Count Gregula’s Crypt

The Bennett Musser-Danny Connelly battery has been together since both were 10 years old. So Connelly, the catcher, knows when Musser has his best stuff.

“Bennett’s fastball has always been dominant and when he locates his changeup and his curveball he’s basically unhittable,” Connelly said.

That’s exactly what happened on Friday in Joliet.

“His offspeed [stuff] was on today,” Connelly said.

It resulted in 5 2/3 no-hit innings for Musser as the Mustangs cruised to a 12-0 win against McHenry in the Illinois High School Association Class 4A baseball state semifinals at Duly Health and Care Field.

“When I play my best is when I pitch to contact,” Musser said. “When all three pitches are working I get ground balls and weak contact. It’s a lot easier when we get some runs.”

Musser pitched all seven innings and allowed just one hit and no runs. He struck out four and walked three.

The Mustangs (29-5) led 2-0 early and erupted for four runs in the fifth to put the game out of reach.

Michael Farinea, Daniel Pacella, Christian Seminaro, Connor Wik and Connelly all had two hits. Pacella and Weik each drove in two runs.

“I’m so proud of all these guys,” Mundelein coach Randy Lerner said. “From day one our goal has been the state championship. We’ve been struggling offensively the past couple of games. Today we stayed nice and loose and got Bennett a couple runs and he had an unbelievable performance.”

The Mustangs will face Edwardsville in the championship game at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Cooper Cohn had the only hit for McHenry (30-9), which will face Brother Rice in the third place game.

Mundelein vs. McHenry box score

Read More

NEW YORK – Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo has followed the Cubs’ season from a unique vantage point.

Who else can say they’ve been through the early years of a Cubs rebuild before, experienced the deadline sell-off last year first-hand, and are now on a perennial playoff team?

“When the big teams are playing at a premium, it’s just better for baseball,” he said Friday. “It’s better for the overall experience when you turn on a game and it’s Yankees-Red Sox battling for first place in June, but it seems like it’s October. That’s good for baseball.

“And all the big markets have plenty of money to spend. So yeah, a team like the Cubs should be competing every single year at a very high payroll.”

The Cubs’ 2-1 extra-innings loss to the Yankees on Friday marked the first game Rizzo has played against his former team since it traded him to the Yankees last summer.He went 0-for-4 at the plate.

Though only a few of Rizzo former teammates remained in the opposite dugout Friday, the group included his close friend Ian Happ and four guys he’d won a World Series with – Jason Heyward, Kyle Hendricks, Willson Contreras and manager David Ross.

The Cubs are going through their second rebuild in a decade, although president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer stands by his promise that this time won’t be a mirror image of the last.

“I don’t necessarily think you can use the same strategy multiple times in a row,” he said last month.

Rizzo was part of the core that pulled the Cubs from rebuild mode to championship mode last time. But unlike Javy B?ez and Kris Bryant, Rizzo was also there for the teardown years, when the Cubs lost 101 and 96 games in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

“In ’14 at the deadline was when the feeling went away, like this is going to be our last time trading guys,” Rizzo said.

It’s unclear how many more trading sprees the Cubs will have this time around. Even though they’ve played tightly contested games in recent weeks against playoff-hunt bound teams (Brewers, Cardinals, Yankees), the Cubs (23-34) are expected to be sellers this time around.

Rizzo can relate to the position Contreras, in his last year of club control, is in.

“I’m sure last year has helped with him too, just seeing the reality of this game,” Rizzo said. “… He’s a professional. He knows how to prepare. And I never have seen him ever let outside noise get to him. I don’t think that’ll change right now for him.”

Contreras and the Cubs avoided arbitration before his scheduled hearing Thursday, agreeing to a $9.625 million salary for 2022.

“I’m really happy with the results that we got,” Contreras said. “I think both sides won, and I’m really happy how the negotiation went through.”

Contreras said they have not begun extension talks.

“I’m not focused on that,” he said when asked if he hoped the club would engage. “I’m focused on playing my season the way I’ve been playing, keep helping my teammates, whoever needs my help I’ll be there, lead the team the right way. And I’m just going to keep going.”

Rizzo, on the other hand, cut off extension talks when the parties reached an impasse before Opening Day last year. The Cubs traded him four months later.

“It’s not like they’re just gonna go and roll over anyone by any means,” Rizzo said of this new-look Cubs team, after its payroll-cutting moves. “It’s just a different year than the normal standard that we created there over the last seven or so years.”

Read More

NEW YORK – Cubs right-hander Marcus Stroman strode through the rain on Wednesday after his start was postponed in Baltimore. He played catch in the outfield and then headed into the bullpen for a light side session.

The Cubs revealed on Friday that Stroman felt shoulder discomfort during that session. They placed Stroman on the 15-day injured list Friday with right shoulder inflammation, retroactive to Tuesday, in a surge of roster moves.

“I don’t think he’s felt right since coming back from COVID to be honest,” Ross said.

Stroman’s made four starts since then, each better than the last until he allowed nine runs in four innings against the Cardinals last week.

“When you’ve got bumps and bruises, you’re not at 100 percent, it affects everybody’s performance,” Ross said when asked if he thought Stroman’s shoulder injury affected him in his last start.

Ross said he hopes Stroman will only need a minimum IL stint.

The Cubs rotation is working through a rash of injuries. Lefty Wade Miley, who the Cubs activated from the 15-day IL (left shoulder strain) to start on Friday, left the game with left shoulder soreness. He threw three scoreless innings.

Right-hander Kyle Hendricks hasn’t started since June 1, and though he insisted nothing specific was physically bothering him, Ross said Friday that Hendricks was “dealing with some stuff.”He threw a bullpen Friday.

“He’ll pitch in the near future,” Ross said.

Cubs lefty Drew Smyly remains on the 15-day IL with a right oblique strain.

The Cubs have yet to announce their starter for Sunday.

Read More

Brother Rice arrived at the Illinois High School Association’s Class 4A state baseball finals in Joliet as a heavy favorite. The Crusaders impressed early in the season at national events, beating two highly-touted teams from Florida, IMG and Montverde.

The win against IMG ended with Jack Lausch’s walk-off home run in the ninth inning. Lausch, the Sun-Times Football Player of the Year, has signed with Northwestern as a quarterback but is also one of the state’s top prospects in the MLB Draft.

Friday’s state semifinal game against Edwardsville at Duly Health and Care Field opened with another Lausch highlight. Tigers leadoff hitter Grant Huebner ripped a ball deep to center field that would have cleared the fence at any high school park.

Lausch says he knew he had it all along. He was likely alone in that opinion. But he pulled it off, catching the ball in a full-on sprint with his back to the plate, Willie Mays-style.

“[Left fielder Nick Daugherty] did a great job of talking to me,” Lausch said. “He helped me out a lot. We actually have kind of been practicing that a bit.”

That first moment wound up being the highlight of the game for the Crusaders. Edwardsville’s big bats came through in the middle innings and the Tigers knocked off Brother Rice 7-4.

Edwardsville will face the winner of the McHenry-Mundelein semifinal in the championship game on Saturday.

“We’ve faced really good teams,” Edwardsville coach Tim Funkhouser said. “We’ve beaten the state champion in Missouri. Our guys have been in that setting and they expect themselves to do well. That’s why they were able to calm their nerves.

Edwardsville has been a regular at the baseball state finals over the years. The Tigers won titles in 2019, 1998, and 1990 and have made 16 overall appearances. But Brother Rice entered the game ranked 14th in the country by MaxPreps, one of just three teams in the midwest ranked in the top 25.

“There’s no doubt about Brother Rice,” Funkhouser said. “They are a phenomenal team and their coaches do a great job. We’re happy to come out on top today.”

Indiana recruit Dylan Warda started for the Crusaders (35-6). He pitched 4 1/3 innings and allowed seven runs (four earned), five hits, struck out six, and walked four.

The walks and some defensive miscues were the difference in the game. The Tigers pride themselves on their discipline at the plate.

“If you don’t throw strikes as much as you would like we can expose that,” Funkhouser said. “Our guys are really patient. It’s hard to do it in this setting but our guys did a great job.”

Lausch came into pitch in the fifth and shut Edwardsville (33-4) down for the final two innings.

The Crusaders had runners on base in the fourth and fifth inning but were shut down by a pair of impressive Edwardsville double plays.

“Those are huge,” Lausch said. “Throughout the playoffs we had a few of those ourselves. They are inning killers.”

The Tigers took the lead on a trick play steal of home in the third inning. They had runners on first and third. The runner leading off at first was the decoy. He pretended to fall down while the runner at third, Caeleb Copeland, raced for home.

“That play is good for that situation,” McBride said. “We had a lefty on the mound and we were ready for it. [Warda] had a curveball grip. The guy took off and he didn’t change his grip in time and we didn’t make the play. We knew it was coming but they out-executed us.”

Lausch ended up falling short in the state semifinals in football and baseball. But along the way, he provided more highlight moments in two major sports than any player in recent memory. After the loss one of his teammates pointed out that you remember the special moments your entire life while trophies just collect dust.

Maybe that’s why Lausch wasn’t in tears after the game. He held his head high and looked at the positive.

“This was a really cool experience,” Lausch said. “I’m excited for the younger guys to see this as something to work towards and something to build towards. Hopefully, they get back here consistently.”

Brother Rice vs. Edwardsville box score

Read More

NEW YORK – The Cubs made a flurry of roster moves Friday afternoon, notably designating outfielder Clint Frazier for assignment.

“We haven’t been able to give him real opportunities to watch him succeed right now,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “Some tough decisions. We think a lot of Clint and his abilities.”

The move freed up the 40-man roster spot the Cubs needed to reinstate reliever Chris Martin from the restricted list – Martin started on the bereavement list and was transferred when he reached the seven-day maximum.

“He was upset,” Ross said when asked how Frazier took the news. “Emotional would be a good word. I think he likes it here a lot. I think he believes in his baseball skills, which we do, too. It’s just one of those really tough decisions we have to make sometimes, which stink.”

Frazier, who the Cubs signed this winter, has only had 45 plate appearances this season. He struggled at the plate to start the season and then had appendicitis, which sidelined him for over a month. When Frazier returned, it was in a right-field platoon with Jason Heyward.

The other two outfield spots were solidified, with left fielder Ian Happ and rookie center fielder Christopher Morel putting together strong all-around seasons.

”I’ve been feeling really good at the plate,” Frazier told the Sun-Times this week. ”I’m really hoping I can get some more at-bats here soon because I want to play.”

Case in point, Frazier went 5-for-16 at the plate after coming back from appendicitis, largely serving as a pinch hitter.

“He’s worked his tail off and did nothing but be a great teammate here,” Ross said. “All the players like him, the coaches like him a lot. … We hope we get to keep him. But I don’t know if that’s going to be a possibility or not.”

Asked if the organization still had a relationship with Frazier that would make him want to stay if he happened to clear waivers, Ross said he’d hope so.

“I think he also has some life decisions that he wants to look at,” Ross said.

The Cubs also activated lefty Wade Miley (left shoulder strain), catcher Yan Gomes (left oblique strain) and infielder Jonathan Villar (mouth injury) off the injured list.

In corresponding moves, they placed right-hander Marcus Stroman (right shoulder inflammation) on the 15-day IL and optioned reliever Michael Rucker and reliever Alfonso Rivas to Triple-A.

Read More