JEREMY TIRADO-IF, St. Pat’s

CHRISTIAN RIVERA-UT, Notre Dame

DAVID STILLERMAN-IF, Evanston

ADAM McCLURE-P,OF, Notre Dame

ZACH FUDALEJ-P, Notre Dame

PATRICK RAHILL- P,IF, Loyola Academy

JOSE CASTRO-P,IF, St. Pat’s

DANIEL MAYZEL-P,UT, Deerfield

STUART HALEY-P,UT, New Trier

MACK MONDALA-IF, Notre Dame

MIKE SANCHEZ-P,OF, Von Steuben

ERIC WEST-UT, New Trier

JOHN BRANDEL-C, Glenbrook North

MATT DiCESARE-P, New Trier

ARMANDO SALGADO-P,UT, St. Pat’s

CHRIS BOWEN-OF, Loyola Academy

JOHN SPOLESTRA-P, OF, Cary Grove

IVAN MORALES-IF, Von Steuben

KANKAKEE: After a rough start Saturday, AE started throwing strikes and pounding the baseball and turned things around to post a winning weekend! Against St. Liuis, the ELITE fell behind 5-0 early before rallying for a 10-7 win. Jose Castro delivered a big two-out bases-loaded hit to tie the game and Jeremy Tirado drove in three runs.  Basehits by Ivan Morales and Mikey Sanchez set the table for the knockout punch.  Behind the plate, John Brandell called a fantastic game and handled the young AE staff exceptionally well. "I knew it would be easier to catch these guys now that I've seen them a bit...it's tough when you're just feeling each other out." In addition to Brandell, Tirado, Morales, Mack Mondala all played exceptional defense. 

On Sunday, the bats continued to sizzle.  Deep counts and hard contact were the order of the day.  Behind 5 strong innings from newcomer Stuart Haley and some highlight caliber double-plays from Andrew Touhy and Jeremy Tirado, the offense coasted en route to a 13-1 victory over Cangelosi Baseball.  Eric West, Tirado, Sanchez, Matt Dicesare,   Armando Salgado and Daniel Mayzel each drove in runs in the clutch.  Jeremy Tirado brought both benches to their feet with what can only be described as a miracle play at shortstop.  "That was the most athletic and instictive play I've ever seen a shortstop make.  The connection between his feet and his release is an unteachable tool.  He's just THE best shortstop in our state.  If you don't agree, you haven't seen him play."

In the nightcap, trailing 3-1, Mack Mondala delivered a pinch-hit single and Christian Rivera followed with the clutch game-tying hit scoring pinch-runner John Brandell in a very  well played game vs. Cangelosi/Sparks Black. "We were holding Mack until we could get a couple of guys on for him. He's normally in the middle of our everyday lineup so to have him available like that was a huge bullett to have.  I have great confidence in Mack on both sides of the ball.  This kid will be a great gift to some collegiate program."

Christian Rivera has settled into the lead-off role nicely.  Rivera reached base 8 times in the tournament and started driving the ball tothe gaps.  "We need Christian to get us started.  He's a luxury item in the lead-off spot.  Pop, speed, and patience.  He's also evolving into a top-flight CF and catches a good game behind the plate.  It's great to see Riv arrive."

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FALL RESULTS: 2008

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IOWA CITY- The place was crawling with college coaches hoping to find those guys who were uncomitted and going ED. AE played much better baseball than the weekend in Madison as the Iowa air seemed to bring out the killer instinct a bit.

In the first game, a 16-year old from Miller, Missouri throwing 87-89--and touching 90, no-hit the Elite through four innings.  Drew Amboian kept the Missouri Trailblazers offense off balance by mixing his pitches with command.  Phil Wisniewski caught his finest game to date.  Trailing 3-0 in the 6th, the elite got their third look at "Mr. 90" and got him in the stretch.  The 16-year old proved his immaturity and became his own worst enemy against the more experienced AE club.  Waiting for better pitches to hit, the Elite looked for the dauting fastball and became the hunters.  Jonathan Hall became a distraction after a single.  He got a running jump and stole second easily.  After Ray O'Connell singled in a 3-1 game and took second on a wild pitch--he was lifted for Amboian as a pich runner.  Steven Mazzone promtly tied the game with a clutch 2-out single and Amboian beat the throw home by a step.  After Andrew Touhy was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Senior shortstop Tim Duxbury turned violently on an 88 mph fastball and launched a dramatic walk-off slam to power the Elite to a 7-3 victory.  The Missouri righ-hander is still in therapy at this writing...

The "re-match" with the Iowa Cobras turned out to be no match at all.  Falling behind early, the Elite never challenged the Cobras as the hitting barrage never ended. The table was set for Sunday with the Elite needing to find motivation and to show their resiliency against the tough Wisconsin and St. Louis clubs.

In the first game vs. Wisconsin, the Elite traded 2-run punches in the first and the slug-fest was on.  When the dust settled John Saleh and Jonathan Hall held the Stars to 4 runs--3 earned while the offense exploded; Coach Apostle:  "These guys have been expanding their zones all fall.  Today, they started to show what they can do.  We want to win our individual at-bats.  Getting a pitch to hit and hitting it hard is how we define winning our at-bats.  Know YOUR zone and be ready to attack.  It's basically 'hitting 101' around here."   In addition to fantastic and opportunistic baserunning by the entire club, Christian Rivera had 4 hits including a double and a triple and scored three runs and Phil Wisniewski added a pair of hits.  Drew Amboian drove in a pair with a long triple and Bob Cook and Tim Duxbury were virtually flawless in the middle of the diamond as the Elite pounded the Wisconsin Stars 15-4.

In the season finale, the Elite traded zeros with St. Louis through 5 innings as Bob Cook and Paulie Zange kept both sides off-balance.  In the sixth, the Elite utilized their small game and baserunning with timely hitting by Cook & Duxbury to break through and take a 2-0 lead.  Alex Maragos followed with a long 2-run homer and the Elite was ahead to stay 4-0.  Christian Rivera followed with a 380-foot bomb of his own as insurance.  Bob Cook continued his fine work battling through a near-empty tank until giving way to John Saleh for the close.  The game was abreviated at the 2-hour mark and the Elite survived a late St. Louis charge 5-3.

In all a 3-1 weekend and a great fall tour!  Thanks to all who have supported the AE College Tour.

In addition to the wonderful players and families, we would like to thank Will Rivera for his tireless camera work, Under Armour baseball, Diamond Sports Professionals, Diamond Sports Protions and Mike VanHorn, Tim Brownlee, Muhltech, Coach CJ of the Madison Mallards, Tony Dawkins, Paul Kosinski for their fine individual work with players, all of the colleges that came to watch; Iowa Wesleyan, U of Iowa, Northern Iowa, Madison Tech, Whitewater, Trinity, Olivet Nazarene, Loras, UW-Green Bay, Iowa State, Concordia, St. Joe's, Indiana, Elmhurst, Knox, Augustana, Dominican University, Triton, Valparaiso, St. Norberts, and the many other coaches we had the pleasure of meeting.  Thanks to Jamie at the Texas Roadhouse for being so hot--keep dancing...Thanks to Jimmy for his fine plate work--best umpire we saw, and finally, congrats to Tony at Hard Knox and his wife on the birth of their first--Godspeed and all the best!

See you next season,

The Elite 

224-944-8534