Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Simeon Tips Lane 2-1 for City Baseball Crown

Simeon 2 Lane Tech 1

Simeon won its first baseball city championship since 2004 with a 2-1 victory over Lane Tech at UIC. Simeon scored both of its runs in the first inning on two rbi doubles of off Lane Tech ace Jack McLaughlin. After that, McLaughlin settled down to pitch the next 5 innings of shut out ball.

Simeon pitcher Shane Brown was even more supurb as he went the entire game giving up only one run. Brown ended the game on a strikeout with Lane Tech runners on 2nd and 3rd.

Good game by both teams.

Simeon to face Lane Tech for city baseball title

Public League baseball semi-finals @US Cellular Field
Simeon 6 Clemente 3
Lane Tech 12 Harlan 8

One big inning was enough for Simeon to overtake a good Clemente team. The Simeon team sets up a match up between #1 Simeon and #2 Lane Tech for the city championship. Simeon is trying to get the title after getting upset by Harlan last year. Lane Tech, with a a new coach and a new attitude is trying to bring the title back to the north side. This is going to be truly a northside vs southside battle - and I'm not talking Cubs/Sox.

CPS Baseball Playoff Bracket

I got hold of the playoff bracket

Thrusday Games at 430 in bracket order

Northside @ Simeon
Morgan Park @ Clemente
Taft @ Harlan
Von Steuben @ Lane (Horner Park)

http://www.leaguelineup.com/northsideprepbaseball/files/2012%20cps%20playoff%20bracket.jpeg

Baseball Playoffs

State playoff brackets for baseball are out:

http://www.ihsa.org/SportsActivities/BoysBaseball/StateSeriesInformationResults.aspx?url=/data/ba/4bracket.htm

Washington is actually holding a sectional and in the Washington Sectional expect to see an all Public League final as all the teams are in the CPS except for 8th seed University High). Final four will likely  be Simeon, Jones, Harlan, Payton with Harlan and Simeon fighting it out to go down state. #4 seed Washington is the dark horse. State ranked Simeon- with all their D1 talent -is the pre-playoff favorite. Simeon has a favorable state playoff bracket as they are in basically a CPS sectional. Also, if the Wolverines advance out of the Washington sectional, they will avoid the Mt. Carmel's and Providence Catholic's baseball powers of the world as Simeon is in class 3A this year. The bigger schools are in class 4A. However, in baseball nothing is guaranteed. Simeon has lost twice this season to believe it or not Kenwood Academy.

Don't be surprised to see Clemente make their regional final- where likely #3 seed Riverside Brookfield may await.

Lane Tech is seeded relatively high at #8 in class 4A. But if they get past #9 seed Maine West in the first round, #1 seed Maine South likley awaits.


CPS playoff notes

some 2nd round games today
Kenwood @ Northside (rogers park)
Jones @ Taft
Kennedy @ Simeon
Brooks @ Lane (Horner)

I believe all teams were reseeded after first Rd

Quarterfinals will be Thursday 430 at higher seeds.

CPS Baseball Playoffs Start Today

some match ups for today

wells @ taft
kennedy @ mather
steinmetz @ Lane
formen @ Clemente
corliss @ Northside
Ag Science @ Jones

Lane, Taft, Clemente are 1,2, 3 seeds out the north and should be there at the end.

Lane is # 2 overall seed, simeon is the #1 overall seed.

Semi finals are saturday at US Cellular Field.

The CPS Championship is Monday at Wrigley.

Reader Says: "Watch Out for Agriculture Science Baseball Team"

Chicago Agriculture Science baseball team photo from a reader.

I got the following email from reader:

Can you write an article on the Agricultural Science high school baseball team? They are a hidden gem in the public league and I feel you should pay attention to them. I always see you write About Simeon and Lane baseball. I went to their practice today and I was highly impressed. They have. 2 strong juniors and 2 strong seniors.

I have a team picture attached. But yea they are a very good team. Out of the last 5 years, they won conference 4 times. Their 1st game will be against Morgan park. They have alot of top college prospects. Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon.

 

Chicago Cubs to Build New Baseball Stadium for Lane Tech

Thanks to the monetary assistance by Kerry Wood and the Chicago Cubs, Lane Tech will get a new $4 million stadium.(CO 20 photo)

The Chicago Cubs are going to build a new 4 million dollar baseball stadium for Lane Tech. The new field will be called Kerry Wood Field since he donated $1million to the new field. Much thanks and appreciation goes to Kerry Wood for the hefty donation, especially considering his 2011 season salary for the Chicago Cubs was "only" 1.5 million dollars.

To officially make the announcement, the Chicago Cubs will be visiting Lane Tech. The Cubs will visit Lane on Thursday, January 12, 2012 during 1st and 2nd period. The Lane Tech band as well as members of the 4 Lane Tech fall 2012 city championship teams will be at the visit. Lane Tech won fall sports in girls cross country, boys cross country, and 16-inch softball.

The Publisher Neil Hernandez at a rooftop party at Wrigley Field on Opening Day 2011. For all you Sox fans, I do not apologize for being a lifelong Cubs fan. As a Lane Tech alumni I am well aware of the history and good will between the Chicago Cubs and Lane Tech. I remember we would hold regular parades to Wrigley Field and end up watching a Cubs game. Also, the Cubs use nearby Devry University's parking lot to shuttle Cubs fans to Wrigley Field. I remember being envious on April and May days  when I would see Cub fans heading towards Wrigley Field.

Lane Tech and the Cubs Wrigley Field are both on Addison street. When someone goes east on Addison Street, there are two main things people talk about Lane Tech and the Chicago Cubs. This new field will only enhance that relationship. A big shout out goes to the Chicago Cubs!

The new field will be an upgrade to Horner Park, where Lane currently plays many of its games. Lane has a rich baseball history. They do have momentum going into this season with a new coach and this new to be built field.

Dean Stavrakas named baseball coach at Lane Tech

It did not take long for Dean Stavrakas to find a new coaching job. The long time Lake View baseball coach decided to leave as the Lake View coach at the conclusion of the this past baseball season. He was named head baseball coach at Lane Tech.

Stavrakas did a great job while he was at Lake View. I remember a past conversation I had with him:

"Before I got here at Lake View, the program was not in great shape. We weren't even playing close to the maximum number of games allowed in the season. This shortchanged the kids and they lost out on valuable experience. One of the first things I did was increase our games. We played some bigger schools like New Trier but we got the experience."

While at Lake View, Stavrakas completely elevated the program raising it to the point where he even beat bigger schools. I remember they pounded Lane Tech something like 22-1 a couple years ago.

Stavrakas goes into a Lane program with storied history. Lane was always very competitive under Coach Szukala who is one of the winningest coached in IHSA baseball history.

Lane also has the advantage of numbers in a school where baseball is popular. There's maybe a 100 kids trying out for baseball every year.

If the Stavrakas name sounds familiar, it's because Dean's son George Stavrakas is the girls softball coach at Lane Tech.

Reader wants CPSfan.com to give more love to Jones College Prep baseball

I got this email from a reader:

Jones College Prep made it to its third super sectional in four years. It saddens me that there was not a single post about this. All I've seen is Simeon. Let's be fair to all public league schools that are successful.

Harlan Stuns Simeon to Take City Baseball Title

Harlan 7 Simeon 6

The talk this season has been mainly about Simeon. With a stockpile of young talent, people thought Simeon woudl roll. Instead, Harlan took over the limelight as they won a hard fought 7-6 victory over Simeon in the city championship at US Cellular Field.

Harlan took a 5-1 lead after 3 innings. Then Simeon chipped away at the lead to tie the game 6-6 in the 6th inning.

One of the key points came in the bottom of the 6th. With the game tied 6-6 Simeon had a man on second and had Shane Brown at the plate. Brown hit a drive to deep center which appeared destined to give Simeon a lead. But Harlan centerfielder Canance King Jr made an incredible over the shoulder catch at the warning track to rob Brown of a hit that would have given Simeon the lead.

At the 7th and last inning King walked with the bases loaded to give Harlan the deciding run.

Harlan won it's first city baseball title since 1993.