After a four-year varsity career during which he led Richards at the plate, on the mound, on the bases and in the dugout, Sean Cody has gone off to UIC.
Cody’s next chapter is off to a promising beginning — he’s the Flames’ starting shortstop as a freshman.
Meanwhile, back in Oak Lawn, the Bulldogs are moving forward after winning 23 games and the South Suburban Red title last spring.
Junior left fielder Ryan Golinski is one of Richards’ returning starters and he’s ready to make a statement this spring.
“It’s kind of a chip on our shoulder that we lost Sean and all the guys (on other teams) are counting us out of conference,” Golinski said after a 9-1 road win against Stagg on March 20. “But we’ve still got good hitters, we’ve still got good pitchers. There’s no reason why we can’t go out and win it again.”
Golinski played a big role last season as the Bulldogs’ No. 2 hitter, making opponents pay if they tried to pitch around Cody in the leadoff spot. He’s in the same spot in the batting order this season and had a productive day against Stagg, going 2-for-4 with a hit by pitch, a run and two RBIs.
Last year, as a sophomore starting on one of the south suburbs’ top teams, Golinski admittedly had some butterflies.
That’s no longer an issue.
“Basically, the nerves are gone,” he said. “Now I’m just playing to have fun. And this was a pretty fun win. So the guys are all hyped up, no nerves.”
Golinski didn’t just make an impact at the plate against Stagg, He also had a web gem, diving to catch a sinking liner in left field.
“Henry (Williams, the Bulldogs pitcher) was dealing, I had to help him out,” Golinski said. “So just a fly ball in, I went and attacked it, stuff we like to work on in practice.”
Senior center fielder Noah Escobedo, who also was the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback in football, has taken over the leadoff spot in the batting order. He led off the game against Stagg with a double, jump-starting a four-run inning.
“Love him up there,” said Richards coach Jeff Kortz, whose team moved to 2-0 the next day with a 14-4 win against Morgan Park. “Chasing everything down, getting on the base, causing havoc. Noah is such a great kid and had a great football season. I think that’s going to carry over right to here.”
Senior right-hander Luis DeAvila started and got the win against Stagg, allowing four hits over 4 1/3 shutout innings with three walks and five strikeouts. Williams fanned four over 2 2/3 innings to complete a six-hitter.
Jasper Wills was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI for Stagg, which left six runners on base in the first three innings — five in scoring position. The Chargers bounced back a day later to pick up their first win of the season, 6-5 against Bolingbrook.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” first-year Stagg coach Chris Hall said after the Richards game. “First game, some of the guys just didn’t execute the way I thought they would. So it’s back to the drawing board and work out the kinkks, and tomorrow’s another day.”