East Peoria, IL - The schedule may have gotten off to a chaotic start before the season ever started, but at long last, the Illinois Central College baseball team opens up its 2025 season on Saturday, as the Cougars are down in Senatobia, Mississippi for a three-game series against Northwest Mississippi.
REVIEWING LAST SEASON
The Cougars are coming off of a season that saw them get hot at the start of the postseason, running the table and winning the Region 24-C Tournament by beating Lincoln Land and John Wood twice. ICC would pick up a win at the District Tournament against East Central Missouri, but were eliminated by MWAC foe Heartland.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Coach Brett Kelley had a lot of change from his roster year-to-year. Kelley says it made preparations a little different.
"Last season, I knew the lineup on August 20th. It was the same in the elimination game on May 18th during Districts. This season, I didn't know who our top guys were until early October."
Kelley adds, however, that "our standard remains the same" despite the change-over.
NEW GEAR LIKE CHRISTMAS MORNING
One of the ways the Cougars have been able to get to that point despite such a surplus of new names is an upgrade of all sorts of training equipment, which Kelley feels is only going to make his team better.
"We are fortunate to have the funds to be able to purchase a couple new pitching machines for our hitters, and some tools for our pitchers," he said. Kelley says that the particular upgrades that were made centers on the players' ability to train on their own time, but also make that training as "game-like" as possible.
HOLDING THE GLUE TOGETHER
As new as the team may seem, Kelley emphasizes that there is still a quality core of returning players expected to lead the way.
Blake Norton (4-0; 4.38 ERA), Billy Mini (1-0 10.1 IP), Mason Lynch, and Kaiser Quick are all expected to lead the way on the mound. Colton Williams, Kyle Binder, and Ethan Krutke will group together to be the backstop on a team that lost all three catchers from 2024.
Ryan Brucker, Thomas Krueger, Aidan Fulton, Jayden Malone, Jake Stewart (.316 AVG, 1.044 OPS, 11 RBI), Elliot Seckman (.312 AVG, .854 OPS), Chris Casey, Nate Bartman, Blake Norton (.357 AVG, .883 OPS), David Ripke, Kaiden Lucero, Connor Patton, and Landen Binder are just the scratching of the surface when it comes to the batting efforts.
BREAKING DOWN THE SCHEDULE
The Cougars have a quality non-conference schedule, paced by a doubleheader against #19 Kankakee on Tuesday, February 25th in Rantoul, as well as a stand-alone game on Tuesday, March 25th against D1 #24 John A. Logan.
Not to mention, the MWAC Conference features two ranked teams, #4 Heartland (March 7th, March 9th) and #13 Parkland (May 2nd, May 3rd). On top of those two, Kelley says it'll be another dog-eat-dog year in league play.
"The MWAC looks to be tough again this spring. Every team in the league has some Division-I talent," Kelley said, adding that other teams like Lincoln Land and John Wood could be right there in the fold as well. He says that "our guys are looking forward to competing against the best in the league again this season".
THE ENERGY OF OPENING DAY
Now Coach Kelley enters the Spring 2025 season as his 24th in East Peoria. Despite such a tenure that has bred the program's career wins record and eight seasons of 30 or more wins, he says that hitting the field for the first game of a new year never gets old.
"Everyone is ready to get out of the gym and compete against different people. It's always rewarding to see how all the hard work in the offseason has paid off and the individual improvements made."
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
Spring 2025 Opening Day
@ Northwest Mississippi (DH)
Saturday, February 22nd - 1:00PM / 4:00PM
at Jim Miles Field - Senatobia, Mississippi
Watch Live (Ranger TV)
Live Stats (GameChanger; "25 ICC Cougars Baseball")
