With Eikenberry likely out for season, Junis, DeVries to lead Rockets
|
|
| Rock Falls sophomore Jake Junis (left) and junior Dylan DeVries helped the Rockets finish second in Class 3A last season. This year they’ll be without No. 1 pitcher Taylor Eikenberry, thanks to an elbow injury. (Philip Marruffo/SVN) |
| Buy Sauk Valley Media Photos » |
Dylan DeVries and Jake Junis showed they belonged last season.
This year, it’s time for the Rock Falls baseball players to show they can lead.
DeVries and Junis were thrust into the starting lineup last spring for a team that ended the year as the most accomplished in Sauk Valley history.
DeVries was a sophomore and Junis a freshman, but they helped the 33-3 Rockets go all the way to the Class 3A state tournament, where they finished second.
“That was awesome,” said Junis, a shortstop and pitcher. “Going to state, winning that first game, making it to the state championship, not very many teams get to do that.”
The Rockets lost six 2008 starters to graduation, including four-year mainstays Shane Blair, Troy Eikenberry and Jarred Hippen. They received an extra, unexpected loss Wednesday, when they learned senior Taylor Eikenberry probably will miss the season with an elbow injury.
With Eikenberry likely out, Rock Falls suddenly needs a No. 1 starting pitcher, a center fielder and a leadoff hitter.
“He’s the best pitcher in northern Illinois, at least,” said Rock Falls coach Donnie Chappell, who has been named SVN’s coach of the year after six of the past seven seasons. “You can’t replace him with one person. Hopefully a number of guys will step up to fill that void.”
Eikenberry recently reaggravated an elbow injury he suffered last summer while pitching in a national all-star tournament in Florida. He will undergo Tommy John surgery at some point, probably in Texas.
“It was upsetting to find out you’re going to miss your senior year,” said Eikenberry, who will pitch collegiately at Baylor. “I want be ready for college, but I feel like I’m letting down the team. It’s tough.”
Eikenberry’s father, Wayne, said Friday that there still is a chance that Taylor will pitch this season.
Tommy John surgery, in which a ligament in the elbow is replaced with a tendon from the forearm, carries a 9-12 month recovery time. Eikenberry is expected to redshirt his first season at Baylor, so 2 or 3 months pitching for Rock Falls might not affect the start of his college career.
“He’s going to have the surgery anyway,” Wayne Eikenberry said. “Even if he would blow out his arm this spring, it might not mean that much in the long run. No final decision’s been made yet, and the door’s still open for him to pitch this season.”
Chappell and the Rockets are proceeding as if Eikenberry will not play. As the only senior expected to start, his loss leaves a leadership void that DeVries, now a junior, and Junis, a sophomore, are expected to fill.
“Me and Jake are going to have to step up big time,” DeVries said. “We lost a lot of experience – we’re the experienced guys now.”
Junior Trevin Hippen will see his role increase, and underclassmen like sophomores Shay Brown and Casey McCallister, and Chappell’s freshman son, Brett, will be thrust into the lineup right away. DeVries and Junis hope to give those players the guidance they received a year ago.
“It’s going to be the opposite of last year,” said Junis, who becomes the No. 1 starting pitcher in Eikenberry’s absence. “We’re not sitting back and learning from anybody anymore. When the young guys feel like something’s wrong, they can come talk to us. If we see something’s wrong, we can go talk to them.”
Eikenberry, who will act as an extra pitching coach this spring, expects big things from his young teammates.
“They’ll be just fine,” he said. “I was hoping to be a big part of this team, but there’s enough talent there that we should still have a great season.”
