The Observer goes one-on-one with coach Bill Angelo

Under head coach Bill Angelo (in his 12th season), the Spartans
have made five consecutive trips to the NJCAA DII World Series.
Photo courtesy of elgin.edu

James Ayello
Staff Writer
E.O: Being rated # 2 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Poll this early in the season, do you feel as though there is a target on your back?
B.A:Yeah, there always is. Everyone wants to beat us. Everyone is a little bit more excited to play baseball that day, you know, they definitely want to knock us off. With a high ranking comes high expectations.

E.O: What kind of expectations do you have for your team this year?
B.A: I just want our guys to realize their full potential. I want every team I coach to get the opportunity to play on the national stage because it’s such an awesome experience for these guys to take with them. Very rarely, do you get a chance to compete for a national title at any sport at any level… I want them to get a chance to compete for a national title. I feel like these guys could win without a doubt. These guys work hard. The talent is there, our pitching is there, offensively we’re pretty good, and our defensive will get there.

E.O: What does your pitching staff look like this year and who do you feel is the ace of the staff?
B.A: We've got a decent group of guys that are going to be able to carry the load pretty well. Jim Van Sycle is at the top of our staff; he’s throwing upper 80s/ low 90s with a pretty good slider and a pretty good changeup. He’s thrown the ball pretty well so far. Then we have Brad Allen and Curtis Hudson, who both transferred in from Division I schools. Brad Allen played at Northern Illinois last year and Curtis is a lefthander that played at Evansville last year. Those three guys are and the top of our staff and then we've got Rob Quick and Bob Diebold, who are both sophomores back from last year that are both right there in the four/five [slots], [and they accompany] Dan Francik, who’s another sophomore pitcher. We’ve got some pretty good arms. We feel like we’re pretty well off on the mound.

E.O: Offensively, what kind of team do you consider yourselves?
B.A: We’re a very well-rounded team. We’re not typically anything like a small-ball team or a power team or anything like that. We will manufacture runs when we need to. We will play a small ball game, but this team does have some pop. Our philosophy offensively is just to work counts and to hit fastballs. We want to get the count in our favor and hit the fastballs.

E.O: Steroids have become such a relevant issue in today’s baseball world; is that something you have to be on look out for at ECC?
B.A: I think we always have to be kind of aware. You know, you just try and educate your guys and try and tell them that there’s no honor in having success by cheating and hopefully they make good decisions about it and aren’t willing to sell their soul…just to have a little bit of success. You wish that the grown-ups that are playing pro ball…would have more integrity than to cheat to get the desired results. We don’t encourage that…[My players] know my opinion on all drugs and alcohol. I’m pretty outspoken that I’m strongly against [their use].