When the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp take the field this summer, fans of the collegiate summer baseball team will see a lot of familiar faces.
About a third of the 2023 roster have played for the Shrimp previously, including third-year players Justin Rios, Justin Delgado, Tyler Conklin and Jason Shanner.
Also back are Daniel Vogt, Isaiah Hart, Alton Gyselman, Daniel Strohm, Ty Weatherly and Ottawa graduates Jared Herzog and Evan Evola.
Will Worthington, who played for the Shrimp in 2021, will join the team for the second half, while Hall graduate Chance Resetich was set to play for the Shrimp but injured his shoulder during his season at Southeast Missouri State. Shrimp manager John Jakiemiec said Resetich hopes to play at some point this summer, and the team is holding a roster spot for him.
“For me, it really says a lot when players ask to come back, and most of those guys are guys who asked to come back and play with us,” Jakiemiec said. “They enjoy the fans, they like the area a lot, and they like the baseball. As the manager, when I can bring back a third of the roster, it really sets the tone early in terms of how we do things and our culture and our vibe with the community. I’m excited to have all those guys back.”
The Shrimp open the season at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes and open the home schedule at 7:05 p.m. Friday against the Burlington Bees.
“As the manager, when I can bring back a third of the roster, it really sets the tone early in terms of how we do things and our culture and our vibe with the community. I’m excited to have all those guys back.”
John Jakiemiec, Pistol Shrimp manager
Although the Shrimp are heavy with returning players, they also have more players entering their freshman college season than they have in the past.
Jake Zitella, a St. Charles East graduate and University of Illinois recruit, is a third baseman who can hit for power and average. Jakiemiec said he’s “in the mold of Luke Adams,” who played for the Shrimp as a new high school graduate last summer and was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Shrimp also have a couple of players who will attend Saint Mary’s College of California in Brendan Comerford and Sebastian Gonzalez. Jakiemiec said Comerford is a “highly touted” shortstop, while Gonzalez is a left-handed pitcher who “is not going to light up the radar gun but pounds the zone and mixes pitches well.”
River Scott, who will play for the University of Hawaii, is a right-handed pitcher who Jakimiec said he thinks “is going to be able to come in and turn some heads early.”
“I think they are guys who will be able to walk onto their college campuses and make some noise from the get-go,” Jakiemiec said. “So I’m excited to get them all in camp and see what we have.
“With all those young high school guys, that’s one of the reasons I wanted to bring back some older guys to kind of balance that out in terms of experience and mentoring,” Jakiemiec said.
Jakiemiec said the Shrimp’s pitching staff isn’t as experienced as last year’s but does have some arms back.
Shanner will pitch the season opener, while Herzog will take the mound for the first game in Peru.
Rios will throw more this summer, as he wants to work on his pitching, while Conklin and Weatherly also will play a key role on the mound after pitching for their college teams in NCAA regionals.
Conklin threw three scoreless innings to help Eastern Illinois win the Ohio Valley Conference championship, and Weatherly allowed two earned runs on four hits in six innings to help Ball State win the Mid-American Conference championship.
“It feels like the pitching staff is younger and less battle tested than last year’s team,” Jakiemiec said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing not necessarily how we start out, but how we develop and how we come together the latter half of the season.
“I think we have guys who are more than capable, they just need get them time to get them developed.”
Last summer, the Shrimp went 39-22, qualified for the Prospect League playoffs and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals.
This season, the Shrimp have switched to the Western Conference and will compete in the Great River Division with the Burlington Bees, Clinton LumberKings and the Quincy Gems.
“In a perfect world, we’d be able to win the first half and give guys time to be fully rested and ready to go for the second half, but we have guys who are in regionals and aren’t going to be here for a couple weeks,” Jakimiec said. “We’re going to have some temporary guys, but we’ll have plenty of juice both on the mound and offensively. I expect us to compete for the division as well as the conference and see where it goes from there.”
The Shrimp don’t just have a new division and conference this summer. The Shrimp also have new uniforms and will be playing in newly renovated Schweickert Stadium, which included the installation of a grandstand and a press box.
“It’s an absolutely gorgeous field and a beautiful grandstand,” Jakimiec said. “It just brings a smile to my face because I know the community and the fans are really going to love the changes that have been made at Schweickert Stadium. From top to bottom it looks absolutely first class. The city did a super nice job putting this together.”
