at the end of the year than we’ll be at the beginning of the year.
“Trying to figure out who’s going to play where, getting a lot of our junior pitchers up to speed and what it means to compete at the varsity level and eventually against some of the competition that we’re going to be playing against. That’s the big thing. Trying to be going in the right direction toward the tournament.”
