[Preview of next week’s piece in the Inside—Booster.]
By Jack Lydon
DePaul Prep is on a roll. “The boys are just humming right now. 13-0. The guys are putting good games together. Good practices. It's all coming together,” said Charlie “Chuck” Pribyl, DePaul Prep senior third baseman after the Rams 10-0 victory over Leo at Kroc Field on the far Southside.
And it came on a combined no-hitter by five DePaul Prep pitchers, Owen Rog, Garen Gutzmer, Noah Liss, Gavin Variano and Connor Egan. This is the best start to a varsity baseball season in the 11 years of DePaul Prep and is also believed to be the best start to any season in the Gordon Tech era as well.
There has also plenty of offense to go with solid pitching for the Rams on this historic streak. Pribyl lead off the scoring for the Rams in the top of the second with a two-run homerun to right center. It was the second two-run homerun for Pribyl in as many games. Chuck had a two-run walkoff homerun in Monday’s extra-inning 7-5 win over Amundsen at Kerry Wood Field.
“I think we just have a lot of fun right now. We know each other very well. So I think it’s coming together. It’s just flowing nicely right now,” Pribyl continued.
Freshman Nolan Hecht followed up Pribyl’s shot with a towering two-run homerun to right field of his own in the top of the fourth giving the Rams a 7-0 lead and putting the game out of reach.
Of the gaudy 13-0 start to the season, DePaul Prep head baseball coach and assistant athletic director Sam Colon put on a huge grin saying, “I don't really have any words to describe it. It's a really fun group.”
“These guys have put in a ton of work to prepare themselves for the season. I think a lot of the hard work is definitely showing now. It's high school baseball. We're gonna catch a loss at some point. So I think it's a little special group. It's fun.”
This historic start for the Rams is just that—a start. The Rams now head into the meat of their schedule with upcoming games against Chicago Catholic League Blue Division rivals including perennial powerhouse teams, Brother Rice, Mount Carmel, Loyola and Providence Catholic, not to mention St. Rita, St. Laurence and DeLaSalle.
“It doesn't worry me. We’re well prepared, well coached and I think we can attack anything that comes our way,” Pribyl said of the approaching tough stretch in the schedule.
Skipper Colon was a little more circumspect when it came to the 13-0 record and upcoming conference play. “It's ok. [The players] know. We talk about it as a team. None of this matters unless you're the last one standing at the end. These wins are great and all but come [the playoffs] is when we want to rattle off seven in a row. That’s what matters most.”
The sports programs at DePaul Prep has achieved remarkable success after its transformation from Gordon Tech in 2014. The basketball team has won three straight state championships in basketball. The football team won a state championship in the fall. The girls’ volleyball team took fourth in the state in the fall. As a well as the state finals appearances of boys’ and girls’ cross country teams in the last couple years.
“It's a testament to the coaches and the kids and everybody. It takes a village to have continued success this way across the board. Our school community, our strength room and Coach [Alex] Nadolna,” Sam Colon said of the school’s successes in athletics of late.
“I have learned something different every time I go along on the ride [to a state tournament]. I've definitely taken a little bit from Coach Baum. I've taking a little bit from Coach [Passarella]. I've taken a little bit from the Coach Gajzler. How can we implement it? Obviously, they have had success. We've had success. How can we continue to find success in different ways and continue to evolve. So it's been fun. It's been fun to learn.
