Ryan Quigley Signs with the Washington Nationals

Joliet Slammers' baseball closer Ryan Quigley signed with the Washington Nationals on Monday and will be heading to the New York Penn League.

Quigley spent last year on the Windy City Thunderbolts and in his first year after Tommy John surgery with the Slammers Ryan has six saves and a 1.08 ERA. 

Ryan is a Joliet Illinois native, attended Joliet Catholic Academy and Saint Xaiver University.

St. Xaiver Baseball Upsets #1 Seed Robert Morris in First Round of CCAC Tourney

Number 6 seeded St. Xaiver University takes down number 1 seeded Robert Morris in the first round of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament 6-4 yesterday.

In the sixth inning, down 4-3, freshman pitcher Dan Maton (Plainfield North) struck out Robert Morris 1B Marty Coyle (South Suburban College) and work out of a jam.  In the bottom half St. Xaiver regained the lead with a walk to Jim Pipolo (Sandburg) followed by a triple from Matt Erickson (Richards) and a single from Tom Simek (St. Laurence) to go up 5-4.

St. Xaiver added an insurance run in the 7th and shut down Robert Morris the rest of the way.  Jim Pipolo (Sandburg) went 3-3 with 4 rbi's and Chris Klein (Huntley) picked up the save.

Saint Xaiver Baseball Ends Florida Trip With A Tie

Baseball in Illinois News

After sweeping a double header against Ohio Dominican (5-3 and 2-1), Saint Xaiver ends their 2010 Florida trip with a 7-7 tie against Aquinas College. 

In game one against Ohio Dominican Ken Tezak went 2-3 with a double and a three run home run in the top of the seventh inning and Lucas Fristch earned his second save of the season.

Game two Saint Xaiver had to come from behind again as Tony O'Shea homered to tie the game and Tony Testin brought home the game winner with a sacrifice fly.  Ken Hurta threw a complete game in game two giving up seven hits, one earned run and striking out seven.

In the final game of the trip St. Xaiver and Aquinas College played to a 7-7 tie for three hours only to have the game called and booked as a tie.  John O'Brien went 3-5 with two rbi's and Tony Testin was 2-4 with a home run.

Saint Xavier Loses Twice to #7 Embry-Riddle

Baseball in Illinois News

After being ten run ruled on Monday 13-3 Saint Xavier kept the game close on Tuesday at 2-1 until the bottom of the eighth inning where Embry-Riddle tacked on two runs to seal the deal at 4-1.  Zach Clements was 2-4 for Xavier and John O'Brien had the lone rbi.  Saint Xavier is now 3-2 on the season.

Cales wins MiLBY Class A Advanced Reliever of the Year

From Baseball in Illinois News Sources

Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, in the shadow of Comiskey Park, David Cales admits he was a White Sox fan growing up. When he was taken in the 24th round of the 2008 Draft by that other team in the Windy City, he quickly learned how to adjust.


It was in the Cubs system that he went 3-0 with a 0.78 ERA and 14 saves in 37 games for Daytona in the Florida State League, numbers that made him the choice for a MiLBY as the Class A Advanced Reliever of the Year.

"As I became older, I loved Chicago sports all together," Cales said. "It's an honor to play for the city of Chicago, even in the Minors. I couldn't be happier playing for the Cubs. I'm just a Chicago fan. It's an absolute privilege playing for a Chicago team."

In his first summer as a pro, Cales split time between the rookie-level Arizona League and short-season Northwest League, so he was a little surprised when he made the leap right up to Class A Advanced Daytona to start this season. He nearly fell over when he got nudged up to Double-A in May, even though that didn't go so well. But he earned his way back up there, and even got a one-appearance taste of Triple-A, late in the season.

"It was a shock to go up to Double-A," Cales admitted. "Then to give me another chance at the end of the year, I don't think I could've asked for anything better. I didn't believe much of it was happening because it was happening so fast."

Cales was drafted in the 24th round by the Chicago Cubs in the June 2008 amateur draft.  David attended Mt Carmel High School in Illinois, the University of Missouri in 2006, UIC in 2007,  St Xavier in 2008 and Mt. Carmel High School in Illinois. 

2010 NAIA Baseball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll Announced

November 17, 2009

Saint Xavier University in Chicago Illinois has been ranked #24 in the NAIA Baseball Coaches' Preaseason poll. 


McKendree University and the University of St. Francis received votes but did not make it into the preseason top 25.

The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the 25 conferences, independents and unaffiliated groups. The first regular season Top 25 poll will be announced on March 30, 2010.

Saint Xavier Lands Two NAIA Baseball Preseason All-Americans

Kansas City, Mo. – Saint Xavier University, the 2009 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) baseball champion, has landed two of its players on the 2010 NAIA Baseball Preseason All-America Team when the team was announced by the NAIA national office late Friday afternoon. Senior pitcher Jayson Koehn (Beecher, Illinois./Beecher), a 2009 NAIA All-America First Team selection and the 2009 CCAC Pitcher of the Year, and senior shortstop John O'Brien (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich), a 2009 NAIA All-America Honorable Mention choice, were one of just four pairs of players from the same team named to the 17-member squad.

Koehn, a left-hander, finished in the top six in the nation in five pitching categories highlighted by his sparkling 1.00 earned run average (ERA), which led the NAIA. He also placed second in total earned runs allowed (8), fourth in total runs allowed (17), fifth in opponents’ batting average (.185) and sixth in hits allowed per 9 innings (6.00). Koehn finished what he started in nearly all of his games last spring going 9-1 in 12 starts with seven complete games, five of which were shutouts. In 72.0 innings pitched, he allowed just 48 hits and 15 walks.

O’Brien led the conference in runs batted in (RBI) with 72 in only 51 games. He batted .424 with 67 hits in 158 at bats and also registered a .709 slugging percentage with 17 doubles, five triples and six home runs to go along with 57 runs scored. An All-CCAC first team pick, O’Brien fielded at a .979 clip with only four errors in 192 chances.

Saint Xavier kicks off its 2010 campaign during the first week of March heading down to Florida for its annual Spring Break trip. The Cougars have not yet released their match-ups for the season-opening week.