Through mud-stained pants and the sounds of cleats touching bases, Oak Park and River Forest High School varsity baseball team is in full swing.
The season so far has had some high points, including a four-game win streak that ended with a loss to New Trier High School on April 8. At press time, the team’s record was 8-9. The Huskies are ranked fourth in their conference, showing their competitors they are ready to dominate.
The team is coached by Kevin Campbell, alongside assistant coach Justin Rodriguez, and captained by seniors Mason Phillips and Cole Benson, and junior Ethan Moore.
As the season continues, many players within the program are standouts, including juniors George Holland, Peter Farren and Northern Illinois University commit Brady Green. Farren, a pitcher and designated hitter, has an exceptional presence on the mound. With an excellent arm, Farren has yet to give up a run.
With his attention to detail, Campbell has made his mark in the baseball program over the years. As a coach, he focuses on getting to know his players as people before he gets to know them in terms of their athletic ability. “I try to learn as much about them as possible, whether they are a dog person, cat person, all the way down to their favorite type of food,” said Campbell. During the summertime, he makes sure to go to his players’ travel games to make it known that even when he isn’t their coach, he still supports them.
Campbell credits his coaching style to his high school coach, Jared Voss, the head coach of Joliet Catholic Academy. Campbell said he relies on Voss’s traits of prioritizing and connecting with players in how he coaches the Huskies today. He pays attention to the little details to push the Huskies above their competition.
Campbell said he knows that it starts with the coaches. If the players see that the coaches are ready for practice and eager to put their best foot forward, that makes the players motivated to leave everything on the field every time they step onto it. Knowing that their coaches want to show up and help the team improve makes the players drive so much higher. “Their drive for the game matches mine. They always want to put the extra time in and get better,” said Campbell.
In addition to building a strong relationship between the players and coaches, the relationship between the players themselves is also tight. Even when times get tough, the team remembers to stick together as one unit. “We’re all selfless players; everyone is focused on the team,” said Carleton University baseball commit Carlo Lissuzzo, a senior. The players have each other’s backs.
The baseball team consists of many players, some of whom have been sharing the field since the ripe age of 7. They have grown into the players they are today, together. They’ve seen each other at their highs and lows and have built a family through the sport. “It shows that you’re not just cheering to cheer, you’re cheer- ing because you truly care about the guys around you,” said Phillips.
As the season moves along, the Huskies are striving to reach their goals after ending last season on a note that was not the one they wanted. This year their goal is to win and do so by staying as one unit and focusing on the little details that may go unnoticed. Last season ended with a record of 17-18 and a loss in the opening game of the IHSA Class 4A tournament.
They have been preparing to reverse that outcome. The players have decided to pay attention to the little things to reach that goal. Phillips describes how he wants to get ahead of the challenges rather than wait for them to arise mid-season. That started with the team’s mentality. Making sure that everyone was on the same page mentally and striving for the same goals is what makes the Huskies such a great team.
This season the Huskies are ready to show that they have something to prove. So that leaves one final question, are you ready to see it?