Mundelein’s pitching duo of Brendan Murphy and Reese Dolan came into the season as known commodities.
Just a junior, Murphy caught Arizona State’s attention during a stellar sophomore year and committed to the Pac-10 power in September. Dolan, a senior, is headed to Southern Illinois.
Even though the Mustangs have piled up wins over the past several seasons — with 28 last year, 36 the year before, and an average of more than 30 since 2011 — they did not enter any of those with proven pitching.
But the fast start that has been a Mundelein staple the past several years was inexplicably absent, according to Mustangs hitting coach Jeff Sweno.
“We probably haven’t had a start like that since 2007 or 2008,” said Sweno, a longtime assistant to veteran Mundelein coach Todd Parola. “We had a little bit of a tough spell where we lost four out of five.
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“Our pitchers were doing a great job, but we were struggling in the box. With the pitching we had, we came into the year positioning ourselves as one of the best teams in the state, and maybe that was a mistake. It was probably good for us to get knocked down a little bit.”
The Mustangs’ ace picked them up Tuesday.
A 6-foot-4 left-hander, Murphy led Mundelein to its biggest win of the season with a 2-1 victory over North Suburban Lake leader Stevenson.
Murphy pitched a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts and went 2-for-3 with two doubles to give the Mustangs (14-6, 3-2) their sixth straight win. Murphy (5-2) has a 1.11 ERA with 54 strikeouts in 31 innings. He’s also batting .452 with 16 RBIs.
“There were some games we weren’t hitting, and we just had no energy in the dugout,” Murphy said. “We had to get that back up. Maybe there was a little bit of a pity party in the dugout when things weren’t going our way.”
Murphy helped correct that.
“We have an interesting dynamic,” Sweno said. “We don’t have a lot of seniors. Juniors are going to let seniors lead. But now we are starting to see the juniors asserting themselves, Brendan being a key guy.
“He was pretty fired up the other day (against Stevenson). It was good to see.”
Murphy said the high school season, and not travel ball that follows, is what’s most important to him. It’s something virtually every player of his caliber says, but Murphy can prove it.
He will attend showcases for the opportunity to throw for pro scouts and will pitch for the Cincinnati Reds Midwest scout team on weekends in the fall for the second straight year, but with a scholarship to his dream school already secured, Murphy isn’t going to play travel ball this summer.
Mundelein has not won the state baseball championship and only has one appearance at state — a fourth-place finish in 2002 — to show for Parola’s 555 victories in 21 seasons heading into Friday’s game against North Chicago.
However, Mundelein’s junior class is loaded: Will Michalski (3-1) has a 1.36 ERA in 25 innings, and Johnny Buckner (3-0) has yet to allow an earned run in 18 innings. Sophomores Jeff Morton, an outfielder, and second baseman Drew Breitenreiter have earned their way into the starting lineup.
Throw in a motivated Murphy and perhaps the slow start of an 8-6 record was a blessing after years of sectional and supersectional disappointment.
“It is not a challenge to be motivated for high school ball,” Murphy said. “I am really close with everyone on the team. We are on a mission to go down and win it all.”
Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.