Baseball: Glenbrook South’s seldom-used Selby shows his ability

Updated: April 24, 2012 9:03PM

Sam Selby showed what kind of player he can be for Glenbrook South last week by belting two run-scoring singles in the Titans’ 2-0 win over New Trier.

But that was only the junior’s second start of the season.

Why?

For the most part, Zach Jones, the Northwestern-bound first baseman.

“Sam’s a pretty good player, a guy who improved a lot over the summer,” Jones said. “If he continues to develop, he definitely will be ready for next year.”

Selby also is a first baseman and mostly has played on the JV this spring. That was, until he talked to Glenbrook South coach Bob Rosinski about the possibility of earning some time on the varsity.

Rosinski agreed and started Selby at DH against Buffalo Grove on April 14. Selby, a left-handed hitter, then sat out the first game against New Trier last week before coming through in the clutch against the Trevians in the second game of the series for the split.

“I try not to think too much about it,” Selby said of his first two varsity starts and what they mean for his future. “If I am in my zone, I just go out and have fun and play baseball.”

The veteran Jones tries to do the same thing.

In Saturday’s 6-5 win over Prospect that improved the Titans to 13-5 overall, Jones scored the game-winning run in the 11th after leading off the inning with a base hit.

“I am starting to come around,” Jones said. “I started off slowly, but I am starting to figure it out. I think I was a little too aggressive and was jumping at things. I need to make sure to relax up there at the plate.”

Thanks to his understudy Selby, Jones was able to avoid some possible trash-talking from future college teammate Josh Perlmutter, New Trier’s center fielder. New Trier beat Glenbrook South 2-1 earlier last week.

The defending conference champion Titans came into this week 3-2 in the CSL South.

“Josh was on my 12-year-old team, so I’ve known him for a while,” Jones said. “It will be fun to play with him next year. That will be pretty cool.”

Glenbrook South was scheduled to play Waukegan on Tuesday and today (Thursday )and Maine West on Saturday.

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