Baseball teams prepare to break out the lumber

• Reprints

Evanston's James Hageman swings a wood bat during a summer league tournament game. Some teams this summer switched from metal bats to prepare for rules changes next spring. Joe Cyganowski~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: November 2, 2011 5:34PM

Like a top-rated pitching staff, Washington State researchers are ready to slow down hitters in Illinois next spring.

The people at the Sports Science Laboratory in Pullman have recommended restrictions on bats that likely will decrease the number of balls flying over the fence and players crossing home plate.

This spring, the IHSA outlawed some bats on the complete list, but the organization will go a step farther in 2012 and ban all non-BBCOR bats as outlined by Washington State.

This move, which is designed to protect fielders, puts Illinois high schools in line with college programs. No longer will players be able to use trampoline-like composite bats as they have in the past. Balls don’t bounce off BBCOR bats as fast as they do BESR bats.

“The game is going to change,” said Glenbrook North coach Dominic Savino, whose team went 33-4 and played for a supersectional title this year. “The game will be more difficult in terms of hitting. We are going to have to do other things to generate offense. We will be a more action-based team. We will bunt more and be more aggressive on the bases.”

Niles West coach Garry Gustafson agrees that teams will try to advance runners a base at a time next year.

“The ball’s not going to jump off the bat anymore,” Gustafson said. “It’s almost like using wood bats. The bat will be more deadened, and that will create a different game.

“Teams will try and play more small ball, more bunts and more hit-and-runs.”

Colleges switched to the BBCOR bats for 2011, and the difference was noticeable. In 14 College World Series games this season, teams combined to average 7.2 runs. In 1998, when USC beat Arizona 21-14 for the championship, teams averaged a total of 15 runs a game at the College World Series.

“The college coaches I’ve talked said it was a big change to the game,” Gustafson said.

Savino said players like Drew Malter will benefit from the bat switch. The junior infielder isn’t a power hitter, but Savino said he was one of the more productive players for the Spartans this summer.

“He’s an awesome bunter and has a great two-strike approach,” said Savino, whose team used wood bats this summer. “He’s going to be a guy who will thrive now.”

Maine South’s Jimmy Frankos isn’t a fan of new bats, at least not right now. He swung a BBCOR bat at an Eastern Illinois camp this summer.

“There’s less pop, and the sweet spot is much smaller,” the senior said.

But Frankos said the Hawks, who advanced to the semifinals of the summer league tournament last week, could use the new bats as an advantage next year.

“We won’t have much power as we did last season, so it might work in our favor,” he said. “We are pretty good at bunting.”

New Trier pitching coach Scott Klipowicz said the Trevians understand the game will be different moving forward.

“We have to play for a closer game,” he said. “We’re not going to get as many runs as we are used to. They can feel some of the hits that dropped in there were not going out of the infield.”

Gustafson said players and coaches must embrace the future.

“They really should analyze the costs now and see if we’re able to go all-wood bats,” he said. “I think that’s the next thing that’s going to happen.”