Wrapping Up Baseball and Softball

As we were going to press, the baseball and softball team were entering regionals. Please refer back to the school website if you would like to see how they did.













By Remington Kempiak

My Favorite Season? Baseball Season, Of Course

The Newark baseball team went to Jacksonville over Spring Break. They played a total of three games at the tournament, and they won two out of the three. They played West Carroll, Milford, and Payton Prep.

Each year the athletes on the baseball team go above and beyond while they work on the field. They treat the field better than they treat their own yards at home. They bring stuff from home like rakes shovels, gators to haul dirt, etc. They even mow it on their own sometimes. This year has been a little different because of all of the rain we got.

“We finally just recently got a chance to work on it for a little bit and were able to get our first practice of the year on it the first week of April,” said Coach Veliz. The team captains for this year are Seniors Steve McGrath, Zach Perkins, Cameron

By Remington Kempiak

The Boys Are Back In Town!

The baseball team has their first game on Friday, March 24. As many of the Newark fans know, Newark went down to Jacksonville last year for the Jacksonville tournament. This tournament is the beginning of the boy' 2017 season. They will be returning from Jacksonville on March 26.

"It is great for team building and just like last year, the team will be a closer unit, I'm sure of it. Plus, with the weather that has been going on here, the trip will assure us of getting games in, being that it’s turf there," said Coach JR Veliz.

There are 18 athletes on the team this year, and track is open to everyone in baseball or softball as well. Most kids split the practices half and half between each sport.

"I think it’s great that they have the opportunity and option to do both. It’s also great that the track coach, the athletes, and myself are on the same page and are able to coordinate and work together," said Coach Veliz.

Last year was the first year in a few years that Newark had a JV team because there were a ton of new freshmen playing. There is a chance that Newark could have a few JV games for the 2017 season because they are still a young team.

Caleb Christian and Jack Gomoll are the team managers. The team has been working out since before Christmas break in the weight room.

"It was great to see how we started from just a few guys to filling up the room. It will help the team for sure. We will get our TNT (conditioning) as the season goes on but not as much as before the season," said Coach Veliz.

By Remington Kempiak

Norsemen Baseball

Thus far this season, the Norsemen are playing with a record of 9-7, with 7 of the wins coming from conference games. The Norsemen will continue their season with regionals beginning on May 16. Senior pitcher Kevin Klock said, "It’s been a fun season this far and I am really looking forward to see what we’re capable of doing this postseason."

The boys had a large victory on May 3 against the Royals of Hinckley Big-Rock, winning 11-0. You can visit the school’s website for further information on game times and locations, and we encourage you to come watch the Norsemen play some ball!

By Evan Schomer

NEWARK NORSEMEN BASEBALL SENIOR HIGHLIGHTS

KENDALL ENDRES
Favorite Game: Leland-Earlville. I always hit well against them, as well as nearly throwing a no hitter against them three times. I always seem to pitch against them for whatever reason.
Favorite MLB Player: Scooter Gennett. He plays for my favorite team, the Milwaukee Brewers, and his name is Scooter. What more could you ask for?
Favorite Memory: I really enjoyed playing in Cooperstown, NY, but my favorite memories will be from the times in high school when we would stay after games and practices and just sit in the dugout and talk while playing the rock game. This was especially fun when Mr. Hacker and Mr. Randa would stay and hang out with us.
Plans for Next Year: I plan on attending Purdue University, or Kirkwood Community College and major in turf grass science.

JAKE PUTTY
Favorite Game: HBR
Favorite MLB Player: Adam Laroche
Favorite Memory: Having a perfect batting average freshman year
Plans for Next Year: University of Illinois

JACK CLAUSEL
Favorite Game: Leland- Earlville
Favorite MLB Player: Joe Crede
Favorite Memory: The 05 White Sox winning the World Series.
Plans for Next Year: Playing basketball at either North Central or Millikin.

MITCH SCHMIDT
Favorite Game: Somonauk
Favorite MLB Player: Joe Random
Favorite Memory: Getting knocked out in Cooperstown and waking up in a random hospital room.
Plans for Next Year: Welding

TYLER MULLIGAN
Favorite Game: Serena
Favorite MLB Player: Jose Altuve
Favorite Memory: Fikri’s fake ISA letter
Plans for Next Year: Go to Aurora University and play baseball.

AUSTIN PAGEL
Favorite Game: Marquette or Somonauk
Favorite MLB Player: Ichiro Suzuki
Favorite Memory: Jacksonville. I loved messing with Mr. Machetta at 2 am.
Plans for Next Year: Go to ETI Welding School

AUSTIN GREEN
Favorite Game: Kirkland-Hiawatha
Favorite MLB Player: Ichiro Suzuki
Favorite Memory: Being around all your friends every year.
Plans for Next Year: Attending NIU for a major in business management.

EVAN SCHOMER
Favorite Game: I really enjoy playing Somonauk. It tests my managing skills and what I need to do differently to compete.
Favorite MLB Player: Prince Fielder. Obviously.
Favorite Memory: Probably being drafted to the NWL and being a part of the Rapids organization. #Rapidsnation
Plans for Next Year: I plan on continuing my career in the NWL and going to college.

KEVIN KLOCK
Favorite Game: Somonauk. The rivalry is intense
Favorite MLB Player: Nick Swisher
Favorite Memory: Definitely the Jacksonville trip we took this year. It was a blast being able to be with friends. And also mess with Coach Mac.
Plans for Next Year: JJC or ETI

By Maddie Friestad

Baseball Preview: Getting into Full Swing

Newark Baseball is just beginning! The roster consists of six seniors leading the way. There are five returning seniors: Austin Pagel, Mitchel Schmidt, Tyler Mulligan, Kendall Endres, Jake Putty, Ian Cerney, Kevin Klock, and Austin Green.

There is one newcomer that will be stepping out to the field for the first time since he was ten years old: Jack Clausel. All of those athletes have been a huge part of Newark sports the past four years and plan to go out strong. Also joining the Norsemen will be manager Evan Schomer. Evan says, “I am looking forward to helping out the team and being with his friends.”

The Norsemen are out for a winning season. Senior Austin Pagel says, “We are really looking to get a win against Somonauk. Beating them as a senior would make a lot of hard work pay off.” They have picked up some tough nonconference competition.

They will be going down to Jacksonville, Illinois, over spring break for a tournament. The boys will take on regionals in May. Senior Mitch Schmidt says, “Winning a regional this year is definitely possible. We’ll have to work hard, but we have a lot of talent this year.”

Besides the strong groups of senior veterans the Norsemen are also seeing the talent of some young athletes. Some key junior returnees are Conner Christian, Steve McGrath, and Cameron Myre. Freshmen Billy Gebhart, Corey Jacobson, and Jacob Slivka will be playing with the varsity this year also.

Come out and see the action live on opening day! The Norsemen will play March 16 at home against Marquette!
The Newark Norsemen baseball team takes the field for the first day of practice.

By Maddie Friestad

Norsemen Baseball

The playoff run is here for the Newark baseball squad. In their first round game, they had to take on the LaMoille Lions on Monday, May 18. It was a Norsemen winner, as the 3 seed beat the 6 seed, 17 to 1. Cam Myre got the win, pitching the first three innings and giving up 1 run. Conner Christian pitched the next two innings without allowing any runs. “It was a good game, a nice way to get the regionals going,” said Coach J.R. Veliz. With this win, they had to play the 2 seed, Putnam County, at Putnam County on Friday, May 22. The Norsemen unfortunately were knocked out of the Regional Tournament in that game, losing 11-2. The Norsemen finished the regular season with a 13-13 and 9-7 conference record. It wasn’t the easiest year for Newark, but they battled throughout the year. The team had two starting seniors and a foreign exchange student. Matt Eike and Zach Ward are both 4-year starters and brought great talent to this game. Matt Eike, the 3 hitter, Of/C was all conference and all academic. “He was one of the best players I’ve coached here,” said Coach Veliz. “He had so many tools to his game, a wonderful player.” He will being attending Augustana University. Zach Ward, the solid defender and hitter, saw his averages around 330 every year. Next year he will be going to Joliet Junior College. Fikri Rachman, the foreign exchange student from Indonesia, had a wonderful time here in America. Fikri said that when he leaves Newark, he is going to miss his time on the baseball team the most. By Ian Cerney and Steve McGrath

Norsemen Baseball

"It’s a Norsemen winner"; those words were said quite a bit throughout the month of April about the Newark baseball team as they went 8-4. They started off the month with their first conference series against the Royals of Hinckley Big-Rock. The Norsemen got off to a hot start at HBR piling up runs from the start of the game. Austin Pagel tossed a quality 6 innings allowing 7 runs. "He pitched a quality game. We know what we're going to get from him, which is strikes. There was one inning were they got their runs when he left the ball up but for the first 5 innings he was marvelous." Said coach J.R. Veliz.

In that game, Tyler Mulligan was able to secure the save, his first of the season in a 13-8 winner. The second matchup was a pitchers' duel between Kendall Endres and HBR's junk throwing side armer. Down 3-2 going into the bottom of the 7th Austin Pagel hit a walk off hitting in Cam Myre and Matt Eike for a 4-3 win.

LaMoille was rained out on Thursday April 9 but on Friday April 10 the Norsemen were back in action beating the Lions in six innings 18-1. Saturday April 11 the Norsemen went to Channahon to face Families of Faith Christian Academy. Winning both of those games in six innings allowing only a total of 8 runs and scoring a combined 30 runs. It was a successful month for the Norsemen as they got a good start in conference going 6-3.

By: Ian Cerney and Steve McGrath

Norsemen Baseball

Norsemen Baseball started their season Wednesday, March 18, against a good Marquette Academy Crusader squad. It was a very good start for the Norsemen; they were up 2-1 going into the bottom of the 4th inning, but the Crusader bats came alive and dropped a 7-run inning on the Norsemen, which ultimately ended their night. The Norsemen dropped the game 11-2. Even with the loss, Norsemen Coach J.R. Veliz said, “For the first game of the season we played great. We’ll get on the practice field and fix our mistakes and win the next one.”

By Ian Cerney & Steve McGrath

Norsemen Baseball Preview

March 2 will be the first day the IHSA will allow teams to begin organized team practices for the baseball season. The team is lacking depth in the pitching chart for the season, so some players for whom pitching may not be their forte will have to be up for the task.

Most of the load will more than likely be on the back of sophomore returnee Conner Christian, according to Coach JR Veliz. Later in the season, expect to see junior Kevin Klock taking the mound as well.

Another thing Norsemen baseball fans could see this year is some new faces at key positions, like catcher. The coaching staff this year is looking experienced, as fans will see head coach JR Veliz backed up by Jim Hacker and Shane Randa.

Just a reminder, the first game of the season will take place March 25 at home as the Norsemen play Dwight at 4:30 p.m.

By Ian Cerney and Steve McGrath

Play Ball!

Snow will not stop the Norsemen baseball team as team open gyms will be going on all throughout February. The ball club has high hopes for this 2015 season as all players are making a return to the diamond.

The season gets underway Wednesday, April 25, against Dwight at 4:30 where the Norsemen are looking for a bit of revenge after dropping regionals to Dwight last season.

In that short time the team has a lot of things they need to straighten out, “The decision for starting catcher is still in the air” says Assistant Coach Hacker, and the team has to figure out how to cope the first nine games without All-Conference First Baseman/Pitcher Kevin Klock, look for sophomore Conner Christian to play a big role on the bump in the early going.

“This is a great group of kids we have here. This is one of the best teams I’ve ever had here at Newark.” Said the head coach J.R. Veliz. “I’m excited as all players are returning this year and they bring with them some quality experience. It seems like every year we have a ton of youth but this year have a lot of upperclassmen of the team that will make a difference”.

This team has the potential to be something potent. Look for them to make a run for the conference title maybe even a run towards state.

By Ian J. Cerney and Steve William McGrath

Ending with a Bang!

The Newark Norsemen Baseball team has been on a roll lately, and they are not looking back. They have their eyes on the regional, which began on May 19th at Dwight. The Norsemen have had a good couple of weeks leading up to this point in the season. They have won 11 out of their last 16 games, with two blow out wins against Paw Paw, two wins against LaMoille, and one win against Earlville. The Norsemen are 14- 10 so far this season. If the Norsemen win the first regional game, they move on to play Serena. Way to go Norsemen! Good luck at the regional!

By Karter Kunkel

Opening Day

Opening day is under way for the Newark Norsemen baseball team! For opening day, the Norsemen had to face the crusaders of Marquette. Unfortunately, the Norsemen fell short of the win on the first of April. The Norsemen had three games canceled that week, one against Plano that Friday, and then a double-header the next day in Hiawatha. Finally, the Norsemen got to play at Indian Creek on April 7th; Kendall Endres started at pitcher that game and didn’t let Indian Creek score through five innings. The Norsemen were leading 2-0, and then Indian Creek went on a rally in the 6th and 7th innings. The Norsemen could have had revenge on Indian Creek the next day at home. Indian Creek started off the game with an 8-0 start after the first inning. The Norsemen were starting a comeback, but fell short. The final score was 8-4. On April 10th, they played at Hinckley Big Rock and lost 8-1. But then the Norsemen had their revenge on April 11th, when they won 7-3. The Norsemen had a double header on the 12th. The double header was against Faith Christian Academy and the Norsemen won both games, the first game 21-1 and then second game 13-5. The Norsemen have their confidence up this month! They played Lamoille on April 16, and blew them out of the water 13-0 in five innings. The Norsemen are on a four game winning streak and hope to continue this into next month.

By Karter Kunkel

Baseball

Saturday, May 4 was senior day when six seniors on the team were honored: Dominic DiClementi, Kenny Hume, Joe Hughes, Chris Murawski, Tyler Wiesbrook, and Wyatt Williamson. The Norsemen played Earlville/Leland and had a good game; the seniors played their best and everyone else played a great game too. Earlville/Leland played well and led the whole time. After a good game Earlville/Leland took the win 8-4, and the Norsemen boys were upset that they had not won the special game, but Coach J.R. Veliez said, “I am sorry that we couldn’t get a win for you senior boys today, but it’s time to get ready for regionals. So you boys as seniors are gonna have to lead this team through it and show that you are seniors.” The seniors still walked off the field with their heads high and their parents proud of them. Now May is the start of regionals, and Newark ball players are preparing themselves to do their best and earn the wins.

By Tyler Wiesbrook

Baseball

The Newark Norsemen are facing some tough competition. They have looked great on the field, but their stats do not show it. Most of the games have been lead by the Norsemen, but once it comes to the last inning they cannot seem to hold on to their lead. During the Sandwich double header, the boys played a very good first game; it was tied for most of the game until the seventh inning, when Sandwich came out swinging their bats. During the second game Newark was winning for most of the game; they were doing their jobs, playing good defense and offense. As the seventh inning arrived, Newark was winning, but Sandwich tied it up it, going into extra innings. Then Sandwich pulled ahead with a small lead, and Newark could not tie it up to get the win. So in spite of all their great efforts Newark, couldn’t capture one win from the double header. Coach J.R. Veliz was very impressed with his team. He said, “If we can play every time like we just did, we will have a lot more wins.”

By Tyler Wiesbrook

BASEBALL

This year for baseball we have our seven returning seniors, and they have been working really hard to prepare for the season. They give 110% every practice and try to work on what they can improve. Coach J.R. Veliz says, “This season no one is worried about Newark, but believe me, they’re going to wish they did.” The Norsemen also have a new coach, Coach Steve Carlson, who was a closer for a minor league team. Coach Carlson also tried out for the Yankees before he was injured. He has a lot of experience pitching and has been working with the pitchers to show them all the little things they can do just to get a little bit more zip on the ball or make sure they don’t hurt themselves while pitching. The boys are really excited for their season to start and see how far they will get with their hard work.

By Tyler Wiesbrook

Open Gyms Enter Full Swing Phase

Baseball season is barely three months away, and open gyms are about to start. We were able to speak to Coach J.R. Veliz about the start of open gyms. He said that they will begin on December 1st, 2012 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Millbrook Junior High gym. He has scheduled 15 open gym dates and will inform players about future dates at the meeting on December 1st. Coach Veliz is super excited about the open gyms and for the upcoming season. He said, “From what I’ve seen, the freshmen show good promise and can definitely play. [Coach expects the seniors] to be good leaders and a catalyst in the upcoming season as well as the ones to carry the team to a win.” When asked who he thought were going to be star or key players and rising stars, he replied that it’s hard to tell at the moment, but based on what he has seen in the past he predicts that Joe Hughes and Kenny Hume are going to be star pitchers this season. He also stated that catcher Matt Eike will be a key asset to the team. Coach Veliz is also excited about some new equipment that we will be getting this season. In addition the team will wear some new hats, pullovers, T-Shirts, and sweatpants. Everyone on the team along with both Coach Veliz and Coach Hacker are excited for the season to begin and are expecting a great season.

By Chris Murawski

Boys’ Baseball

As baseball season comes to an end, I went back to talk to Coach Hacker. He said that the goal was to be competitive in the regional. He also wants to build skills in pitching, fielding, and hitting. Coach Hacker says the most improved players are Noah Nichols, and Chris Murawski. He shared that this is a young team with a lot of talent and heart. The coach hopes the team can ride out the rough pitching.

By Daniel Wells

Boys’ Baseball

Boy’s Baseball season is in full swing! They are 1 and 3 in the conference. Mr. Hacker says that they hope that they improve in the next couple games. He says the most challenging part of baseball is playing a double header because you have to use twice as many pitchers. Mr. Hacker stated that teamwork is the key to winning. When asked who is the best pitcher, Mr. Hacker replied, “Joe Hughes has been throwing well, and Noah Nichols has been throwing some good innings.”

By Daniel Wells

Boys’ Baseball

The Boys’ Baseball team is looking forward to an exciting season this year. According to Mr. Hacker, assistant coach, the team has a lot of potential and he thinks they have a lot to look forward to. Coach Hacker says that the team has several pitchers this year. The pitchers that are returning are Joe Hughes, Kenny Hume, and Andrew Lehman. Mr. Hacker has been coaching the baseball team for 5 years. He says that the team has a lot of heart and they have a good attitude, which is important for any good sports team. We are all looking forward to a good baseball season.

By Daniel Wells