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Nazareth senior pitcher Chase Zidlicky earned a pair of promotions this spring.
The Middlebury College recruit anticipated one of the promotions, but not the second one.
The 6-foot-2 right-hander was slated to be the ace of the Roadrunners’ pitching staff after the graduation of standouts David Cox and Lucas Fiore, both Illinois-Chicago recruits.
But a rash of injuries to this season’s staff put additional stress on Zidlicky to pitch deeper into games to keep Nazareth in several series.
“It put a bit more pressure on me just knowing they will need me to go deeper into games and that I have to perform well every time I touch the mound,” Zidlicky said.
Zidlicky has been up to the task, improving to 7-0 on the season after tossing a five-hit complete game and striking out 11 in a victory over St. Patrick on May 17.
Zidlicky said he prepared for his final high school season by gaining confidence in all of his pitches.
“One of the main keys for me was figuring out my off-speed pitches and becoming very confident in throwing them in any count,” Zidlicky said.
Nazareth coach Lee Milano said Zidlicky was instrumental in helping the team finish in third place in the East Suburban Catholic Conference. The Roadrunners (26-5, 11-5) closed out the conference season by sweeping a twinbill against St. Patrick.
Zidlicky entered the last week of the regular season with a 1.73 ERA and 69 strikeouts with conference wins over Benet, Marian Catholic and Joliet Catholic.
“We asked Chase to do more because two of our top end guys have been out,” Milano said. “Mac McGarry was out for three weeks and Andrew Kouris has been done for the season. Both have not pitched anywhere near the amount of innings we anticipated them to. That put Chase in the No. 1 spot. He’s matured every year. He was timid last year, but made a giant leap this year.
“He listens and works hard and worked smart in the offseason, not trying to overtrain and always pitch game velocity. He’s done all the right things to put himself and his body in a spot to be healthy and to have success.”
Zidlicky, who tossed a six-inning one-hitter with nine strikeouts against Young in early April, said the Roadrunners are a vastly different team than last year’s 31-win squad.
“This team is different because we have a lot of new varsity players than we’ve had in the past and they have to learn more,” Zidlicky said. “In the past, we had a very good lineup from one to nine and we could put up a ton of runs very quickly. This year we’ve had to rely on pitching more so than usual, but we’ve had a good number of young pitchers step up.”
Milano said Nazareth, the No. 2 seed in the Class 4A Burbank Sectional, has been riding the season-long sizzling bats of Jaden Fauske and Landon Thome. Fauske, an LSU recruit who was named the co-Conference Player of the Year, is batting .451 with five homers, 32 RBIs and 28 walks. Thome, a shortstop who also was named to the all-conference team, is hitting .438 with eight homers, 23 RBIs and a .940 fielding percentage. He committed only five errors all season.
“I’m very pleased where we finished in the conference, especially with a younger group with a couple of veterans,” Milano said. “We have not lost back-to-back games all year and our kids have been very resilient. Jaden and Landon have both had MVP type years. Jaden played with 70 professional scouts at one game and is always extremely scrutinized but handles it all well. Landon is the same way, playing with a last name of a baseball legend [Jim Thome]. His numbers are eye-popping.”
Riverside-Brookfield looks to get back on track
Riverside-Brookfield struggled through a crucial stretch of its schedule against high level competition the past few weeks.
The Bulldogs (18-12, 10-5 Upstate Eight) lost four in a row to start the month and then defeated Streamwood 6-1 before losing three of their next four games.
Riverside-Brookfield coach Mark Ori said his team will spend the last week of the regular season fine-tuning a few things to prepare for the playoffs.
“We have to align our pitching staff for the playoffs,” Ori said. “We have had some injuries and a couple of guys step up with productive at-bats, limiting strikeouts and executing small ball.”
The Bulldogs start the Class 4A playoffs as the No. 7 seed in the Burbank Sectional, opening against No. 10 Oak Lawn in a Nazareth Regional semifinal May 29. The winner most likely will play Nazareth on May 31.
Ori said Damian Noa and Michael Kallas are two players who have played at a high level late in the regular season.
“Damian has played a much larger role within our staff,” Ori said. “He has had three to four quality starts in the past month. Michael Kallas has had a few starts in right field in the last week. He had a walk-off hit against Glenbard South last week.”
Around the horn
Glenbard East (21-8, 16-1) defeated Ridgewood 6-3 on Monday to extend its winning streak to nine in a row. The Rams have three more games left in the regular season. ... Montini (18-14, 9-5) is two wins away from the 20-win mark with three games left in the regular season. ... St.Francis has three regular-season games left to try to reach the 25-win mark before the start of the playoffs.