Late rally not enough for New Trier baseball

Good starting pitching, excellent defense and just enough timely hitting can cool off even the hottest of teams.

The streaking Trevians (21-15) experienced that harsh reality Wednesday, June 3, falling 4-1 to their Central Suburban League South counterpart Glenbrook North (24-13) in a sectional semifinal at Kerry Wood Field in Chicago.

New Trier entered the playoff matchup as winners of nine of its last 11 games, but the Spartans’ superb all-around play proved to be the right formula for slowing down the red-hot Trevs.

A bloop single by North’s leadoff man Jackson Sturner followed by a walk to the Spartans’ star shortstop Ethan Bass set GBN up for business in the bottom of the third.

After a sacrifice bunt advanced both runners, North’s cleanup hitter Theo Gerothanas smacked a line-drive single up the middle to plate the game’s first run.

The two clubs traded zeros from there until the bottom of the sixth inning, when the Spartans tacked on three runs. GBN’s James Mathew had the big knock: a two-run triple down the right-field line. A second RBI triple from Madden Williams in the inning made the score 4-0.

But the Trevians refused to go down quietly, putting together their best inning of the day in the top of the seventh with a dangerous two-out rally.

After sophomore Riley Cook ripped a single to left field to start the threat, Charlie Donlan reached base via a hit-by-pitch and Nathaniel Blazo followed with a walk.

Mason Bloom, New Trier’s standout senior leadoff hitter, then brought home the Trevians’ first run of the night by beating out an infield single.

The go-ahead run then came to the plate, but a nice defensive play by GBN third baseman Nehemiah Torres put an end to New Trier’s late push.

The game in some ways was a microcosm of the Trevians’ season, New Trier head coach Dusty Napoleon said.

Just as the team did to open its 2026 season, New Trier came out swinging in the first as three of New Trier’s first four batted balls were smoked.

Bloom led off the game with a line-drive to third that was caught. Freshman Chase Estrada followed with a one-out double off the wall in the left-center power alley. And catcher Keenan Donaldson flew out to deep center field.

But New Trier hit a lull in the middle innings, similar to its midseason slump, before closing things out with its best work.

“The last three weeks, and the last inning of this game, our kids didn’t quit,” Napoleon said. “They put together good at-bats and gave ourselves a chance to win with the winning run at the plate.”

Senior starting pitcher Nick Bailey tossed another nice game for the Trevians on Wednesday. Bailey struck out six Spartans over his five-plus innings of work.

The senior duo of Bailey and Greg Campitelli were the leaders of New Trier’s staff all year. Seniors Bloom, Donaldson, Rowan Hester, Luke Mastros and Kincaid Buck were all key contributors in the Trevians’ starting lineup.

The senior class “did a great job of leading by example and bringing the team together,” Napoleon said.

“I’m proud of this group as a whole and I’m proud of the senior class for really embracing the young kids on the team and showing them what it means to be a New Trier baseball player and showing them what varsity baseball looks like, so I really want to thank the seniors,” Napoleon said.

A three-year starter for New Trier on varsity, Bloom will always cherish the fight the Trevs showed to end the season.

“I’m very, very proud of the team,” he said. “They sent all of us seniors out very well and that’s all I can ask for at the end of the year — going out on a run like that and playing to what we’re capable of. It meant the world to be able to know that we were in every game and we had a chance to win. It was awesome.”

And he’ll forever remember his time with the program.

“The people I’ve met and the relationships that I’ve formed through New Trier baseball … have formed my entire high school experience,” he said. “It made me a better person and a better baseball player and honestly, the New Trier baseball family is one of the biggest things of my life so far.”

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