South Bend Cubs Gameday Program - May 2025

MAY 2025

THE BREAKOUT YEAR I By: Brendan King

n the 10 years that the South Bend Cubs have been affiliated with the Chicago Cubs, many great prospects, and specifically shortstops, have graced the grounds of Four Winds Field. The list includes Big League names like Gleyber Torres and Zack Short, and high level prospects that helped the Cubs win Midwest League Championships such as Andy Weber and Ed Howard. A decade into the affiliation, there may not be a name that has come with as much hype around him as current South Bend shortstop Cristian Hernandez.

Let’s start with the pedigree.

Hernandez was the top international prospect signee available in the signing period of 2021. A three-million dollar signing bonus, and a comparison from MLB Pipeline to Alex Rodriguez, one of just nine MLB players ever to hit 600 or more home runs. Hernandez also received comparisons to current Big League star and Padres slugger Manny Machado, who he lists as one of his favorite players in the game.

In this story, Hernandez spoke with me after South Bend Cubs batting practice in April, and the conversation was translated by South Bend catcher Miguel Pabon, his multi-year teammate with the

Myrtle Beach Pelicans.

“I started watching Manny Machado when he was playing for the (Baltimore) Orioles at the time when I was younger with my brothers in the Dominican Republic,” Hernandez said.

If you take one look at the video of Hernandez taking batting practice at the time that he signed, you understood why the Chicago Cubs opened the checkbooks to make sure he joined the organization. And you could definitely see the Machado-esque swagger on him.

Entering 2025, the Cubs were still waiting on the quote-on-quote “breakout year” for the talented infielder.

In 2021, Hernandez spent the entirety of his first professional season in the Dominican Summer League, playing 47 games in his home country at the Chicago Cubs International Complex. He got his first opportunity stateside in the Arizona Complex League of 2022, batting .261 with 21 RBI in 44 games.

Hernandez celebrating in the dug out after a homerun against the Beloit Sky Carp August 20, 2024. Credit: South Bend Cubs

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And now over the last two complete challenges were coming back, and his seasons, he called Myrtle Beach, South mindset has been to dominate this Carolina home. Playing with the Low-A level and to dominate the competition Pelicans. In 2023, Hernandez hit .223 because he is good enough to do that.” over 106 games. But in 2024, he propelled All you have to do is watch that up to .269 in Hernandez for a few 95 games played, innings to noticeably earning him a see the confidence chance to finish ooze out of him. The 2024 with the South sparkly chain neckBend Cubs. In just lace, and the big an appetizer of colorful sunglasses Midwest League stand out, but it’s baseball to end last what the fans don’t season, Hernandez see on a daily basis suited up for 23 that has set him games with South apart. The time Bend, batting .229. spent in the batting So here we are cage perfecting his now in 2025. For craft with hitting nearly all of April, coach Nate Spears.

Hernandez either “The results that led the Midwest have come this year League or was are what we work tied for the league so hard for and also lead in base hits. strive and dream He started the for,” Hernandez said campaign on an through Pabon’s 11-game on-base translation. “But all streak, had six Henandez celebrating with a follow through after I can do is continue multi-hit games in hitting a double against the Peoria Chiefs April 12, to grind away, work his first nine games hard, and do my best 2025. Credit: Mandy Coppinger played, and spent to keep this going by the first two weeks exclisuviely with a focusing everyday.” batting average over .400.

Back to how this story started. There So, what’s has been the difference? have been a multitude of talented South Bend Cubs manager Nick Lovullo shortstops that have come through has his take. this ballpark over the years of the Cubs “The biggest difference this year affiliation, but very few have had the for me has been his focus and drive,” defensive success that Hernandez has Lovullo said. “It has turned up a level experienced early in the campaign. from where he was last year and when Especially in April. When it’s cold, we saw him here. It was good for him players like Hernandez who did not have to get here and grab some experience prior experiences in frigid temperatures at a higher level. He knew what the tend to struggle. That has not been the

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case what-so-ever for the Chicago Cubs number-11 ranked prospect, per MLB. com.

Through nearly the entire first month of the year, Hernandez made only one error. And it came at second base, which is not his natural position. Zero errors at shortstop for a young international player at the Midwest League level, that jumps off the page. And more importantly, in his future of ideally playing at Wrigley Field someday, he will have to get used to playing in the cold in March and April.

“Mentally I did my best to not to think about the cold and just tried to manage it,” Hernandez explained. “I wore a lot of warm undershirts, that’s for

Hernandez readies for a play at shortstop against the Peoria Chiefs April 12, 2025.

Credit: Mandy Coppinger

Hernandez makes a play at short stop during his 2025 season debut April 8.

Credit: Ethan Levy sure. The pre-game scouting of figuring out where hitters are likely to hit ground balls is also important. That way I can put myself in the best place to make a play.”

In many cases so far this season, Hernandez has played the middle of the infield with fellow Chicago Cubs top-30 prospect Jefferson Rojas. The two have played multiple years together in the organization, but there time together, even though they are only 21-years-old and 20-years-old respectively, goes back a long way.

When Hernandez inked his deal with the Cubs in 2021, he was signed out of a prestigious baseball academy, Mejia, in the Dominican Republic, known most for its ability to advance its players to the

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point of signing professional contracts.

Just about a year later, Rojas signed with the Cubs out of the same academy.

Hernandez celebrates after hitting a double in the season home opener April 8, 2025.

Credit: Ethan Levy

Hernandez to be in this position. He was influenced by the game of baseball first by his mom, who caught Cubs games on television in the late 1990s and early 2000s, where Sammy Sosa was her favorite player.

Now, Sosa has returned to the Cubs organization, and Hernandez got to pick the brain of number-21 at this year’s Spring Training in Mesa, Arizona. A fullcircle moment.

Hernandez won’t turn 22-years-old until December. So there remains time until those reading this will see him at Wrigley Field, but the breakout season for one of the most electrifying Cubs prospects is here. Enjoy the ride, it’s going to be a big summer.

Hernandez and Rojas played together each and every day, going back to their early teenage years.

“We both started in a small league, playing for fun, and then they took us to the academy,” Hernandez said. “From there we played showcases, scouts came in, and then that’s how we got signed.

We went to work everyday for one single goal, and that was to get to where we are now.”

Between getting to play professional baseball with one of his closest friends in Rojas, and his brother, Alexis, also playing in the Cubs organization at the moment, it always felt like destiny for

Hernandez waits to make a play at shortstop against the Peoria Chiefs April 12, 2025.

Credit: Mandy Coppinger

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MAY 2025

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Sam Thoresen’s Healthy and Comfortable in South Bend to Start 2025 By: Tyler Reidy

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hen number 39 comes trotting out of the South Bend Cubs’ bullpen this season, fans can expect one thing above all else out of that reliever.

Consistency.

In baseball, a game of failure in which players can execute at the highest level and receive anything but the ideal outcome, keeping a steady approach through the highs and lows can make all the difference. It’s a big reason why South Bend right-hander Sam Thoresen is in his sixth season as a professional.

“I believe that I'm the same guy out there every time I go out, and I’m just gonna be around the zone, in the zone,” Thoresen added. “I'm gonna challenge hitters and miss some bats.”

And yet, while Thoresen has kept constant in his process, he hasn’t always gotten back the consistency he’s put in.

Injuries have significantly impacted all four of his seasons in the Chicago Cubs organization, and he’s never started and finished the same Minor League season at full strength.

Thoresen’s back now, though, firing away in a South Bend bullpen that’s

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Thoresen pitching against the Beloit Sky Carp April 26, 2025. Credit: Mandy Coppinger kept the Cubs right in the thick of nearly every game this season. A Minnesotan who grew up just west of the Twin Cities in Minnetonka, Thoresen fits right in at Four Winds Field, and he knows it.

“It reminds me of home a little bit, just with the Midwest air and the wild weather at times in the spring,” Thoresen described. “It's just nice that I get a little home in that sense, and the fans are Midwest nice, and it's cool when they're they're all up on their feet and cheering for you.”

Growing up, Thoresen centered his rooting interests around a local legend, Joe Mauer. The 15-year Minnesota Twins catcher and first baseman heard his name called to Cooperstown last summer as a first-ballot Baseball Hall of Famer. A six-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove Award Winner, and threetime American League batting champion, Mauer inspired the young Sam Thoresen in every facet of his game.

“He was somebody that I thought played the game the right way, always

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was good to work, and wanted his team League Baseball Draft shortened from 40 to win,” Thoresen said. rounds to five, Sam didn’t hear his name Like Mauer, a Saint Paul native, called as a selection. He received his Thoresen kept opportunity all the the Land of 10,000 same, though, offiLakes a part of his cially signing with baseball journey the Chicago Cubs as after high school. an undrafted free Sam committed to agent. the University of With the 2020 Minnesota, a place Minor League not unfamiliar to campaign cancelled, his extended family.

Thoresen didn’t Two of his uncles, pitch right away, Brian Thoresen and but he was worth Jeff Teal, played the wait when for the legendary 2021 began. As a Golden Gopher starting pitcher for hockey program and the Single-A Myrtle reached the national Beach Pelicans, championship game Thoresen started in 1981. seven games, Pitching in the striking out 36 Maroon and Gold hitters in 23 innings Thoresen makes his South Bend Cubs debut on for three seasons, while posting a April 11, 2023. Credit: Dr. Tim Reilly Sam showed a good terrific earned run deal of next-level average of 3.13. promise in 2019, striking out 69 in less However, as was the case in 2020, than 50 innings as a 12-game starter. But Sam’s season didn’t complete a second he was denied much of a chance to build month. A year after the Cubs had set his on that season, totaling less than 10 professional career in motion, it came to innings in 2020 before the pandemic put a screeching halt with a torn ulnar collatcollege baseball on hold. eral ligament and, in turn, Tommy John Thoresen’s career, however, kept surgery. moving forward. With the 2020 Major So Thoresen hit the shelf for just over

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a full year, making his return to competitive pitching in the Arizona Complex League on July 1, 2022. He’d make his way back to Myrtle Beach for two short starts at the end of August, and that was that for his second season in the system.

Thoresen hadn’t yet tapped back into his best stuff in 2022, but what he’d done

Thoresen in the season opener of against the Beloit Sky Carp April 11, 2023.

Credit: Dr. Tim Reilly pre-injury in 2023 proved enough for a start to 2023 in High-A South Bend. The first-year Cub pitched well in his first few outings but began to battle his command and, eventually, a torn labrum. This time, Thoresen didn’t even have a month under his belt in his new home before landing on the long-term injured list.

By the time the 2024 season began, Thoresen had been signed for nearly four years and yet had spent a grand total of three months on a competitive mind.

You’d have to be superhuman not to feel a bit down on yourself in that spot, and Thoresen never had any sort of top prospect status to motivate his recovery.

But what he did have was the proper perspective.

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“I just don't look too far down the road,” Thoresen said. “It definitely can be daunting when you know the nine months or whatever time period it is left in your recovery process, but just taking it day by day, week by week, and just not getting too far ahead of yourself.”

“The big thing was not asking too much of myself,” he added. “I couldn't get better in a day. It wasn't something that I could just keep pushing through, as time was a big part of the recipe in that recovery process, and that can be hard to deal with as an athlete, as there's no tangible way to speed up recovery other than time.”

Thoresen’s patience paid off, and he’s been healthy ever since making his 2024 debut in the Arizona Complex League on May 25. He thrived upon going back to Myrtle Beach last summer, delivering 10 consecutive scoreless outings to earn a late-season promotion to South Bend.

Cub fans knew Thoresen was all the way back on September 5 in Fort Wayne when he fanned five TinCaps in two hitless innings, earning his first career save.

“It's been fun being able to get back out and getting the chance to play the game I love again,” Thoresen said.

The results have gone up and down to start 2025 for Thoresen, but more important than anything else, he’s healthy. He picked up another save during South Bend’s first home series against Peoria and understands his path to amplified success in May. “Just getting back in the zone and executing as best as I possibly can out there and really locking in on getting the ball down and getting the ball up when I need to, Thoresen summarized. “Just focusing on those two things out there and giving my team the best chance to win.”

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MAY 2025

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2025 SOUTH BEND CUBS COACHING STAFF Nick Lovullo - Manager

Nick Lovullo returns for his second season as Manager. A former Boston Red Sox prospect, the 30-year-old was drafted in the 20th round of the 2016 MLB Draft by Boston, after a collegiate career at Holy Cross. He grew up and played his high school baseball in Thousand Oaks, California. In his first pro season, Lovullo was promoted as high as Double-A Portland. His professional career concluded in 2021, in a stop with the Miami Marlins organization, as well as independent baseball. The son of Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, Nick became the Double-A Tennessee Smokies bench coach in 2022 and managed the Arizona Complex League Cubs in 2023.

George Thanopoulos - Pitching Coach

George Thanopoulos who was an assistant coach in 2021, returns to South Bend as the pitching coach. Between 2021 and 2025, Thanopoulos spent time working at the Cubs Complex in Mesa, Arizona, before taking the Myrtle Beach Pelicans pitching coach job in 2024. Thanopoulos oversaw a Pelicans pitching staff that finished with 1178 strikeouts in 2024, and the Birds posted the second lowest opposing team batting average in the Carolina League at just .223.

A former pitcher with the Colorado Rockies organization, Thanopoulos was a part of both the 2016 and 2017 teams with the Boise Hawks in the Northwest League.

Nate Spears - Hitting Coach

Nate Spears returns for his second season with the South Bend Cubs as the hitting coach. Spears began his playing career with the Baltimore Orioles, after they selected him in the fifth-round of the 2003 MLB Draft. The Fort Myers, Fla. native was traded by the Orioles to the Northsiders in the Corey Patterson deal in 2006. Spears played for former South Bend manager Buddy Bailey in 2008 with Double-A Tennessee, and made it to Triple-A Iowa. His career then took him to the Boston Red Sox, where he made his MLB debut. Spears played for Boston in 2011 and 2012. As a coach, he stayed with the Red Sox, and woundup coaching Nick Lovullo while he was a Red Sox prospect.

Daniel Wasinger Bench Coach

Collin Andrews

Development Coach

Nick Roberts

Athletic Trainer

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Jose Zapata

Assistant Pitching Coach

Allen Cooper

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NICK DEAN

KENTEN EGBERT

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MARINO SANTY

TYLER SCHLAFFER

CONNOR SCHULTZ

EVAN TAYLOR

SAM THORESEN

EDGAR ALVAREZ

INFIELDERS

DREW BOWSER

BRIAN KALMER

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MIGUEL PABON

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Chicago Roots

South Bend Cubs starting pitcher Tyler Schlaffer was raised on Chicago Cubs Baseball

By Brendan King

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rowing up in the South Suburbs of Chicago during the early 2000’s usually led to some assumptions on one’s baseball fandom. After a World Series Championship in 2005, the Chicago White Sox had a large chunk of the South Side fan base in comparison to the Chicago Cubs. When kids had themed days at school where they wore their favorite athlete’s jersey, odds are there would be a lot of Sox apparel in a classroom. However, there were usually some exceptions, sporting Cubbie Blue.

When it came to Homewood, Illinois, a town of over 18,000 people in Cook County, South Bend Cubs right-hander Tyler Schlaffer was that exception. A South Side die-hard Cubs fan. Sure, a rarity at the time, but a choice that Schlaffer made at a young age, that eventually came full circle.

Schlaffer grew up in a baseball loving household. Schlaffer’s dad, August, commonly known as ‘Augie’, who was also his little league coach, and mom Sandra, were always one way or another surrounding his youth athletic career, along with his brother A.J. And coming from a large Italian family, the Schlaffer’s were usually making the most noise at any Homewood area baseball field.

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“My parents have been around my sports career for my whole life,” Schlaffer said. “From baseball, to basketball, to soccer. The competitiveness runs in the family.”

If you ask Schlaffer, the noise from his family in the crowd is still the case at Four Winds Field when they attend games, and also with himself on the mound.

As he gained experience and talent as a youth pitcher, eventually came strength and velocity. Schlaffer went on to attend Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School, more commonly referenced simply as “HF” by those from the area. From my perspective writing this, HF was one of my rival high schools. As a former Lincoln-Way East Griffin, things got heated at times in the LWE-HF rivalry, whether on the gridiron, hardwood, or diamond. I played on HF’s baseball field, and Schlaffer played on LWE’s. But obviously, we never crossed paths as our timelines were different.

From the moment Schlaffer arrived at Four Winds Field to play for the South Bend Cubs in 2022 at the time, him and I have had a running inside joke of being huge rivals thanks to our high schools.

All in good fun of course. But if there’s one thing for sure, South Side Chicago baseball does not get enough credit for the quality of its players. Schlaffer, who before being drafted by the Chicago Cubs out of HF in 2019, was committed to play college baseball at the University of Illinois Chicago.

“I really enjoyed high school ball, it was a ton of fun,” Schlaffer said.

“Midwest baseball in general is super underrated. There are so many draft guys each year, and it’s not an easy schedule because you play some competition. There’s a guy throwing 102 (MPH)

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right now at Lincoln-Way East. You see the warm states like Florida, Texas, and California with the big coverage, but year-after-year there is great competition and it does get overlooked.”

Schlaffer continuously showed steady growth while pitching for Homewood Flossmoor, even getting to the point where he was throwing his fastball in the mid-90s at the prep level. This impressed scouts from all over Major League Baseball, but especially his hometown team.

Now imagine this. You’re a high school student, and you get drafted to the MLB. The team that selects you is your childhood favorite team growing up, while you’re attending high school within the same city boundaries. The Chicago Cubs picked Schlaffer in the 9th-round of the 2019 Draft, starting the whirlwind that Schlaffer has experienced since. He didn’t get to walk through the hallways of HF as a Cubs draft pick, as he had already graduated by the time the draft rolled around, but those around the Homewood community made sure to celebrate.

“I didn’t get drafted before we graduated, even though I wish the draft was a little early, that would have been cool,” Schlaffer said. “I’ve always had the support of my family at every level. They come to all the games here in South Bend as well, and I’m very grateful for that.”

After the 2019 Draft, it was time to report to the Chicago Cubs Spring Training Complex in Mesa, Arizona.

Meeting a brand new flock of people from decision makers, to coaches, to support staff, to fans, everything was new in the organization, even though he cheered for that same team all his life.

Once wrapped up with all the physicals, tests, and forms to fill out, it was time

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to hit the mound, but major life events awaited Schlaffer that he could never see coming.

First of all, less than a year after being drafted, the pandemic hit. Before COVID, Schlaffer did get a small appetizer and taste of pro baseball, pitching in three Rookie Ball games in Arizona in 2019. But 2020 was about to be a challenge. His first Spring Training started normally, followed by the world shutting down in March. When told to go home, Schlaffer stayed mostly in Arizona.

Eventually, the Minor League Baseball season was cancelled, and the career that started so fast-paced for the Cubs most recent 9th-round pick had come to a halting stop.

But as he was waiting out the days for baseball to return, his dad, Augie, suffered a stroke at the beginning of COVID. On October 24, 2020, Augie’s heart stopped. Schlaffer’s role model, both dad and coach, passed away.

“I was in Arizona at the time it happened, and I remember getting the phone call,” Schlaffer said. “He’s still with me everyday. And for me and everyone in the family, he was impactful for our whole lives. Still today before every outing on the mound, I’ll look up before I start to talk to him. It gives me confidence. And some of my baseball gloves, I have it printed on them ‘Love You Pops’.”

Facing adversity so early in his career, both personally and professionally, Schlaffer did not stop. After getting his first opportunity in Single-A with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in 2021, the newly turned 21-year-old at the time got his first crack at High-A hitters in the summer of 2022. During the South Bend Cubs championship run that season, the likes of now Chicago Cubs pitchers Jordan Wicks, Daniel Palencia, and Porter

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Hodge were featured in the rotation. But a new name got to start a singular game that summer, and it was Schlaffer.

Facing the Lake County Captains on July 27, who the Cubs eventually beat in the Midwest League Championship Series, Schlaffer impressed in five strong innings, only allowing two runs, and striking out two.

However, after the start, something wasn’t right. Schlaffer could feel it. It was his elbow. The one on his right arm.

Throwing arm.

Tommy John Surgery was needed. A grueling rehabilitation process was next, and it marked another challenge so early in his pro baseball career.

From July of 2022, to April of 2024, Schlaffer did not throw in an organized baseball game.

“It featured a ton of highs and lows,” Schlaffer said. “I had a really good year in the season I blew out my elbow.

Nobody wants to take that much time off. It really is draining mentally. Being in the Arizona setting playing catch everyday, without any competition is the biggest challenge. Not the physical aspect, just dealing with the mental grind.”

Everyday, Schlaffer hit the backfield of the Cubs Complex in Mesa, doing what he needed to in order to get back on the field. Eventually, it was time to come back. At the start of 2024, a cold, windy Sunday in Davenport, Iowa, with the South Bend Cubs, he made his return.

The start of 2024, though, was a struggle. Schlaffer was picking up the puzzle pieces, and showed glimpses of what he did before the injury. But after a couple months with South Bend, the organization decided to move him back to Low-A Myrtle Beach, where he linked up with his current pitching coach in

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South Bend, George Thanopoulos.

And success ensued. Schlaffer posted a 1.87 ERA in eight games with the Pelicans; Getting his mojo back.

“George is no doubt the best pitching coach in the Midwest League, and at the time, the Carolina League,” Schlaffer added. “He’s smart, and knows what guys need. He sees things that we don’t, and I had him through my whole rehab process in Arizona. He knew how I worked. It was a bummer to get sent back down, but I knew where I was going with him was a good place.”

And now we sit in 2025. Schlaffer is once again a South Bend Cub. This time, totally healthy. He matched a career high of eight strikeouts in his third start of the season at West Michigan, and this is the time where he can really pitch freely.

“My fastball is the best it has been in a while, almost as good as it felt pre-Tommy John,” Schlaffer said. “They say two years after the surgery is when you’re at 100 percent, and that’s right now. It’s definitely true.”

With his family behind him in every outing, and his dad looking down, Schlaffer continues to ride the roller coaster that is the life of a professional athlete. The adversity is in the past, and he can chase the dream freely again.

The dream first installed in the Cubs fan growing up in Homewood, fantasizing about playing at Wrigley Field.

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Old Friends from Old Dominion College teammates Carter Trice and Andy Garriola are back together in the Cubs’ outfield

By Tyler Reidy

Old Dominion teammates Andy Garriola (left) and Carter Trice (right) reunited on the South Bend Cubs roster this season.

Credit: Old Dominion / Ben McKeown

here were you on February 21, 2021?

Olivia Rodrigo’s “Driver’s License” topped the charts. Novak Djokovic defeated Daniil Medvedev to win the Australian Open in men’s singles. And two current South Bend Cub outfielders shared a college baseball diamond for the first time.

Andy Garriola, a California kid on his way to setting the school record for career home runs, played right field and hit third in the Old Dominion lineup.

Five spot down in the order, soon-to-be Freshman All-American Carter Trice made his collegiate debut at third base.

The two would record a combined five hits as the Monarchs shut out Norfolk State by a 12-0 score.

Fast-forward to the first weekend of April 2025, and they made their first appearance as teammates for a new squad: the South Bend Cubs. In the Sunday series finale at Beloit, Garriola played left field, and Trice manned center. Now, as the Cubs enter the regular season’s second month, the former Old Dominion teammates are mainstays in the middle of South Bend’s batting order.

“It's great. He's one of my best friends, and it was really nice to come in and see a familiar face during your first Spring Training,” Trice said of Garriola. “I follow him around everywhere he goes, so it's good to have a familiar face, and it just makes you feel more comfortable for sure.”

It was Garriola who got to Old Dominion first, joining a 2019 squad that rostered Vinnie Pasquantino, a former Midwest Leaguer who now mans first base for the Kansas City Royals. Garriola didn’t take long to become a household name himself, bringing home the Conference USA Freshman of the Year award in his first season. His 62 runs batted in during that 2019 campaign broke Old Dominion’s freshman record.

Garriola’s RBI total rose to a nationhigh 72 in 2021, the year Trice joined the fray. Then, in 2022, he put it all together.

Blasting 25 home runs and churning out 80 RBI, Garriola became an All-American and broke the aforementioned school home run record with 49 for his career.

He also put himself squarely on the MLB Draft map, fielding a 17th-round call from the Chicago Cubs in the summer of 2022.

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During that same summer, Trice also found a new home, albeit still within college baseball. Playing 90 minutes from his Richmond-area roots, Trice had followed up Garriola’s Freshman All-American season with one of his own in 2021. He was the leader in hits, doubles, total bases, and batting average for an Old Dominion team that reached the NCAA Tournament, ending up the Conference USA Freshman of the Year.

Trice kept rolling along in the spring of 2022, launching 17 home runs to complement Garriola’s 25.

But at some point after that sophomore campaign, Trice felt an openness to a change of scenery. He jumped the state line in the transfer portal, arriving at North Carolina State with a chance to play in the loaded Atlantic Coast Conference for the 2023 season.

“Nobody's career is perfect, and everybody has a different career path to the big leagues,” Trice recalled. “So you're still trying to develop and get better every day, no matter where you're at.”

Though Trice’s numbers dipped a bit in Raleigh, his draft stock remained in great shape. The Chicago Cubs must’ve had their eyes on Norfolk, Virginia, in 2021-22, because they took Trice in the 12th round of the 2023 Draft, a year after nabbing Garriola.

“I was really excited,” Garriola said about Trice’s selction. “He's like a little

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brother to me. I always kind of look out for him and then just kind of try to help him out as much as I know, and he still helps me out, so it's a good relationship.”

And so off went the former Monarchs together in the Cubs’ system. Garriola played the full 2023 season in Myrtle Beach, and Trice joined him there for the 2024 campaign. During that season, Garriola to quite an extent lived out what he’d spent his Pasadena childhood dreaming about: swinging for the fences.

“Some of my favorite players were Josh Hamilton and then Chris Davis, [with] the Orioles,” Garriola recalled.

“I just kind of liked watching them growing up – power bats – and just loved their moonshot home runs. It was always fun as a kid to watch that and try to replicate that.”

Oh, he replicated it. To the tune of 18 home runs in just 90 Carolina League games, making Garriola the league’s outright leader in slugging percentage.

His power stroke had arrive, and an August 7 transaction gave him the chance to take his juice up to High-A South Bend. Garriola played 17 Midwest League games at the end of last season, belting three more long balls and gradually adjusting to the next level’s pitchers.

“I think they just had a better command of their stuff and came at you more and were trying to challenge you and just said, Here's my fastball. Go and

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CUBS CONNECTION GAME PROGRAM

hit it,’” Garriola assessed. “And also I would say they know where to spot, and that's only gonna go up as you go up in levels.”

Trice, meanwhile, spent the entirety of 2024 in Myrtle Beach, grinding through a slow start to post solid numbers. In 82 games, he hit .228 with 20 doubles, nine home runs, and 38 RBI. Always a multi-faceted defender, he even spent some time learning to play catcher, a curriculum the Chicago Cubs started him on after his selection in 2023. No longer catching regularly, Trice says the experience helped him appreciate the hard work of catchers and intensify his own work ethic.

Earning a start to 2025 in South Bend, Trice has focused on conditioning himself to most effectively handle the April-to-September toil of a professional baseball schedule.

“Just trying to get the body in shape, prepare to play 100-plus games. That's really all you can do,” Trice described.

“You can't overdo it, can't underdo it.

Just trying to find that sweet spot of swinging how much you're swinging and how much you're lifting, just to be able to prepare to play the season.”

Now regulars at Four Winds Field, Garriola and Trice have already made an impact with their power. During the Cubs’ mid-April trip to West Michigan, Garriola pounded four home runs, capturing Midwest League Player of the Week honors. During one of those games in Grand Rapids, he and Trice each launched a two-run home in the first inning. Just like the good old days.

A few days after that sequence, which included Trice’s first Midwest League home run, he went deep for the first time at Four Winds Field. The three-run blast on April 22 against Beloit stood up as the game-winning hit, capping off a

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six-run fifth inning.

If you ask Garriola and Trice what type of ballplayers they’d like Cub fans to see in them this season, you’ll hear almost the same answer. It’s almost as if they’ve… played together.

“I just try to play as hard as I can, not having any boundaries in the outfield,” Garriola said. “I like the joke with me running into walls and stuff, but that's just who I am. I don't really have an off button, so I'm gonna go try to rob every homer and try to make every play.”

“I’m gonna give 100% and play hard, whether I’m 0-for-4 or 4-for-4,” Trice added. “Just try to be the same guy every day, playing hard no matter what.”

When Old Dominion finished its 2022 season at the Conference USA Tournament in Mississippi, Trice and Garriola were so close to a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. They needed to defeat Louisiana Tech twice in an exhausting doubleheader that started with Garriola’s game-winning hit in a 13-inning game and ended in heartbreak with a walk-off loss. By all accounts, the duo had reached the end of an era.

But baseball has a way of reviving history in a way few other sports, if any, can. Look no further than the outfield grass, where more than four years and 900 miles from the place they began, Andy Garriola and Carter Trice are back on patrol.

Andy Garriola (left) / Carter Trice (right) Follow us on X & Instagram: @SBCubs

MAY 2025

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PLAN YOUR 2025 GROUP OUTING

Are you looking for the perfect place to plan your next group outing? We have a variety of packages to suit your every need! Treat your group of 20 or more to a fun night of affordable entertainment! Four Winds Field is a great place to entertain employees, clients, team members, civic organizations, and even family reunions. Limited dates remain.

PICNIC AND GROUP AREAS

OUTDOOR PARTY SUITES

UNITED FEDERAL CREDIT UNION ROOFTOP

BUDWEISER PICNIC GARDEN

MILLER LITE TIKI HUT

JB WEST HOME RUN PORCH

RIVER VALLEY CONSTRUCTION PARTY DECK

Call (574) 235-9988 and ask for a group sales representative or email groups@southbendcubs.com to reserve your special day / night.

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AROUND THE BASES

Connor Noland

What is your favorite pre-game song/artists your currently listening to?

My favorite playlist is country. Specifically, Cody Johnson and Tyler Childers fill up most of my playlist.

What is your favorite T.V. show to binge watch?

My favorite show to binge watch in my freetime is Entourage.

Who is your favorite baseball player of all time?

My favorite baseball player of all time is Greg Maddux because of how he could move the ball around the zone.

What is your go to pre-game meal/snack?

My go to pre-game snack is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Are you superstitous at all?

I'm not superstitious, I just never thought that wearing the same socks or doing the same thing would affect a game.

Favorite thing to do in the off-season?

My favorite thing to do in the off-season is going to college/pro football games!

Fun fact that fans might not know about you?

I was a quaterback at Arkansas my freshman year of college.

Do you have any hobbies?

My biggest hobby is going golfing.

If you could travel to one place you've never been to, where would you go?

If i could travel to one place I would go to Scotland so I could play golf at the historic courses there.

What teammate(s) do you enjoy playing with the most?

My favorite teammate is Brandon Birdsell. He always keeps good energy in the clubhouse and brings a great sense of humor.

If you weren't a pitcher, what position would play?

If I wasn't a pitcher, I would probably be a catcher. I would want to be involved in every play.

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AUTOGRAPHS

Outfielder Ivan Brethowr

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