By Shane Fergus, Editor

Knights’ baseball is the frontrunner to win conference this season, with a 20-8 overall record and a 13-2 conference record.

The team swept Sycamore 10-0 in six innings on May 4 and defeated rival Morris 4-2 on May 9 and then again 3-2 on May 10.

Great performances from junior Matt Limbrunner and senior Bryan Van Bogaert helped lift the Knights in game three to win the conference outright for the first time in school history.

“Speed, defense and pitching have been our strengths this season,” Coach Brian Aversa said.

The Knights strengths this year have been pitching and defense. Key pitchers for the Knights have been senior Trevor Storck, junior John Hopkins, Van Bogaert and Limbrunner.

“I’m just seeing the ball better. There wasn’t much I could do in the off-season due to dislocating my elbow, but after basketball ended I had to work extra hard to catch up with everyone,” senior Tyler Heinle said.

Before the postseason comes around, the Knights will have to get through the conference schedule. The team swept Rochelle, Sycamore and Morris and won two out of three against DeKalb and Yorkville.

“Hard work, dedication, passion and pride will help us win a conference championship,” junior John Hopkins said.

Past conference, the Knights will be faced with a tough regional that includes Marmion, St. Francis, DeKalb and IMSA, but the Knights will have home field advantage because Kaneland is hosting the regional.

“Our regional is very tough. In our regional, we have the returning state champs [Kaneland], St. Francis, which is a top eight team, and Marmion, which made it to the sectional championship last year,” Aversa said.

Overall the Knights are not looking towards the post season yet as they are still trying to finish out the conference season and capture their third straight conference championship.

“We just have to keep each other calm. The guys that have been up there have to step up,” Heinle said.