John Stutz, Jr. (Owner)
John began his baseball career at seven playing Wilmette Little League. He went on to play varsity baseball at New Trier High School while studying under the instruction of Eric Soderhom of The Chicago White Sox. In 1992, after 3 years of college baseball, John was drafted by The St. Louis Cardinals out of St. Andrews College in North Carolina. He went on to play professionally until the fall of 1995. John then began instructing North Shore kids while he earned his degree in finance from The University of Illinois at Chicago. He and Peter opened The North Shore Baseball Academy in March of 2000.

Peter Dallas (Owner)
Peter grew up playing baseball in his front yard before moving on to the Deerfield High School Warriors. From there he played semi-pro baseball while attending The University of Miami. After graduation Peter played professionally for 4 years coached by Walt “no neck” Williams in the North Atlantic Baseball League. He was a player/coach for the Huntington Railkings of the Heartland League, and played for the Adirondack Lumberjacks of the Northern League. In 2002-2003 Peter played with the 2004 Greek Olympic team, both hear and abroad, as a Greek Olympic hopeful.



Chris Mears
Chris is now teaching pitching lessons at our Libertyville facility. He was a 5th round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners in the 1996 amateur draft. Chris pitched 7 seasons in the Mariners farm system, before making it to the major leagues with the Detroit Tigers in 2003. Chris spent the majority of the year in the Tigers bullpen, with the exception of 3 early September starts. Chris spent 2005 between St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves organizations before retiring following the 2005 season. Chris was part of Team Canada in the 2004 Summer Olympics, who finished in fourth place.

Tony Cogan
Tony played his college ball at Stanford University where he is ranked fourth on the school’s all-time saves list (15). The Highland Park native received Honorable Mention All Pac-10 honors in 1999 when he posted a record of 7-3 with a 3.18 ERA. The 6 foot-2 inch 205-pound southpaw was a 12th-round draft pick of the Kansas City Royals in 1999. After spending two years in the Royals’ minor league system, Cogan made his Major League debut on Opening Day 2001 at Yankee Stadium.

In a true “trial-by-fire,” Cogan entered the game in relief of Jeff Suppan against Roger Clemens in front of 55,000 fans. Cogan went on to make 39 Major League appearances where he went 0-4 with a 5.84 ERA. He finished the 2001 season in Triple-A Omaha where he posted a 2.79 ERA over 9.2 innings.

Tony Tichy
Coach Tichy graduated from Niles North in 1987 after playing for fellow NSBA coach Jim Sakas. While at north Tichy was all-conference, all-area, and was selected to be a member of the Illinois High School Coaches East/West All-State team. After high school Tichy went on to play for Division 2 Missouri Southern State University from 1988-91. While in college Tichy was a two time all-conference, all regional, and all world series player.

His coaching career begun in 1992 at Niles North and ended in 2007. In his 15 years, he coached every level in high school. His last 6 years he was spent as the head coach. During his tenure his teams improved their record for four consecutive years. In 2005 his Vikings won the regional championship the first since Coach Sakas's 1995 team. In the six years at North, Coach Tichy helped place numerous players in different colleges and universities.

Coach Tichy has given lessons for the last 16 years across the North shore. Coach Tichy is currently an assistant coach for the Norwood Blues 18 and under travel team, a team that Coach Tichy played for 21 years ago in its inaugural season.

Eric Willson, New Trier Pitching Coach!
Eric was a starting pitcher for the 2000 New Trier State championship team. After his college career at Division 1 Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, Eric returned to New Trier to coach the Sophomore team. Along with handling the New Trier pitching staff, Eric will offer private instruction and lead several of our clinics.



Ryan Whitcomb
Ryan Whitcomb played high school baseball for Palatine High School. He went on to play college baseball for Division three Beloit College. He was a four year starter at Beloit playing every outfield position and second and third base. In his senior season for Beloit he set the record for most hits in a single season. He currently ranks among the top 5 for hits, stolen bases, and runs scored in a career at Beloit. Ryan currently plays on a Chicago Semi-Pro team and instructs full time at our Libertyville facility.



Bill San Hamel - Head Varsity Coach at Loyola Academy
Bill is the head varsity coach at Loyola Academy in Wilmette. Bill graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Secondary Education from Bradley University in 2004, and was a scholarship athlete on the Bradley University baseball team from 1999-2002. Also, he was a Missouri Valley Conference Honor Roll Member five (5) times. Bill spent the past three baseball seasons as an assistant varsity baseball coach and has been heavily involved in the baseball summer league operations the past three years. He is a graduate of Loyola Academy and was a two time varsity letter winner in baseball and basketball, and was a first team All-Catholic League baseball performer his senior year.

Don Snelten
Don was a member of the Illinois PGA from 1978 to 1980. He has been a youth baseball coach for 16 years, managing such teams as the Lake Villa Travelers, the Lake County Crusaders and currently the 16U Kenosha Indians. As well as managing the Indians, Don is the head of pitching instruction for the Kenosha program. Don is a Tom House trained NPA certified instructor.



Miles Fox
Miles Fox played college baseball, hockey, and lacrosse for Lake Forest College. He now is a Certified Personal Trainer who excels in sport specific training of athletes. He is also a certified Sports Injury Specialist. Miles conducts various strength and conditioning clinics and private one-on-one sessions at NSBA. Hi is a great strength and agility trainer and motivator for baseball players of all ages.



Jeremy Lutz
Jeremy Lutz played his high school baseball at Grant High School where he earned All Area honors once and All County honors twice. He played collegiately at College of Lake County and Benedictine University as a pitcher. Jeremy has coached 14U travel baseball for 6 years, currently in the Lake Forest Baseball Association.



Will Schinagl
Will Schinagl played high school baseball at St Charles East. As a two-year varsity All Conference player, he helped lead his team to 2 consecutive sectional finals appearances. He played at numerous colleges including University of St Francis, Elgin Community College, Bradley University, and Concordia University - Chicago. In college, he posted a batting average of over .330 and set two home run records (Single Season - 14, Career - 25) for Concordia - Chicago.



Donny Leicht
Donny Leicht played his high school ball at Zion Benton High School as a pitcher/3rd baseman. He went on to play at CLC and UW- Parkside. He finished his college career with a record of 22-1, 9 of 10 saves, and an ERA of 2.50. As a graduate assistant at UW - Parkside he helped coach the rangers to a World Series appearance.



Eddy Pieczynski
Bio coming soon.



Israel Sanchez
Israel Sanchez was drafted out of high school in the 9th round in 1982 by the Kansas City Royals. He pitched for 11 years in their organization including 2 years in the Major Leagues in 1988 and 1989. He has been the varsity pitching coach for Niles North High School since 2007 and has been instructing kids of all ages and skill levels for over a decade.



Mike Irvine
Mike Irvine played high school baseball at Deerfield High School and was a two time all conference pitcher and shortstop and his senior was named all-area. Mike played for Team USA international in the summer of 2002 and played his college baseball at the University of Kansas. He has coached travel baseball in Deerfield for the last 6 years.



Alex Bednarz
Alex Bednarz played high school baseball for New Trier as a pitcher. He is currently in his senior year at North Park University as a pitcher.