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Shepard Astros Baseball: Welcome

LATEST NEWS!!!

(ALSO CHECK OUT OUR ALUMNI NEWS ABOUT FORMER SHEPARD ATHLETES

Congrats are in order. (June 18th)

Congratulations to Josh West (SR) and Kevin Mc Donald (JR) on the All-Area Selections.  Josh West, a senior outfielder, made the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association All-Northern Illinois Team, the ICA Senior Illinois East Team, as well as 1st team Worth-Palos Reporter.  Josh accomplished this by completing a season that was one for the record books at Shepard.  He had school records in 54 hits, a .570 OBP, and a .482 Avg.

Kevin McDonald, a junior first-baseman, made the SouthtownStar All-Area team as well as the 1st team Worth-Palos Reporter.  Kevin had a season with 46 hits, 48 RBI and 21 SB to go with a .411 Avg.

Once again Congratulations!

Shepard wins 13 inning/2 day marathon. (May 15th)

On Tuesday May 13th and Wednesday May 14th, the Varsity Astros battled the Bengals of Oak Forest in Oak Forest in a 13 inning marathon and came out victorious 10 - 9 on David Plocharczyk's Home Run into the wind in Right Field to break the tie.  Ryan Holda pitched 6 1/3 innings of relief for the win.  David Plocharczyk (3-7 2 2b, hr, 4 rbi), Josh West (3-5, 2b, rbi), and Kevin McDonald (3-5, 2 bb, 3 runs, rbi) were the hitting stars.  This was the longest game in Shepard baseball history.

THE REALITY OF SPORTS SCHOLARSHIPS (Mar. 19th)

A little advice.... Click here:  You Never Know

Biggio: 'Give everything you can'

By Craig Biggio as told to Jerry Crasnick  ESPN.com

 

Writer's Note: Houston's Craig Biggio has made seven All-Star teams and scored nearly 1,700 runs in the major leagues, and he recently broke Don Baylor's record for most times hit by a pitch in a career. But he might ultimately be defined by his versatility. The Fundamentals • Jerry Crasnick: Back to basics • Craig Biggio: Little things matter • Gary Gillette: All-fundamental team • Gillette: A view of one game • Steve Phillips: Overlooked basics • Fundamentals in photos • Harold Reynolds instructional videos: Jeff Brantley on pitching Ozzie Smith on infield defense Torii Hunter on outfield defense Harold on baserunning Buck Showalter on coaching After breaking in with the Astros as a catcher, Biggio shifted to second base at age 26 and won four Gold Glove awards at the position. He moved to the outfield 10 years later before shifting back to second this year at age 39. Few players have a more intimate knowledge of the fundamental demands placed on each player on the field. When scouts and front-office people praise the Astros for playing the game properly, they routinely attribute it to leadership. Year in and year out, Biggio and teammate Jeff Bagwell have assumed the responsibility of setting a tone of professionalism and an adherence to the little things. For Biggio, hustle is as much a part of the game as welts, a dirty uniform and a grungy batting helmet. He shared his thoughts on fundamental play in an interview with ESPN.com: I guess my dad taught me how to play the game the right way. He'd tell me no matter what, you should give everything you can until the game is over. You have 4-5 at-bats and you run every ball out. You might force a guy to make a bad throw, and if you get on base and score a run, that might win the game for you.   Craig Biggio Second Base Houston Astros Little things like that were instilled in me. Then I got to the big leagues and I had guys like Buddy Bell and Billy Doran to help me. I was 22-23 years old, and those guys were 30-something and they made sure you played the game the right way. Keith Bodie, my manager in A ball, used to tell me, "If you can hit a fly ball and get to second base before they catch it, I'll give you a hundred bucks." I never got there, but a couple of times I came close. I'm not saying you have to go out there and give it a 100 percent sprint, but you have to give it at least 80. To not even get to first base when the ball is caught by an outfielder, that's just unacceptable to me. That's not right. It's 4-5 at bats a game -- 4-5 sprints. That's not asking that much. I think it's a little different right now with the new school compared to the old school. The old school was that you ran everything out, no matter what. Takeout slides are the same, as long as they're clean. There are no more roll blocks anymore, which were kind of dirty. But for the most part, you see a lot of kids come up and they don't have the same baseball instincts that they had a long time ago. You have to let the young kids know there's a right and wrong way to play the game. With Baggy [Jeff Bagwell] and me, it's our nature that we're not going to let it go. If something needs to be said, you do it in a professional way. Every now and then a guy will pop it up and get mad and dog it, so you go up to him and say, "Just give me a little better effort." That's all that needs to be said. A lot of proper fundamentals is just giving it an effort. When I went out to play center field for the first time, I remember Terry Puhl telling me, "If you're not tired when the game is over, you're really not playing the position the right way." That's because you always have to be backing up somewhere. It's the same no matter where you're playing. As a catcher, you have a responsibility to your pitching staff and to back up your infielders. As a middle infielder, you have to try to back up on throws from the shortstop and third baseman. Everybody on the field has a responsibility to be somewhere. If you're not where you need to be, somebody will tell you, "Hey, make sure you're there." Guys are going to forget sometimes. It's the nature of the game, because it's a long season and guys get tired. Sometimes you just have to ask, "Hey, what were you thinking here?" If the person says, "I messed up," that's all that needs to be said. As far as our way in Houston, I think that's one of the reasons why we've been so successful over the last 10 years. We play fundamental baseball and back up bases and do what we have to do. It's something we take a lot of pride in. If somebody is sitting in the upper deck and you're jogging rather than sprinting, they're going to call you a dog. That just doesn't fly here. I think it's up to the leaders on the club to make sure that doesn't happen.

OTHER HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL LINKS

HSBaseballWeb.Com    IHSA   BaseballCoaches.Org  

Prep Baseball Report      Illinois High School Baseball Report  

IllinoisHighSchoolBaseball.Org

SHEPARD FACTS AND STATS: LOCATION:  13049 S. RIDGELAND AVE.  PALOS HEIGHTS, ILLINOIS 60463 COMMUNITIES SERVED:  ALSIP, CALUMET PARK, CRESTWOOD, PALOS HEIGHTS, ROBBINS AND WORTH DISTRICT:   COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT 218 MEMBERS OF DISTRICT:   ALT ED, DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER,   HAROLD L. RICHARDS, POPULATION: 1950          CLASS:  4A        CONFERENCE:  SSC BLUE MEMBERS OF CONFERENCE: OAK FOREST, BREMEN, TINLEY PARK, HILLCREST, LEMONT CLICK ON CONFERENCE FOE FOR THEIR BASEBALL WEB-SITE!!

A CUTE STORY and some FOOD FOR THOUGHT
A mother was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her son. Suddenly the boy burst into the kitchen. "Careful! CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my goodness! You're cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my! WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They're going to STICK! Careful....CAREFUL!!!! I said be CAREFUL!! You NEVER listen to me when you're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY! Have you LOST your mind? Don't forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt. USE THE SALT! THE SALT!!!"

The mother stared at him. "What is wrong with you? You think I don't know how to fry a couple of eggs?"

The son calmly replied.... "I just wanted to show you what it feels like when I'm trying to play baseball......"