Juniors Zach Duffy and Tim Dziergas and senior Lucas Carlson don’t have time to work on their baseball skills year round.
All three Hinsdale South baseball players are accomplished multiple-sport varsity athletes. Dziergas, a returning starter at first base, and Duffy, an outfielder, both play basketball. Carlson, another outfielder, was a starting defender for the soccer team.
Duffy and Dziergas took a quick break after the basketball season before reporting to the batting cages, which are installed in the second floor wrestling room once mats are removed after the season.
Duffy became a starting guard midway through the season and likely will be counted on next season as one of five senior starters for the Hornets.
“From basketball, I almost had no break,” Duffy said. “The transition (to baseball) is different. You use different muscles. I work on technique and timing. You have to get used to swinging when you’ve been out of a sport for six months and then you try to get back in to it.”
But Duffy doesn’t exactly go the entire winter without swinging the bat.
About five years ago, Dziergas suggested that Duffy take hitting lessons from Tony Howell, a baseball scout with the Los Angeles Dodgers who lives in the Chicago area during the offseason. Duffy works with Howell in the fall once a week for an hour and for a half-hour during the basketball season.
While growing up in Darien, Duffy always been on one team or another. He played sports with the Darien Youth Club and then basketball for Our Lady of Peace and baseball for the Darien Hornets travel team.
“Since I was a little kid I’ve played both sports all my life,” Duffy said. “I like them both They’re fun in much different ways. There is a lot of excitement in basketball, but I like baseball.”
Duffy started the season batting leadoff for the Hornets, but has moved toward the bottom of the order while playing center field.
In the summer, Carlson plays baseball for the Hitmen, a travel team based out of Perfect Swing in Darien. He also grew up playing for the Darien Hornets.
Carlson, a left-fielder, has battled a slump at the plate, starting out as the cleanup hitter, but recently batting sixth.
A starting defender for the Hornets soccer team in the fall, he will attend Marquette but is done with scholastic sports. The Darien resident, who started out playing soccer for DYC, followed the path of other Hinsdale South baseball/soccer players like Grant Morford and Dean Serritella.
“I think overall baseball is mentally frustrating; it’s tougher on me than soccer,” Carlson said.
The Hornets (6-5, 3-0 West Suburban Gold) are playing their best baseball of the young season. They bounced back from a 13-3 loss in six innings Friday to Hinsdale Central at Benedictine to sweep a three-game series with Morton.
Twitter @geomwilcox
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