Swank's bat valuable during PR's title run

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T.J. Swank realizes when he gets to Coastal Carolina he probably will exclusively pitch.

"That's a whole different level in college," Swank said. "I'll have to battle a lot of good sticks down there."

The Prairie Ridge graduate will be fine with earning his NCAA Division I scholarship with his right arm, but for his senior year of high school, he yearned to get his hacks. So, after the highly touted Wolves got off to a 6-6 start, Swank asked first-year coach David Haskins if he could get in the lineup.

After a meeting with his seniors, Haskins agreed to shuffle the lineup. Bobby Martin was moved from No. 2 to leadoff, Nick Martini was dropped from leadoff to No. 3 where he could drive in more runs, and Swank, an accomplished hitter in his sophomore and junior seasons, was inserted in the cleanup spot ahead of Nolan Jacoby.

It was not coincidence that after those changes, Prairie Ridge lost only twice more the entire season. The Wolves (32-8) became a stronger lineup, rolled through the Fox Valley Conference Fox Division undefeated and won the IHSA Class 4A State Tournament with a 3-2 victory over Oak Park-River Forest.

Swank formed a tough 1-2 punch atop the rotation with left-hander Michael Heesch, finishing 10-1 with a 1.74 ERA. He also led the team with a .455 batting average and had a team-high 31 RBIs, despite missing several chances early in the season.

For his overall performance, Swank is the Northwest Herald Player of the Year, selected by the sports staff with input from local coaches. Martini, a three-time All-Area first team selection, also received strong consideration for his power, speed and pitching. McHenry's Zach Badgley also had support from area coaches.

"We had a good conversation about [me hitting] and [Haskins] was open-minded about it," Swank said. "After that, things started clicking. There were no hard feelings."

Swank emphasized that he was only part of the reason the Wolves won 26 of their last 28 games.

"I'm grateful to be able to be up in those spots, but it's not just about one guy," Swank said. "There were a lot of other occasions to get to those [critical] points where guys contributed. I couldn't have asked for a better guy [than Martini] hitting in front of me. That gives you a little swagger."

As a new coach, Haskins appreciated his seniors making some suggestions that could help the team.

"In the beginning, I knew about [Swank's] pitching, but I wasn't completely aware of his offense," Haskins said. "We had the conversation and he just wanted the opportunity."

Haskins liked the defense Pete Patras provided at first base, and the offense from Jacoby as the designated hitter. Eventually, he used Patras at first when Swank pitched, then Swank at first when he was not on the mound.

Swank usually gave teams fits with his sidearm delivery. It was a different look than most batters see and it served him well through his high school career.

"[Swank] hides the ball very well," Haskins said. "He has great run [movement] down and sinking away from righties."

Martin said he appreciated playing behind Swank for multiple reasons.

"[Swank] is so easy-going, which is the perfect mentality for a pitcher," Martin said. "I feel real lucky to play behind him all these years [in travel and high school ball]. He's not really a strikeout pitcher and I know I'm going to get a lot of ground balls. I always looked forward to games when T.J. pitched."

Swank came through with two of the biggest at-bats of his career in the state tournament. In the Wolves' 7-1 semifinal victory over Neuqua Valley, Swank battled through an 11-pitch at-bat with the bases loaded and drew a walk from the Wildcats' Geoff Rowan. That brought in the first of six runs as Prairie Ridge broke open a tight game.

The Wolves trailed OPRF, 2-1, in the sixth inning of the championship game when Martini led off with a single up the middle and Swank followed by hitting Kyle Glancy's first pitch to deep center field for a triple. Pinch-runner Kevin Kaczmarski then scored on Jacoby's sacrifice fly to center for the winning run.

Prairie Ridge had five players headed to D-I schools – Swank, Martini (Kansas State), Martin (Ohio), Heesch (Illinois-Chicago) and catcher David Mitroff (Liberty) – so there was pressure on the Wolves even before Baseball America ranked them No. 28 in the nation.

They met those lofty expectations, and then some, with the state championship.

"It's definitely a great feeling," Swank said. "It's sad because I'm going to miss those guys and we've been playing ball so many years. I was rooming with Bobby [Martin] and Dave [Mitroff at state] and we were talking about how we'd been through so much. All the showcases and tournaments were awesome experiences. But making the championship game was a brand new experience, a new feeling. I'd never had that feeling before."