2015 Lunatics Post Outstanding Season in Chicago’s Midwest Suburban League

Submitted by Ryan Sullivan, Lunatics manager

In their eighth season, the Lunatics made their second Midwest Suburban League championship appearance. This year’s team, led by manager Ryan Sullivan and coach Don DeDona, continued the franchise’s history of combing crafty veteran players with young talent to field a competitive team.

Headed by veteran Lunatics Dave Bethel, Ian Wallace, Isaac Shamoon, Joe Boehmer, Joe Ventrella, John Boehmer, Pat Barnett, Ricky Morales, Steve Gargula, Vince Kluss and newcomers Dan Schlitter, Jason Rodriguez, Mike Hernandez, Phill Britton and Tim Varallo they finished with a regular season record of 19-3, securing the Central East Division title, while posting the best record in team history.

During the 2015 campaign the Lunatics scored a league high 250 runs. This outstanding offense was tough from top to bottom hammering 70 extra base hits, including 16 home runs in 22 games.

The Lunatics pitching staff, anchored by Dan Kluss, Darrell Wheeler, Joe Appel, Josh Serrano and Steve Ramirez, was also solid giving up an average of just 3.18 earned runs per game, while striking out 8.18 batters per game.

In the playoffs, the Lunatics swept their first round series, before battling to a hard fought 2-1 series win in the semi-finals to advance to the championship. Unfortunately, the Lunatics could not keep the momentum going losing the first two games in the championship round.

The Lunatics 23 win season brings their overall record to 105-82-4 (.549). Congratulations to the Lunatics on a fantastic 2015 season!