Glenbard West Players Showcase Their Skills

Earlier this month, Ryan Kavanaugh, Tyler Curtis and Myles Purdom were helping Glenbard West’s baseball team reach the Class 4A sectional championship game.

A few weeks later, the Hilltopper teammates kept their Glenbard West caps, but swapped uniforms. They donned purple and white shirts instead of their familiar green and white to become part of the West Suburban Conference team that competed in the recent Northwest Suburban Baseball Tournament held at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire.

The tourney—a two-day event in which all-star teams from eight different conferences showcase next year’s seniors—included other conferences such as the DuPage Valley, East Suburban Catholic, Central Suburban, Fox Valley, North Suburban, Upstate Eight and Mid Suburban. 

Players on each squad saw action in two games—one on Friday and one on Saturday—and each player was timed in the 60-yard dash prior to Friday’s games. Dozens of baseball coaches and scouts from various colleges and universities throughout the Midwest could be seen behind the backstops at both Stevenson baseball fields taking notes and aiming their radar guns to determine a pitcher’s velocity.

Glenbard West coach Brian Wojtun joined his three seniors-to-be on the West Suburban coaching staff.

The West Suburban squad faced off against DuPage Valley in its first game of the tourney, and it was just like old times during the fifth inning with Kavanaugh pitching, Purdom playing second base and Curtis patrolling center field.

“It felt good to get out there with my teammates and other guys from my conference,” Kavanaugh said. “It felt pretty nice to have guys that I know that can field the ball. I felt pretty comfortable with them out in the field.”

Purdom helped his pitcher by turning a double play that got the West Suburban team out of the inning.

“It was good—a good opportunity to get the hands going,” said Purdom of being involved in the double play. “It’s good to play with guys on your team. You feel comfortable.”

Curtis agreed.

“It felt good to have my teammates (at the Northwest tourney) because I know I can trust them,” Curtis said. “I knew they would come through when the pressure was on.”

Curtis said he enjoyed the two-day event, especially competing against other conferences and getting an opportunity to exhibit his skills in front of college coaches and scouts.

Playing college baseball is on Curtis’ radar.

“That’s my dream, and I want to work for it” he said. “It’s been pretty nice seeing some new faces and seeing some great competition. And getting to perform in front of the college coaches.”  

Curtis mainly played outfield for the Hilltoppers this season. He usually pitches, too, but wasn’t able to do so because of arm problems.

“Earlier in the season, I injured my arm,” he said. “(But) it’s feeling great right now. I’m getting it back.”

Curtis, Purdom and Kavanaugh will continue to see a lot of each other this summer because they’re part of the Glen Ellyn-based DuPage Training Academy’s travel team.

With a strong returning nucleus—including Kavanaugh and Curtis, who’ll likely be the Hilltoppers’ top two starting pitchers—the trio is definitely looking forward to 2012.

“We were young this year, and we’ve got some guys coming up that will help us,” Purdom said. “We’ll see what we can do. As long as we keep our bats going and our speed moving, we’ll be in good shape I think.”

“Next year we’ve set pretty high goals because we’ve got a lot of starters coming back,” Kavanaugh added. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to string a couple of wins together next year and go far again like we did this year.”

The 2011 Hilltoppers overcame a 3-12 start to finish 19-18. They advanced to the aforementioned sectional title game where they fell to eventual state champion .

“I knew at the beginning of the year we had talent, and I knew it was just a slump,” said Curtis, referring to the early part of the season. “I knew when we got out of it we were going to be on a run. We had the pitching and the bats came around. It just felt great to do what we did.”