Warriors come out to play: Lincoln-Way West cruising at 20-0

In trying to reach out to Lincoln-Way West baseball coach Jake Zajc, the Herald-News informed him it wanted to do a story on his team’s hot start. His initial response was mock hesitancy, yet it also highlights the reason the Warriors are worth highlighting and the attitude they’ve taken in said hot start.

“Can you wait until we lose our first one?” Zajc joked.

Again, there’s two things to notice there. First, you are understanding Zajc correctly. We’re in late April and the Warriors still are unbeaten at 20-0 through the close of last week. Second, while that is an objective fact, they’re not focusing on it. They’re just taking it one outing at a time, as the old saying goes.

“One of the things we talk about as a coaching staff is that you have to prove it every day,” Zajc said. “It’s been a great start, but our goal is to be playing our best baseball at the end of the year. There’s things we have to continue to get better at and for all the great things we do to get a win each day there’s a couple of things we can learn from it. They’ve listened and embraced that.”

That seems to be the motto the Warriors go by. Even coming into the season, the outside expectations were huge. Lincoln-Way West went 28-9 in 2023, advancing all the way to the sectional semis. They entered the season with nine seniors and a host of talented juniors led by a pair of Division I commits in Conor Essenburg (Kansas State) and Lucas Acevedo (UIC). Nearly every onlooker believed great things were in store.

A 20-0 start, though? Only three one-run games and one extra-inning contest? Outscoring opponents 161-59 with four shutouts and seven games in which they’ve scored double-digit runs? It’s unlikely anyone knew they’d be that good.

So, did the Warriors expect it? Zajc said they weren’t even thinking about it.

“Every year is a new year,” Zajc said. “A lot of our players that got competitive opportunities last year came back this year. We knew we had great experience with competitive players. There’s been a lot of contributions from different people each day. Everyone has just been sticking with the plan and coming to practice with a great attitude of competing at the highest level that they can.”

Of course, Essenburg has been a huge part of the success on offense and on the mound. He’s batting .444 with 14 RBIs and 20 runs scored while striking out 57 batters over 26 1/3 innings with a 1.33 ERA. Acevedo, too, has been fantastic on the mound with 20 strikeouts and an ERA of less than one. That was to be expected.

Everyone else has stepped up big, as well. Ben Shea (20 RBIs), Anthony Massa (18 RBIs, 17 runs) and Jacob Willis (20 runs, 3 homers) have been outstanding on offense, while Adam Gerl also has more than 20 K’s and a tiny ERA. That’s something in particular that Zajc has been proud of.

“Everybody has had highlights,” he said. “The biggest thing we stress is that we have to be good at the game of baseball fundamentally and find different ways to win. One day it’s small ball, and one day it’s great pitching. Another day it’s offense. With the attitude and belief system that we have, so far it’s been great and it’s shown. ... You can mention any of our guys, and they’ve done a great job.”

Of course, things are far from over. There’s still another 15 games left in the regular season to get through. And as the 2007 New England Patriots can tell you, a perfect regular season doesn’t mean anything if you don’t collect the trophy at the end of the year. While all these wins have been nice, Zajc and company are focused on going undefeated in the only season that matters: the postseason.

“We just need to keep rising and staying healthy,” Zajc said. “Being where we’re at is great. It’s phenomenal. It’s a great accomplishment, but once again it’s about playing our best at the end of the year. That’s really where we want to keep focusing.”