St. Rita didn’t break out the balloons and confetti Monday when the Mustangs found out they were the new No. 1 team in the country according to the MaxPreps Xcellent 50 national baseball rankings.
In fact, it was business as usual for the undefeated St. Rita (23-0), which jumped from No. 3 to No. 1 after losses by Olympia and Park Vista, both from Florida.
“It was on Twitter this morning and it was kind of blowing up on there, but we weren’t paying too much attention to it,” senior shortstop Marty Bechina said. “It’s cool but at the same time it doesn’t mean that much. We’re focused on other things and this (ranking) just comes along with what we’re doing.”
Senior second basemen/pitcher Tyler Halas allowed the new ranking to enter his brain for a few moments before casting it out.
“I was keeping up with the previous rankings and I was thinking about us coming up all the way to No. 1, but then I cleared my head because you can’t think about that,” Halas said. “We had a game to play (Monday) and we have a game (Tuesday). You just have to think about your games and not the record or rankings.”
St. Rita certainly didn’t seem distracted by the top ranking when the Mustangs took the field Monday against Loyola in a Catholic League Blue game in Glenview.
The Mustangs raced out to a seven-run lead before things got a little hairy late. Loyola (11-7) pulled within five and loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth but St. Rita reliever Sean Jaycox was able to close the door for an 8-3 win.
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“There was concern, always,” St. Rita coach Mike Zunica said. “You’re on the road in the Catholic League Blue so nothing is ever safe. You have to finish teams off.”
Max Franklin (5-0) earned the win, allwoing two hits while striking out six in 5 2/3 innings. Grant Mullin (1-for-3, 3 RBI) and Bechina (2-for-3, 2 RBI) led the offense.
With so many wins this season comes some pretty impressive statistics for the Mustangs.
Nine players are hitting .400 or better for St. Rita this spring, led by Bechina at .492. Halas is tops on the team in RBIs (27) and home runs (4) to go along with a 6-0 pitching record and a 1.20 ERA.
Matt Lenzen (4-0) has the lowest ERA in the team’s rotation (0.68).
Going forward, St. Rita will have to manage a multitude of potential distractions. Will the Mustangs keep the top ranking the rest of the season? Can they win the program’s first spring state title? Will they go undefeated?
And they have to worry about all this while every team they face aims to claim some fame by knocking off them off.
“We always have the target on our backs, we’re used to it,” Zunica said. “We started out last year 26-0 so strangely this group has already been through this.”
Senior Shane Peisker isn’t the least bit worried that St. Rita will fold under the pressure, and he gives a lot of the credit to his coach.
“I think we have a group of guys that won’t let anything get to our heads,” Peisker said. “Coach Zunica always stresses that we need to keep calm and get the little things done and that’s what we’re going to do. We have business to take care of.”
Valentin is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.