In years past, Glenbrook South has lived in the shadows of powerful North Suburban programs such as New Trier and Loyola.
The shadows created a culture of mediocrity -- a culture Bob Rosinski, the Titans' first-year head coach, is determined to change.
Rosinski, 29, witnessed this sentiment first-hand as a former coach for both the Trevians and Ramblers.
"[At Glenbrook South] kids take days off, and games off, and pitches off and when you do that its tough to win baseball games," said Rosinski, a former UIC standout. "It's not that they don’t want to win, I think they are comfortable just being average."
Rosinski, though, is determined to rid the Titans of the "average" mentality and to raise his players' expectations of themselves and as a team.
"We are trying to have them have a commitment to excellence, every pitch of every game," Rosinski said. "To get there you can't do it in a day and you can't do it in a year. That is something we are trying to do here, expect to be good, expect to be excellent and we are not going to settle for anything less.”
Glenbrook South has recently embraced the Rosinski's model for success, going 6-6 in its last 12 games. But it took some time for the Titans to start accepting the pressure that goes hand-in-hand with higher expectations. The Titans started off the season 3-7, reverting to their former ways.
Senior shortstop Trevor Stevens said some of his teammates faltered early as the new coaching staff demanded more.
"At first kids had trouble with the pressure," Stevens said. "But now everybody has settled in and we all are starting to understand what we are supposed to do and where we are supposed to be. It’s not a big deal anymore."
The Titans are also accepting the challenges the coaches have put upon them. Senior outfielder Ryan Schultz said he has seen dramatic changes in how his teammates approach the game, especially in how they practice.
"The practices have a lot more intensity to them and that carries over to the games," Schultz said. "Last year was more relaxed and this year we are going at it a bit more. In the past, open gyms in the winters were informal and this year we had a prescribed thing to do each day to get better."
The Titans started to see their hard work and change in philosophy pay off in an 11-10 comeback victory over one of Rosinski’s former teams, Loyola. The Ramblers have been in-and-out of the Chicago area rankings all season.
"When we played Loyola we were struggling a little bit and the kids went out and played well and that was a good a team to play," Rosinski said. "They got a good victory and that was something we could build off of."
Said junior second basemen Mike Schroeder: "It was definitely a special win. It was a team win, too. Everybody played a part and we played some small baseball to win it and it was nice to pull off a win after so many losses early in the season."
Rosinski didn't admit that the Loyola game was different from any other. Still, it was a big win for the Titans as they take another step towards changing their culture. The Titans consider the win as the turning point of their season.
"It was a big win for us," Stevens said with a smile. "It showed us that we could compete with the top teams and that we are going to be strong at the end of the season."
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