Baseball: Despite graduation losses, Marquette’s future looks bright

It’s hard enough to get Marquette Academy baseball coach Todd Hopkins to admit his team might win one game, let alone another 30.

The veteran mentor knows that between last Saturday — when his team defeated LeRoy for third place in the IHSA Class 1A State Tournament — and June of 2023 when the State Finals reconvene, anything can happen.

But the way his Crusaders scrapped, clawed and overcame injuries and disappointment to get to that final victory, and considering the talent they have returning, don’t bet against them being there for two games next spring and maybe winning them both.

Not that there won’t be changes. The club will sorely miss three of its starters in Beau and Brady Ewers and catcher Hayden McKenna, plus reserves Garett Geiger and Aiden Kath. Their leadership was a key to the Cru surviving its own regional with a 10-inning win over St. Bede and a comeback victory over 2021 1A third-place finisher Newark, then rallying from behind to beat Hope Academy and avenging a late-season loss to Putnam County at the Harvest Christian Sectional.

Those battles made the 12-1 win over Sterling Newman at the Rockford Super-Sectional seem like the cakewalk it was.

“No. 1, we’re gonna miss our seniors,” said Hopkins, whose program since the 2010 season has posted a record of 329-64. “Beau got hurt against Joliet Catholic and missed the rest of the season, and that was at a time when he was our No. 3, our best hitter, so that was difficult. Our second baseman, Tommy Durdan, was out for a month and a half. Taylor [Waldron] couldn’t throw for like two-three weeks in the tournament.

“Just the resiliency of this team, putting that stuff aside and not moaning and pouting about it, got us to Peoria.”

The best news is there is so much coming back from a team that started two sophomores and three freshmen in its two games at state.

The entire four-man rotation of Taylor Waldron, Aiden Thompson, Logan Nelson and Carson Zellers should return. Together, they combined for a 28-4 record with 276 strikeouts and a 1.77 ERA over 176 innings.

The infield should also remain intact with Sam Mitre at first, Durdan at second, Nelson at short and Zellers at third, with Ryker Reynolds the utility man.

Next best is that the injuries have opened the door to a number of possibilities for the 2023 lineup. Someone will have to step up to replace Brady Ewers and his stats (.386, 25 R, 3 HR, 30 RBI) in left field and McKenna (.368, 14 R, 27 RBI) behind the plate, but they had already revamped the lineup to account for the absence of Beau Ewers (.418, 24 R, 19 RBI), who was lost to injury after the Joliet Catholic game on April 20.

The versatility of center fielder Julian Alexander, who occasionally spelled McKenna behind the plate and handling second base when Durdan was hurt, will be a key.

If Alexander catches, that leaves an outfield of Charlie Mullen, Keaton Davis and Waldron, along with Gabe Almeda, Primo Pattelli or Payton Gutierrez. However, Davis could catch, sending Alexander back to center field.

Of course, all this is just speculation based on the 2022 roster and its statistics and does not take into account other underclassmen coming up from the JV team.

“On paper, it says we’ll probably be pretty good next season, but crazy things can happen,” Hopkins said. “Right now, we’ll get away from it for a little bit and come back still hungry to do better next season, to remember what happened here this weekend and try not to let the first part of that happen again. …

“Like I told these guys, we lived on the edge of the sword through the whole postseason, and [in the semifinal] we got cut by that blade, but they showed a lot of heart to come back and play the way they did to win again.

“We’ll do the work in the weight room to get stronger, like I’m confident that they will, then play that season out when it gets here and see what happens. But this is a pretty good group, and they love to play the game.”