Matt Kann is all smiles after smacking a two-run homer in New Trier’s 5-0 win over Evanston. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER
Matt Kann is all about the Hard Seven.
When the New Trier senior right fielder takes the field, he plasters on his Game Face.
Save the jocularity for later.
Kann, no doubt, is having some serious fun playing the game he loves. He just doesn’t let on.
Not usually.
But there was a smile sighting in the semifinal round of the Class 4A Lane Tech Sectional on May 31.
Kann’s all businesslike look cracked a little after he cranked a Chris Brown delivery over the left-field fence — several feet to the left of the 363 sign — at Kerry Wood Cubs Field in Chicago. His two-run, opposite field shot in the bottom of the third inning was the big blow in NT’s 5-0 victory over archrival Evanston.
After rounding bases one, two and three, Kann stepped on home plate, tapped helmets with teammate Kevin Donahue and flashed a wide smile for all to see.
“Yeah, that was a little out of character for me,” Kann said. “Our guys were going crazy with the home run. And they also were going crazy seeing me smile like that.”
Emitting emotion “like that” is not his deal. Not when he’s lined up inside the foul poles. For him, the baseball uniform is business attire.
“I’m not one to joke around, when I’m on a ball field,” said Kann. “I grew up watching guys who are super serious. Guys like Chase Utley [second baseman for the Phillies and Dodgers]. That’s how I like to play the game.”
New Trier head coach Mike Napoleon certainly liked the way Kann went about his business against the Wildkits.
“He’s a focused kid,” said the Trevians coach. “Highly competitive.”
In his first at-bat, Kann went the other way and lined a double into the left-field corner only to be left stranded. Then, he coaxed a leadoff walk in the team’s three-run fifth inning.
“Usually, he’s the mix of something positive,” noted Napoleon.
“Matt is one of the best pure hitters on our team. He’s got great timing,” the coach added. “He goes to the plate with a great concept and then stays with the plan. He knows how to work pitches and get on base.”
The coach has learned to trust Kann, who will play his college baseball at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Wearing the No. 3 jersey and hitting No. 2 in the batting order, Kann got off to an alarmingly slow start.
“I think I was hitting .150 after the first six games,” he said.
“He struggled during the first month of the season, but we stayed with him,” said Napoleon, who watched Kann hit .351 with 12 doubles and 32 RBIs in the 2016 season. “We knew that he was too good to stay in a funk.
“He started hitting the ball the other way, and that really helped him,” said Napoleon.
Going “oppo” certainly was effective against the hard-throwing Brown.
“He’s added opposite-field hitting to his game,” said NT catcher Dylan Horvitz. “And he’s real good at working the counts into his favor. I was not surprised to see him barrel up that pitch [on his home run]. That was a bomb.”
“His home run was the breakthrough that we needed,” added Donahue. “Sometimes, that first run is the hardest one to get.”
As it turned out, one run was all the top-seeded Trevians (28-4) needed. The Wildkits were unable to solve Thomas Nugent. The senior right-hander didn’t allow a hit until two were out in the top of the seventh.
With the one-hit shutout, Nugent improved his overall record to 11-1.
“He had his change-up going,” said Horvitz. “We knew they would be aggressive at the plate, so we worked backward on a lot of their hitters.”
By throwing off speed in fastball counts, Evanston managed to hit only four pitches hard in Nugent’s seven innings.
One of those swings belonged to Jesse Heuer. The No. 3 hitter for the Wildkits hit a hot smash up the middle in the sixth inning. The ball was headed into center field, until Donahue dove to his left, picked himself up and fired a strike to NT first baseman Anthony Calarco.
At that time, Donahue’s sterling play preserved Nugent’s potential no-no.
“I didn’t even know he had a no-hitter going,” said Donahue. “But on a play like that, you don’t think. You just react. You’re in the moment.
“Nugent has an earned run average of 0.70 or something like that,” the senior shortstop added. “But he’s not going to blow away hitters. When he’s pitching, you have to ready. You have to expect the ball will be hit to you.”
Evanston’s lone hit was a clean single to left field by No. 7 hitter Jake Urdangen.
Nugent, who was the winning pitcher in the regional title game on May 27, ended up striking out six, walking one and hitting two batters.
“He was great again tonight,” said Napoleon. “This is what you get from him.”
New Trier wound up scoring its five runs on just three hits. The Trevians, who will face either Fenwick or Maine West in the sectional title game on June 1 at 10 a.m., took advantage of Brown’s wildness (7 walks, 3 hit batsmen).
Besides Kann, the other run producers were Cam Redding and Sean Douaire. In that three-run fifth inning, Redding hit a sacrifice fly to deep center to bring in pinch runner Kyle Caponi. Two batters later, Douaire lined a single to center to score Donahue and Calarco.
Matt Kann of the Trevians hit a double and home run against Evanston’s Chris Brown. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER
Thomas Nugent fires to the plate. The NT senior allowed only one hit. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER
NT shortstop Kevin Donahue makes a diving stop to rob a hit up the middle in the sixth inning. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER
Cam Redding of the Trevians leaves the batter’s box and hitting a sacrifice fly to deep center in the fifth inning. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER
New Trier’s Sean Douaire hustles down the line after ripping a two-run single in the fifth. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER
Junior Anthony Calarco races home to score New Trier’s final run of the game in the fifth. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER