Despite strong start, Providence baseball team refuses to be satisfied

Providence Catholic is the defending 4A state champion in baseball. Anyone who follows prep baseball already is aware of that.

What people may not realize is that the overwhelming majority of the Celtics’ roster from last year is back. That likely explains the team’s 6-1 start. It might also explain how the Celtics just won the WJOL Tournament for a record sixth time.

What’s hard to figure out, however, is why the heck the Celtics are feeling disappointed in how they’ve started the season.

“We haven’t swung the bats very well this year,” coach Mark Smith said after beating Minooka 12-4 to win the WJOL Tournament on April 5. “We really haven’t ... Hopefully, we’re breaking out of it a little bit.”

To review, the Celtics started the season by beating Joliet Central 24-0. That’s not a typo. Twenty-four runs in a single game with none allowed. The Celtics’ only loss of the season was 6-4 to St. Charles North on March 25.

After that? It’s hard to figure out where the Celtics’ offense can be faulted. They won 16-1 over Dakota, 7-2 over Plainfield East and 4-2 over previously undefeated Plainfield Central the same day they knocked off previously undefeated Minooka. Add in a 16-0 win over Leo and you’ve got an all-around great start, right?

“We’ve all been disappointed in our start,” Smith said. “I think we’ve started slow, but we’re still trying to figure out some things. We’ve got guys in different positions this year, so we’re still learning. We’ve got young guys we just brought up that are still learning. Confidence-wise we’re there. We just have to go out and execute and we’re going to be OK.”

It should be noted that 11 of Providence’s 12 runs against Minooka came in the final two innings, as did eight of their 11 hits. Still, this is a group that features Minnesota commit Nate O’Donnell, Cincinnati commit Enzo Infelise and SIUE commit Cooper Eggert. The talent is there at the plate and the mound.

On the mound, Smith says the team is taking a cautious approach. The Celtics don’t want to rely on anyone too early when their focus is on May.

“We’ve got the guys on a pitch count right now,” Smith said. “We’re trying to get these guys in pressure situations to see what they can and cannot do. The plan is to keep them to 40-45 pitches. We have pitching, we just have to see which guys are going to fall into what spots.”

Smith mentioned having moved a few freshmen up to give the Celtics a few more arms. It’s the experience of this group, however, that has helped get this team to 6-1, and that experience and leadership will continue to be relied upon.

After losing Jackson Smith and others to graduation last year, the Celtics weren’t worried about who would step up as leaders in the dugout. The leadership on this crew has been well established, and Smith emphasized that this was “a great group that works hard, and I love them.”

Senior Blake Jenner and others echoed Smith’s sentiment. While 6-1 is nice, the 2025 4A title isn’t promised, and they expect to be even better if they want to repeat again.

“We’re very confident, but we definitely have to improve on a lot of things,” Jenner said. “We’ve got to stop making routine errors or getting ugly outs early in the count. We have to try and work at-bats, try to hit the ball the other way and stop trying to do too much.”