Knights' season had shining moments

The season wasn't everything that Nicolet baseball coach Dick Sykes expected in 2010.

Distractions of several kinds marred the first portion of the season and then injuries slowed the team at the end.

Still, the Knights ended with a more-than-credible 27-12 mark that included North Shore Conference and WIAA sectional runner-up finishes.

They were led by a punishing offense, which was centered around North Shore Conference Player of the Year Brian Huntsinger. Sam Kohnke and Rob Mayer.

But to show the offensive depth the Knights had this season (a school record 34 team home runs), just look to an informal postseason home run hitting contest the team held at Stormonth this past week. It featured some surprising results, as Huntsinger could do no better than fourth while Mayer (third) and Kohnke (second) also trailed junior outfielder Joel Sharon.

"All I could do was laugh at that," said Knights coach Dick Sykes, "but that's what we could do when things were going right. We could be tough one through nine."

Nicolet's season came to a somewhat disappointing conclusion as the Knights were beaten 1-0 in the WIAA sectional finals on July 24 by Milwaukee Brewers' draft pick and probable all-stater Conor Fisk of Grafton.

That the Knights reached that level was a testament to their talent and depth. They lost starting senior second baseman Sal Maniscalco for the season due to a rugby injury even before the summer started.

Then in late June-early July, the Knights' health took another turn for the worse, when senior infielder Aaron Westling, whom Sykes called "his best third baseman," was hit in the face by a mile-high pop-up that caromed off his glove while he was playing second in a win over Germantown.

He didn't return this season.

Then 10 days later, junior first baseman D.J. Peltz was warming up with the rest of the team for a game in Brookfield, when a foul pop in a Little League game came down through the trees and hit him in the face too. He didn't return until the WIAA tournament series.

"Just lots of distractions," said Sykes.

But behind the leadership of Huntsinger (who himself was slowed late in the season by a nagging leg injury), Kohnke and Mayer, the Knights were still a force to be reckoned with. Those three seniors, plus others like clean-fielding, tough-to-get-out leadoff hitter and shortstop Brandon Zall, will be sorely missed.

"It wasn't as satisfying a season as I would have liked, but everything considered, it still had its moments," Sykes said.

And the train of talent for the Knights will just back up to the station and offload again, as the Nicolet junior varsity won the North Shore Conference, not losing a league game and finishing 26-1 overall while the freshmen were 16-2 in North Shore play and 23-3 overall.

Key returnees for the Knights included Peltz, freshman Tyler Crass at second, catcher Peter Maric and Sharon.

"A lot of guys will get looks," said Sykes. "We'll have some young guys in there and it'll be a good mix."

Strong seasoning

Seniors for the Nicolet baseball team this summer: Matt Conen, Bobby Herrick, Huntsinger, Kohnke, Max Kramsky, Mayer, Ben Rinehart, Andrew Schneider, Dave Stein, Westling and Zall.