Baseball Perfection One of the MSL's Most Elusive Accomplishments
Fremd's 2025 Team Falls One Step Short of Joining 1969 Wheeling, 1978 Barrington to Navigate Regular-Season League Schedule Without a Loss
Updated May 24, 2025
A perfect season in Mid-Suburban League baseball is similar in rarity and difficulty to pitching a perfect game.
And the two teams to accomplish the rare feat of navigating a Mid-Suburban League baseball schedule without a loss are likely not the ones that immediately come to mind.
The Class AA state champions from Barrington in 1986 and Schaumburg in 1997 lost only 5 games apiece in those magical seasons. But 3 of their defeats occurred during their MSL schedules.
Barrington’s 1978 team made quite a first impression in its MSL debut season by winning all 19 games on its league schedule. And Wheeling won all 14 of its MSL games without a loss in the pre-division era of 1969. One of the quirks of that time for both teams was playing in IHSA postseason before the MSL regular season was completed.
Fremd’s 2025 team, led by Chris Piggott, came one step short in a scenario that had its own oddity. The Vikings finished regular-season league play at 15-1 with a 5-0 loss to Buffalo Grove that was pushed back to Saturday, May 24 because of graduation and bad weather. Less than 24 hours earlier, the Vikings played the MSL title game and lost 3-2 to Hersey.
We’ll look back at the Barrington and Wheeling teams who pulled off the rare feat and some other close calls that include Buffalo Grove in 2002 also clearing every hurdle except the last one.
1969 Wheeling - Not Much Drama in Perfect Run
The final act for one of the MSL’s most legendary athletes was almost perfect.
In the midst of it, Jack Bastable exhibited skills beyond those that made him a three-sport star at Wheeling, a football/baseball standout at Missouri and a professional baseball player who got one step from the big leagues.
Wheeling improved to 10-0 overall and 7-0 in the MSL as Scott Day threw a complete game and Speedy Wiesen, in his first start in right field, made two big defensive plays and had an RBI infield single in the seventh. Oh, and there was “Hollywood Jack Bastable,” as the Daily Herald’s legendary Keith Reinhard called him and expounded on in his game story.
“Bastable, fresh from rehearsals for a school presentation of West Side Story, didn’t even have time to doff his makeup before the game and had to be the classiest batter in the league while stroking two run-producing singles that gave Day all the margin he needed,” Reinhard wrote.
It was all part of a magical story where Wheeling went 18-1 overall and breezed to an unbeaten MSL title under first-year head coach Ron DeBolt. He took over when Steve Chernicky left to lead the program at just-opened Hersey.
The Wildcats hit .318 with 63 stolen bases, averaged 7 runs a game and had an ERA of 1.48. Bastable, a standout catcher whose six-year pro career included two seasons in Triple A in the Phillies organization, led five all-conference picks. He was the first player to hit .500 in the MSL (.540) with 8 doubles, 8 steals, 13 RBI and only 1 strikeout in 50 at-bats.
Marty Crain led the pitching staff with 6 complete-game wins in the MSL, an ERA of 1.09 and 38 strikeouts and 7 walks in 45 innings. Shortstop Cary Salm led the MSL in steals, Day was a dual threat outfielder-pitcher and Gary Schweitzer hit .432 with 8 steals.
Don Wright, Bob Fitzgerald and Dan Hull added to the offense and Bill Newman provided pitching depth for DeBolt, who led the Wildcats’ program through the 1993 season.
“The kids were tough because they worked at it,” DeBolt told Reinhard after the 1969 season ended. “They were outside practicing even during the rain and cold weather, and our pitchers probably threw more and our hitters probably hit more in practice than anyone else in the league.
“Running the bases was a big key. We forced the other team to make the plays, and the more plays of course the better chance of their making a mistake.”
Wheeling could beat teams in a variety of ways. Newman stopped defending MSL champ Elk Grove 5-0 early in the schedule. Wright, Fitzgerald and Newman homered and Bastable went 4-for-5 with a triple and 2 doubles in a 17-6 rout of Forest View to improve to 11-0 and 8-0 in the MSL.
The oddity came in between clinching the MSL title with wins over Fremd and Glenbard North. That was the start of the IHSA state tournament and with Wheeling hosting the district, DeBolt put up a fence, figuring his powerful lineup would take advantage, according to a story by Reinhard in 1985.
Instead it was Highland Park, which finished seventh in the Central Suburban League, blasting 2 homers over and 2 triples off the new fence en route to a stunning 8-2 victory.
But the Wildcats still had MSL perfection to pursue. The closest call was beating Arlington 6-4 in 8 innings to improve to 12-0. The game was tied 3-3 after 3 innings and stayed that way until the top of the eighth when Fitzgerald had an RBI double and Crain and Schweitzer had RBI singles.
Day threw a 3-hitter with 9 strikeouts to beat Elk Grove 7-0. There was no drama in the finale as Wheeling scored 6 runs in the first in a 10-5 win where Bastable had an RBI double and Hull drove in 3 runs.
In 1985, Reinhard regarded Wheeling as the second-best team he covered from the Herald circulation area. No. 1 on his list was the second team to achieve MSL baseball perfection.
1978 Barrington - A Perfect Debut
Barrington’s “big three” boys sports didn’t experience many growing pains in what was considered a bump up in competition from the North Suburban Conference to the MSL for the 1977-78 school year.
The football team won the MSL North title to make the playoffs. The basketball team finished a game behind Buffalo Grove and reached the supersectional.
And the baseball program under second-year head coach Kirby Smith provided a glimpse of what was ahead for the rest of the league. Beating Barrington was typically considered a significant feat that didn’t happen too often.
It didn’t happen at all during the MSL’s 19-game regular-season schedule where the Broncos twice had to beat BG and future All-Star and World Series champion Mike Marshall. The Broncos did stumble in what was then a best-of-3 to win the overall MSL title, but recovered to claim the top prize over Prospect.
The Broncos hit .319, averaged 8.4 runs a game and hit 21 homers while posting a 2.37 ERA en route to a 26-3 record. Leading the way was all-MSL and all-area second baseman Brian Bock (.447, 4 HR, 24 RBI), whose .445 career average still ranks No. 1 in the program’s storied history. Bock earned all-Big Ten honors at Illinois.
Shortstop and leadoff man Chuck Tasch (.385) was all-MSL and all-area and hit .343 for his career at Notre Dame. All-MSL pick Eric Shellenback (.365, 5 HR, 22 RBI) was a fifth-round draft pick by the Texas Rangers and catcher Steve Petersen (.304, 3 HR, 26 RBI) and Bill Proska (.367, 17 RBI) played at D-I South Alabama.
And they had a potent 1-2 combo on the mound in Joe Seaton (11-1, 1.62 ERA), who pitched at Duke, and Kevin Noreen (10-0, 2.05).
Their biggest first-half test came in a 10-7 comeback win at Prospect to improve to 10-0 in the MSL. The Broncos were down 7-0 into the fifth inning but Bock hit a 3-run homer and Tasch had a tying RBI single and Shellenback a go-ahead RBI single in a 7-run sixth.
“We played terrible those first few innings,” Smith told Reinhard. “They were doing things right and we weren’t.”
Some Prospect people also didn’t think it was right that Bock was warming up on the main mound in the pregame and was chased off. Bock ended up coming in for Noreen in relief.
“He always warms up for an away game that way,” Smith said. “I’m sorry if it bothered Prospect but he’s my relief pitcher and I never know if I’m going to need him later on … that’s just his way of familiarizing himself with the field.”
Barirngton pounded Schaumburg 10-3 as Bock and John Ahlgrim homered and Hersey 15-4 as Shellenback homered and drove in 3 runs along with Proska and Petersen. Bob Mencke hit a 3-run homer, Shellenback had 3 hits and Noreen was the winner in a 6-3 win over BG that clinched a tie for the North title and improved its league record to 16-0.
Then came an interruption for the Elgin regional. The Broncos avenged their only loss as Noreen and Bock teamed up to beat the host Maroons 2-0 in the semifinals. Seaton threw a 3-hitter to beat Wauconda in the opener and a 4-hitter to stop Dundee 5-0 in the title game.
A day later it was back to the MSL as Noreen threw a 2-hitter to beat Arlington and clinch the North title. But perfection was far from easy to attain as the Broncos had to come back to beat Fremd 5-4 on Scott Gilleland’s game-winning hit in a 2-run seventh and Shellenback homered twice in a wild 11-10 decision over Wheeling.
Any thoughts of a state run ended in a 7-5 Dundee sectional semifinal upset loss to DeKalb. But the Broncos still had the MSL title to play for and now had to wait for the opponent in a South race that came down to the final day. It would be Prospect on a tiebreaker over Rolling Meadows.
In the MSL’s best-of-3 title format, which was abandoned after the 1983 season, the regular-season matchup was considered the first meeting. So, it was advantage Barrington from its 10-7 comeback at Prospect. Then the Broncos gave it away by committing 8 errors and issuing 13 walks in a 17-9 loss to the Knights despite a 3-run homer by Petersen and a 2-run homer by Shellenback.
Now it was a winner-take-all third game and Smith went with all-area pick Seaton, who had been knocked out just a few days earlier. Seaton would deliver as the Broncos won 9-5 for the first of their 12 MSL baseball titles and 7 under Smith.
“I just figured we would live or die with our best man on the mound,” Smith told Reinhard.
Petersen went 4-for-5 with a pair of run-scoring singles. Barrington saw a 4-run lead shrink to 6-5 before pulling away.
“I’m not sure I like this playoff concept. It tends to drag the season out and puts a team in a position of possibly finishing with a 19-0 record in second place in the league,” Smith told Reinhard afterward. “It was nice to win because we had to beat an excellent team to do it. I thought Prospect (coached by Larry Pohlman) handled themselves as a first-class ballclub throughout the series.”
Reinhard regarded the 1978 Broncos as his top team when he did his rankings seven years later. Of course, that changed with the 1986 state-title team led by Dan Wilson. But even they didn’t go through an MSL schedule unscathed.
Almost Perfect
2002 Buffalo Grove - The Final Hurdle was the Biggest
The fun part of doing predictions was often how dumb they would turn out. Few would have expected Buffalo Grove, pegged to finish fourth in the East in 2002, to make the most serious run at MSL baseball perfection since Barrington in 1978.
The Bison had a solid core of returnees but would be without future pro Jason James for disciplinary reasons. But a team befitting feisty coach John Wendell’s personality just kept winning all spring by running, bunting, defending and driving opponents batty en route to a 24-game winning streak.
MSL East player of the year pitcher-outfielder Brett Karol (7-1; .352, 3 HR), pitcher-shortstop Nick Gord (8-1), third baseman Brian Mucha (.360, 21 RBI, 17-for-20 stolen bases) and second baseman Alex Murman (.417) were all-area picks. Outfielder Chris Pietroski (.363) was also all-MSL and pitcher Erik Stoltz (7-0, 1.71), first baseman Nate Johnson, catcher Dan Maro and Chris Sadjak were major contributors.
The epitome of how they won came in a showdown with West leader Schaumburg where the Bison beat standout future pro lefty John Hummel 9-3 to extend their winning streak to 19 and improve to 10-0 in the MSL. BG’s first 5 runs came with only one batted ball leaving the infield.
“The kids believe in that and we’re not going to stop,” Wendell said.
They wouldn’t be stopped until they arrived at the 16th and final step of MSL history. But waiting for BG at its home field was Elk Grove and big, hard-throwing junior lefty Anthony Kern. The all-area pick’s 109 strikeouts were second in the area behind Hummel’s 130.
Kern threw a 5-hitter with 12 strikeouts and tacked on a 3-run homer in the seventh inning of a 7-1 victory that spoiled BG’s run at MSL perfection.
“It was amazing. Everything clicked today,” Kern said.
“I’m actually happy it happened before the playoffs because you don’t want to take a long streak into the playoffs and get beat,” Johnson said. “But you never like to lose. We would have liked to have done it but coming into a season you never think you’ll go undefeated in conference anyway.”
The Bison would tie the school record for wins and finish 29-6 - but two of the losses were to Schaumburg in the MSL championship game (8-3) and sectional title game (7-5).
1967 Maine West - A Near-Perfect Farewell
Maine West won the first four MSL titles (1964-67) and nearly pulled off a perfect departure for the Central Suburban League. Al Carstens, one of the most successful baseball coaches in state history, won back-to-back state titles in 1958-59 when Maine Township was just one school and then led West to another crown in 1963.
The Warriors’ five all-MSL players included two who were in the company of future big-leaguers from Prospect. Al Fritz, a 40th round pick of the White Sox in that June’s draft, went 8-2 overall and was among the pitchers chosen with Dave Kingman. Craig Rowells was one of the catchers selected along with Tom Lundstedt. Pitcher-outfielder Harry Tistle, infielder Tommy Kehe and Bob Banger also made the all-league team.
But it wasn’t Prospect with Kingman and Lundstedt that sent the Warriors to their only loss in 14 MSL games. Conant, in just its second year as a varsity program and first under Mark Just, finished 6-15 overall and 4-10 in the league.
One of the wins was 4-2 in late April when all-MSL sophomore John Furio outdueled Fritz. Furio threw a 1-hitter with 8 strikeouts and the Cougars broke a 2-2 tie with 2 runs in the top of the seventh.
Maine West finished the season 18-2 and its other loss was in the regional.
1998 Schaumburg - Defending State Champs Make a Run at History
Schaumburg coach Paul Groot had a strong core of returnees from his 1997 AA state champs, led by future pro P T.J. Nall, pro draft pick OF Paul Reuer, SS Josh Dryden and P-1B Mike Weel. The Saxons started their MSL schedule 9-0 and took a 16-game winning streak into a rain delayed Saturday morning crossover matchup and likely title-game preview against Barrington and retiring coach Kirby Smith.
Groot’s milestone 300th victory was put on hold as Barrington standout Dan Pohlman outdueled Weel 2-1 in the Saxons’ only MSL regular-season loss. They would meet two more times as the Broncos won the MSL title 9-6 and sectional crown 6-0 to avenge losses from a year earlier en route to a third-place state finish.
2017 and 2021 Barrington - Two Close Calls
Barrington had two teams in a four-season span (with 2020 canceled because of the COVID pandemic) finish 15-1 in the West.
The first for coach Pat Wire in 2017 made a serious run at history behind future MLB pitcher Ryan Loutos, who was West co-player of the year with Will Yorton, and future pro pitcher Brooks Gosswein. The Broncos started 13-0 but their only loss was 7-3 to Hoffman Estates - the game was suspended in the fifth inning with the Hawks up 3-2 and they pulled away when it was resumed. That team would go on to beat Prospect 8-2 for the MSL title.
The 2021 Broncos, led by West POY Logan Eisenbarth and 2022 POY Jake Kohanzo, started 5-0 before suffering their only loss in league play 10-3 to Prospect. They lost in the MSL title game 4-3 to Buffalo Grove.
2018 and 2022 Buffalo Grove - Much Different 1-Loss Paths
Buffalo Grove also had two more teams take vastly different routes to 15-1 finishes in the MSL East.
The first under coach Tim Miller in 2018 was coming off a 29-win season that didn’t include an East title. BG started 12-0 in MSL play but its luck ran out in Game 13 when Rolling Meadows erased a 2-1 deficit with a 5-run fifth inning to win 6-4. The Bison would beat Barrington 6-2 for the MSL title and go on to finish 30-6 with a trip to the supersectional behind All-Area pitcher-shortstop and captain Zach Fricke.
In 2022, BG was defending an MSL title but lost its second league game 7-4 to Hersey. The Bison won their next 14 regular-season league games and beat Barrington again for the MSL crown behind pitcher-outfielder Jack Alport and pitcher-shortstop Payton Diaz.