The Riverside Brookfield baseball team started their season with a bang when second baseman John Kosner hit a walk-off double to snag the teams first win against Leyden. Kosner is more than enthusiastic about his last high school season, considering he will not be continuing his athletic career into college.

“We have a 23 man roster, and I think the team really gels together. I think our dugout could really intimidate other teams with all our guys,” said Kosner.

Kosner has been playing baseball his whole life, and has played on varsity since his sophomore year.

Michael Schicker is a sophomore, and has been playing on the varsity team since his freshman year. His main goal for the season is to win a regional championship, and defeat the team’s primary opponent, Aurora Catholic Central.  Since Schicker has been playing with older guys for about a year now, he has adapted to playing with upperclassman.

“I enjoy playing with the older guys, it makes me better and it’s good practice for the summer, when I play with my travel team. I love my high school team though, I think we can really do something big this season,” said Schicker.

Junior Ryan Cermack will be attending Illinois State University in the fall of 2019. Cermack has been pitching for the bulldogs since his freshman year, and is a major threat to opposing batters. Ryan came in contact with ISU after his fall baseball coach helped him reached out to the college about an athletic future.

“After playing with the Illinois Sparks for a while, I had developed a great relationship with my coach. He really helped me with the whole process of finding a place to play baseball after high school. Next thing I knew I was making a college visit to Illinois State, and I loved it. Baseball will always hold a place in my heart, I love everything from hitting, to pitching, to fielding,” said Cermack.

Head Coach Dallas Till was disappointed with the beginning of the season after a 2-2 start, but is now more optimistic after the team’s 12-2 run to grab a satisfying record of 14-4. Till’s main goals for the season consists of winning 20 games, a conference championship, and a regional championship.

The start of the season was slightly disappointing, but as the games went on we started to come together. We’ve got a tight-knit group of kids, and I think everyone accepts their role and everyone enjoys playing together,” said Till.

Dallas Till has been coaching baseball for 15 years, and has been coaching RB’s varsity baseball team for six years now.