Lincoln-Way West entered the season feeling confident in its baseball team.

After going 28-9 last year and reaching the sectional semifinals before losing to Lincoln-Way East, the belief was that the Warriors were primed for further success with nine seniors and a pair of juniors already committed to D1 programs in Conor Essenburg (Kansas State) and Lucas Acevedo (UIC).

But man oh man, who could’ve seen this much success coming?

After a 5-0 win over Downers Grove North on Wednesday, Lincoln-Way West now sits at 19-0 on the year, including 6-0 in conference play. Perhaps most impressive is that only three of those wins were one-run games and only one went to extra innings. On the season, the Warriors are outscoring opponents by a margin of 161-59. They’ve shut out their opponents four times and scored double-digit runs seven times.

So, yeah, you could say they were right to feel confident.

“This is a great group of guys,” senior Jacob Willis said after an April 12 win over Minooka. “Every day, we practice situations where we’re down a run in the field. We’ve found ways to just execute perfectly at certain times, but it all starts in practice. Coach (Jake Zajc) puts us in a position to where we can be ready to go.”

Essenburg has led the way at the plate, batting .444 with 14 runs batted in and 20 runs scored, but seniors Ben Shea (20 RBIs) and Anthony Massa (18 RBIs, 17 runs) have been tremendous factors, as well. Willis, too, with 20 runs and a team-leading three homers.

Essenburg has been just as effective on the mound with 57 strikeouts over 26⅓ innings with a 1.33 earned run average. Acevedo and junior Adam Gerl both have an ERA under 1.00 with more than 20 strikeouts as well.

The Warriors face Lemont on Saturday. They’re a serious threat to begin 20-0, but they’d all likely say their main focus is on going undefeated in the postseason.

Can’t be Hill-topped

Speaking of hot starts and undefeated postseasons, it’s been another banner year for Joliet Catholic so far. After winning back-to-back state championships, the Hilltoppers are off to a 17-2 start and look primed for another title run.

JCA had a long unbeaten stretch to open the season, as well, going 12-0 before dropping two in a row to Marist and Nazareth. Since then, it’s been five straight wins by a 47-11 margin, including with a three-game series sweep of Marian Catholic.

Having 6-foot-3-inch pitcher Aidan Hayse on the mound always helps. The Tennessee commit’s fastball has topped out at 93 mph Senior Jake Troyner, a UIC commit, has led the way on offense, going 3 for 3 with three RBIs against Notre Dame last week. Pitching coach Ryan Quigley said on April 15 that he felt the team continuity has helped this group continue to find success together.

“These guys have played a lot of games in their four years together,” Quigley said. “They know how to make a play at the right time and the pitchers know when they have to throw the right pitch.”

JCA will play Benet on Monday with a tough matchup against Downers Grove North two days after that.

Griffins grinding

After a less than ideal start to the season, Lincoln-Way East has turned its ship around in a hurry.

The Griffins entered this season with a ton of hype. John McCarthy came over from Homewood-Flossmoor to take over as head coach. Tyler Bell, a Kentucky commit, was being hyped as an early round MLB draft prospect. Jack Bauer is a Virginia recruit, and Missouri commit Justyn Hart transferred in to give LWE an exciting group.

For a while, it was anything but. After a solid 3-1 start, the Griffins dropped seven of their next 10 to fall to 6-8, not the year they’d been hoping for with so much talent on deck.

Lately, however, the tide has begun to turn. The Griffins have won six of their past seven to improve to 12-9 with their only loss coming to a very strong Minooka team. They had a pair of one-run wins against McCarthy’s old team, but the other four victories have been by a combined score of 54-7.

Bell, who was hitting only .167 in his first 24 at-bats of the season, has looked sharp in particular during the recent stretch. He’s coming off a 3 for 3 performance against Crete-Monee in which he scored four runs. Hart went 3 for 4 with four RBIs against Lockport the game before that, while Bauer struck out five in just two innings of work against Crete-Monee.

The season is a long way from over, of course, but at 5-1 in conference play, things are shaping up well for LWE’s potential postseason run. While the start may have been rough, this is a team that advanced to the supersectional last year. With all of the skill and success they’ve had before, look for the recent version of the Griffins to become the norm.