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By Brian Salgado
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Sunday, April 08, 2007 |
McMurray focused on a state title in 2007
 For a player that has the skills to advance to the major-league level, Lyons Township outfielder Casey McMurray still talks like a grounded college-bound senior.
When asked about his decision to accept Illinois’ baseball scholarship, one of the main reasons McMurray gave was the type of education he can receive from a Big 10 university.
“You can’t pass up the Big 10 education-wise,” says McMurray, who plans on studying kinesiology. “If draft comes around, that is cool. But I’m going there for my education first, and Illinois is one of the premier schools for that.”
McMurray is the top player for a deep Lions squad that finished 34-7 in 2006, advanced to the state quarterfinals and won the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association State Summer Tournament. He was named to the All-State team in his junior season hitting .496 with four home runs and 44 runs batted while striking out just once.
“He doesn’t get fooled at the plate much, so he is a solid offensive player,” said George Ushela, who is in his seventh season as head coach of Lyons Township and his 22nd year with the program. “And defensively, he can catch the ball.”
Although McMurray’s future is set once he is done with the Lions, he isn’t looking past his senior season. He still has individual and team goals he’d like to accomplish before joining the Fighting Illini.
“Hopefully, I’ll make first-team All-State and perform as well as I possibly can,” McMurray said. “We have a real great team coming in, and we have a good shot at winning a state title.”
This year, McMurray is surrounded by a talented offensive group that probably won’t settle for one run, as it did in its 2-1 loss to O’Fallon in the state quarterfinals last season. “Last year, we came into the playoffs and our bats were flat and we only had a couple of guys contributing at the plate,” McMurray said. “This year, our pitching is pretty solid, and we just need the hitting to stay up to par.”
One player who will be contributing from the plate and the mound is senior Grant Fillipitch, who will be at the top of the starting rotation and playing third base. Fillipitch was 6-1 with a 1.59 ERA last season as the No. 3 starter while hitting five home runs during the spring season. He also mashed seven homers in the summer tournament.
Both McMurray and Ushela are excited about having McMurray and Fillipitch hitting back-to-back this season. “He’s a key player partly because he hits behind McMurray, and they can’t pitch around McMurray because of him,” Ushela says.
“He’s going be huge,” McMurray adds. “Not only is he a better hitter at the plate, but he is also our top pitcher. He is going to perform real well on the mound and the field. He is making more strides and getting better day in and day out.”
Ushela also expects big contributions from a number of pitchers who didn’t get many innings because of seniors who held their spots last season. “We graduated four or five decent senior pitchers,” Ushela adds. “Some of those guys didn’t get spring innings, but they proved themselves in the summer.”
The list includes C.J. Esposito, a junior lefty who had two of the five wins in the summer state final round. Senior righty Josh Heller, junior Brian Lorenz, who is listed as one of the best from the class of 2008 by Illinois High School Baseball Report, and pitcher/catcher Ed Viliunas.
Ushela boasts of a deep roster where there is competition for every spot, keeping his regulars knowing there is someone behind them able to take their job. “We’re pretty deep and competitive within the team,” he says. “This has been going on for three or four years. They are under pressure every day in practice to perform because there are guys ready to take their jobs.”
As of March 30, Lyons was off to a 3-1 start, including a 5-4 victory over Naperville Central, the defending state champion, on March 29. With a few more wins like this against other powerhouses in the state, Ushela says the Lions’ confidence in themselves will only continue to grow in time to win their first spring title since 2003.
“The kids have to believe they can get there,” he adds. “Two years ago, they got to the supersectional and got beat, so our kids believe they are gonna get there. Part of the battle is to believe you’re going to do it.”
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