Boys Volleyball: Bob St. Leger taking over Homewood-Flossmoor program

Homewood-Flossmoor has added another coach to its staff with a state championship on his resume. Bob St. Leger, who led Marist’s boys volleyball team to the state title in 2010, will take over H-F’s program. St. Leger, 31, will succeed Brandon Cotter. In May, H-F …

Boys Volleyball: Row reversal OK by Oak Lawn’s Marc Hansen

Few players can handle a role reversal as can Marc Hansen.

After earning consecutive All-Area selections as a potent outside hitter for Oak Lawn, the recent graduate returns to the back row to play libero for Ultimate Gold, one of the top club teams in …

Soccer: Victor Pineda, of Bolingbrook, on international stage for U.S. at FIFA U-20 World Cup

It’s shaping up to be a big summer for Victor Pineda. The Bolingbrook native and Plainfield East product, who was the first member of the Chicago Fire’s Fire Academy youth teams to crack the Fire’s MLS roster, hopes to make his regular-season debut with the …

Baseball: ThunderBolts can’t hold lead, bow to Florence Freedom

The Windy City ThunderBolts got plenty of help Wednesday night from a Florence Freedom squad that did everything it could to lose in the first eight innings. Andy Mee could not finish it off in the ninth, though, blowing a save as Jacob Tanis’ three-run …

Baseball: Zach Aakhus parlays chance into long-running career with ThunderBolts

Zach Aakhus’ pro baseball career began with a trip that he figured was a long shot to lead anywhere. In 2009, after finishing his career at Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho, Aakhus attended the Frontier League’s tryout camp and draft. The Windy City ThunderBolts gave …

Baseball: ThunderBolts defeat Florence Freedom 6-4

As they’ve struggled through the first month of the Frontier League season, Windy City ThunderBolts hitters often have been the victim of bad luck, with well-struck balls finding their way into an opponent’s glove. Perhaps Tuesday’s second inning was payback. The T-Bolts scored six runs …

ThunderBolts Notebook: Dyllon Nuernberg welcomes added duty

Dyllon Nuernberg knows he has some big shoes to fill. The fourth-year pro from Las Vegas is the man the Windy City ThunderBolts have turned to in order to fill the void in the starting rotation left when ace Mike Recchia was signed by the …

Boys Basketball: Evergreen Park taking summer sessions as lessons

The wins, losses and stats won’t count, but don’t tell Evergreen Park’s Alex Cheatham that summer games don’t matter. The senior forward has the cut and stitches over his right eye to prove how real they are. Playing against Nazareth, Cheatham went up for a …

Football: Lemont young but eager to extend winning ways

Albeit without a state championship, Lemont is in the team picture for most successful football programs in Illinois over the last decade. In the last nine years under coach Eric Michaelsen and his veteran staff, the Indians boast a 95-17 record. Lemont, which never lost more than three games in those nine seasons, was second in the state in 2007 and ’08, a quarterfinalist in ’09 and ’10 and semifinalist the last two years, all in Class 6A.

Baseball: St. Laurence’s Mike Kornacker the Beggars Pizza/SouthtownStar 2013 Baseball Player of the Year

Mike Kornacker had a season that will be difficult to duplicate. On the mound the St. Laurence right-hander was 7-1 — including two perfect games — with a 0.97 ERA. Five of his seven wins were shutouts. On offense, he hit .421 with 11 doubles, …

Baseball: Mount Carmel’s Brian Hurry the Beggars Pizza/SouthtownStar 2013 Baseball Coach of the Year

When Brian Hurry was preparing for his final season of baseball at College of St. Francis in Joliet, he experienced a moment that would alter his life forever. “A light bulb turned on inside my head,” Hurry, now 40, recalled. “Baseball had been in my …

Baseball: Beggars Pizza/SouthtownStar 2013 All-Area Baseball Team

Here is the 2013 Beggars Pizza/SouthtownStar 2013 All-Area Baseball Team.

Nationwide drivers raise funds for Leffler’s son

Like any catastrophic news, NASCAR Nationwide driver Regan Smith first heard of Jason Leffler’s death on social media. Leffler was killed Wednesday when the sprint car he was racing slammed into a wall during a race at a dirt track in Swedesboro, N.J. Leffler was …

Big day for Aakhus in ThunderBolts’ victory

The Windy City ThunderBolts took a lot of frustration out on the Southern Illinois Miners on Sunday night. Zach Aakhus drove in five runs and Daniel Cropper tossed eight shutout innings as the T-Bolts salvaged the final contest of the three-game series and snapped a …

Baranek: Podbielniak a prestigious prognosticator

I said it last year, and I guess I’ll have to say it again today. I should have listened to Wendy. The Wendy I’m talking about is Tinley Park coach Wendy Podbielniak, the one we had a big story about in Sunday’s paper for being …