Last summer, Andrew’s Jack LoConte was thinking big.
Heading into his senior year, the baseball and football player had a goal of winning the school’s Male Athlete of the Year award.
“I thought about it during summer camp,” LoConte said. “It was a big goal for me. I just wanted to put my head down and work hard, and hopefully, it would pay off.”
It did.
On Wednesday, during a senior breakfast, he won the award.
On the field, LoConte has been a key contributor for the Thunderbolts in a five-game winning streak, including Thursday’s 10-4 SouthWest Suburban Red victory over Stagg in Palos Hills.
The Grand Valley State commit had a sacrifice fly to open the scoring in a three-run first inning for Andrew (22-9, 8-5), which only had five hits but reached base 11 times on walks and being hit by a pitch. Austin Cusack, Ryan Burns and TJ Burke all doubled. Danny Moss earned the win in relief.
Stagg (12-19, 2-11) held a 4-3 lead heading into the sixth inning before running into trouble. Bronson Sterling doubled and scored two runs, both on wild pitches.
While LoConte had a relatively quiet day Thursday, he was huge Tuesday against Stagg. He had three hits and three RBIs while throwing six shutout innings and striking out nine in a 10-0 win.
“He absolutely deserves the Athlete of the Year award,” Andrew coach Dave DeHaan said of LoConte. “In football, he’s a gamer. When the game is on the line, he does a great job.
“He’s also going a great job leading our younger kids in baseball. We have three sophomores up. And he’s done a really good job helping lead them.”
DeHaan said LoConte has been versatile this season.
“He’s an awesome outfielder,” DeHaan said. “But we needed him at first base for most of the year. No complaining. He just does it. And obviously, he does a great job pitching as well. That’s his bread and butter.”
Burke also is a big fan of LoConte.
“He’s just a great leader,” Burke said. “He’ll go out and get it done for us hitting, on the mound, in the field. Anywhere we need him. He’s a guy you want to have on your team. Fun to be around.”
LoConte said he’s more concerned with the team finishing up the season strong and having a deep playoff run more than thinking about his individual award.
“We want to do something special like putting a plaque up there with our name on it that will be there forever,” LoConte said.
LoConte did acknowledge, however, that he gained some satisfaction when his name was announced in what was the last award to be presented.
“It was a great feeling,” LoConte said. “We started the breakfast with signing day at 7:15 (a.m.), then we had the breakfast and then they gave out tons of awards for coaches and players.
“All my buddies were happy for me. The hard work really paid off for me.”
Once the high school season is completed, LoConte will be looking forward to Grand Valley State.
The Lakers made it to the NCAA Division II Tournament and a key player on the team is sophomore left-hander Mike Morawski, a former Andrew pitcher who went 7-3 this season with a 2.84 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 69 2/3 innings.
“He has improved tremendously since he has been there,” LoConte said of Morawski. “He’s been telling me about the coaches. He loves it there, and all of the coaches are amazing.”
DeHaan likes the choice.
“Hopefully, Jack will do great things like Mike has done,” DeHaan said.
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
