ALTAMONT — How about a nearly two-hour drive to Carterville? What about an almost five-hour venture to Crystal Lake?
Neither work?
What about a 17-hour, 45-minute quest to Grand Junction in Colorado?
Kyle and Emily Stuemke made all those trips to watch their son, former Altamont catcher Nate Stuemke, and the Lake Land College baseball team this spring — the latter of the trips being the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I World Series.
The wear and tear on the tires was all worth it, as the Lakers proved to be one of the nation’s best, advancing to the third round of the tournament in their first-ever appearance in the NJCAA World Series.
“I’m fortunate to have a job that offers a flexible schedule,” Kyle said. “I couldn’t even tell you how many miles we logged.
“It was taxing. We were exhausted by the time the season was over.”
Following the win over John A. Logan in the Region 24 Tournament, Kyle had a feeling that something might happen.
He took precautions.
“I called my boss after we won regionals and said, ‘I don’t know what it is, but I just have this feeling,’” he said.
Lake Land lost its first game of the Midwest District Tournament to Southwestern Illinois College.
The Lakers rattled off four wins in three days to advance to Grand Junction.
“The district tournament was enjoyable,” Nate said. “We played well that whole week. Even the game we lost went into extra innings. Our offense decided to click and we went crazy. Pitching was tired, but they all battled and a lot of guys had short rest or no rest at all.
“I think that was a testament to what our team was and how tough we were.”
Nate said the team truly took that next step when the Region 24 Tournament began.
Lake Land lost two of three games to Olney Central College to close the year.
You could say they were a team that wasn’t necessarily peaking at the close of the campaign.
“We struggled toward the end of the year,” Nate said. “Then, we went into the region tournament and flipped the switch.”
Nate said the goal at the beginning of the year was to get to Grand Junction.
Head coach Julio Godinez drilled that into their heads.
“For myself, going into college, I was like, ‘Yeah, these kids are good.’ You show up to practice and everyone is really good. You get that expectation that you’re going to win and Coach Julio [Godinez] put that in our head from the start,” Nate said.
Nate finished the year playing 44 games. He batted .261 with a .400 on-base percentage and a .357 slugging percentage. Nate hit eight doubles, one home run and drove in 27 runs. He also scored 29 times.
From the time Nate stepped on campus until the end of the year, he understood the value of even more hard work and what you have to put in to earn a spot on a college team.
“It’s really hard. It’s not easy,” Nate said. “I probably wasn’t ready going into the fall. I was thrown into the wolves but figured it out.”
Nate also learned from his fellow backstops.
“The biggest influence on me was our third-year catcher,” Nate said. “His name was Nate Caraballo. He was a good dude and I learned a lot from him over the year. He taught me how to approach the game of baseball. The fall at [Lake Land] is pretty taxing on the body.
“Then, I had another freshman, my roommate Logan Winkleman, who redshirted, and Sebastian Suarez. Our group was pretty close by the end of the year.”
So close that the team even dyed their hair blonde.
The golden locks worked, especially when the team brought home more gold to the trophy case.
“That’s courtesy of Kayden Althoff,” Nate said. “He dyed it for the district tournament and everyone else followed suit once we made the [NJCAA Division I] World Series.”
The vibes were nothing but positive.
They were even more positive upon the team’s arrival in Grand Junction.
Nate said the NJCAA World Series was similar to Altamont’s Effingham County Fair with how much the community backs it. He said people came in droves to watch the games.
“It had the same vibe,” he said.
The Lakers opened up the tournament with a 17-9 win over Blinn College. They then defeated eventual national champion Salt Lake Community College, 11-9, and Florece-Darlington Technical College, 20-8.
Nate said the thin air had the ball flying.
“Coach [Gabe] Black kept us ready,” Nate said. “He provided us with good scouting reports on the players and we had a general idea of what they would do in even counts and ahead in counts.
“The big thing was dialing in your timing. Stay simple.”
That same approach is what Nate will take with him as he gears up for his sophomore year.
He hopes his final year with Lake Land will end the same as his freshman year did.