By Bobby Narang
Starting in the Fall with the football team, Downers Grove North High School athletics has been on a roll during the 2023-2024 season.
In nearly every sport – boys and girls – the Trojans have put together a special season.
So why should baseball be any different?
The Trojans, the No. 1 seed in the Class 4A Plainfield North Sectional, open up the postseason on Wednesday in a Bolingbrook Regional semifinal.
The Trojans (26-7, 16-2) closed out the final week of the regional season in a memorable way. They captured the West Suburban Silver Division title and honored two key players for a lifetime honor. It marked the second straight season the Trojans won the conference title, a first in program history.
Senior catcher Jimmy Janicki and senior shortstop Jude Warwick became the sixth and seventh players in program history in the last 25 years to top the 100-hit mark for their careers.
Warwick, a Michigan State University recruit, said the 100-hit career mark is a special honor that he will cherish for the rest of his baseball career.
“It’s really special and an awesome thing that Jimmy and I were both able to achieve this milestone,” Warwick said. “Jimmy is a phenomenal hitter and player who I have been able to play with since nine. For us both to be able to achieve this (milestone), it’s an awesome feeling.
“Getting 100 hits is very special to me. It’s something so few people at Downers Grove North have done. It’s a milestone for all the hard work that no one saw, like hitting for hours trying to perfect the craft, having countless coaches help me get there and having a supportive team behind my back always, so it really means a lot.”
Janicki, a star football player who committed to play baseball at Troy, said he was thrilled to join the 100-hit club with his longtime friend and teammate.
“It’s super special to me,” Janicki said. “I wouldn’t want to do it for any other program. It also means a lot to have Jude do the same. I’ve been playing with him since I was nine years old. We have always treated each other like brothers and playing with him is special.”
Downers Grove North coach Kyle Briscoe said Janicki and Warwick are both special players.
Both players will be honored prior to Thursday’s game against York for their career accomplishment and received a wood plate with their names on it.
“All the other players in the 100-hit (club) are high-profile and went to Division I programs,” he said. “You have to have three good years of a pretty high average to get 100 career hits. They been constant workhorses for the past three years. They’ve both been through the battles in past couple of years and they are battle-tested and are two of more mentally tough guys I’ve coached.”
The 6-foot-1, 155-pound Warwick handled the move to shortstop this season with ease, Briscoe said.
“Jude’s been getting a few scouts looking at him, just in how incredibly athletic he is,” Briscoe said. “He’s wiry, but not small and they project out with his weight. He’s got power with six triples and three home runs and got the ability to drive ball out of yard to go with incredible bat speed. Defensively this year, he’s been a rock and unbelievable at short this year after playing second base last year. He’s also been in pitching in relief a couple of times out of necessity because we don’t have a slew of power arms.
Warwick credited his work in the weight room to becoming a stronger player at the plate in the field.
“When I was called up as a sophomore, I had big dreams but my (main) goal was to help win as many games as possible,” Warwick said. “I always wanted to play Division I baseball. It was always a dream…Even now, when I focus on the same details, it helps with the bigger goals. One of the main things I worked on this offseason was lifting weights consistently to create more strength,” Warwick said. “I really ramped up the amount of lifting and paired it with my diet to create more strength and power coming into this year.”