Nick Czerak may be new to the leadoff spot in Aurora Central Catholic’s lineup, but it does not change the junior shortstop’s approach.

“I’m always looking to be aggressive,” Czerak said. “Hitting leadoff, I like getting more at-bats. I like being able to attack early.”

Czerak was in attack mode Saturday, hunting fastballs early in the count against Plano. And he feasted off of them.

He tripled, homered and doubled, coming a single shy of hitting for the cycle. Czerak was in the middle of three of the Chargers’ four scoring rallies in a 7-5 win over visiting Plano.

It made a winner of Aurora Central Catholic senior Tyler Davis, who struck out 11 over 5⅔ innings. Quentin Santoria, meanwhile, was 3 for 3 with a double, triple and three RBIs for Plano (2-3-1) in the loss.

Czerak did not waste any time making things happen at the plate.

He drilled the second pitch he saw leading off the first inning for a triple and scored on a Brodie Curry sacrifice fly. Luke Janosek singled in two more runs in the first inning.

Czerak turned on a first-pitch fastball for a two-run homer for a 6-1 lead in the fourth.

And he hit another first pitch for an opposite-field double leading off the sixth, coming home with an insurance run after Plano had pulled within 6-5.

“I was just looking for good pitches, got some good fastballs to hit and just drove them,” Czerak said. “Early in the game I’m just trying to get on base for the middle of our lineup to drive me in. First pitch fastball and I was ready for it.”

Aurora Central Catholic coach Rich Swann said Czerak isn’t necessarily a power hitter – he believed that was his junior’s first career home run.

But he’s been a great fit at leadoff.

The Chargers (3-3) came into the season not having a leadoff hitter, and tried a sophomore. Swann moved him down after the season’s third game, and moved up third-year varsity player Czerak from second to leadoff.

“He’s a guy that gets on base, he’s not necessarily a prolific base stealer but he gets on base and gives opportunities for our 2-3-4 hitters to get us runs,” Swann said. “He’s a very aggressive hitter, and he’s a smart hitter, a smart, heady ballplayer.”

Czerak showed it on the game’s final play, slickly handing a ground ball off the pitcher’s glove for the third out of the seventh.

If he’s a natural on the Aurora Central Catholic diamond, or basketball court, it makes sense. Czerak is the last of seven siblings to come through the school, following five brothers and one sister. His brother, Brett, is the school’s all-time leading scorer in basketball.

“I’ve been watching games here since I was like 3 years old,” Czerak said. “I try to remind myself I was always here watching my brothers and now that it’s me, it’s fun.”

Plano, trailing by five runs after Czerak’s homer, rallied late.

Santoria tripled to lead off the fifth and scored on Sean Garton’s groundout.

Santoria’s two-out, two-run double in the sixth made it 6-4 and Garton singled him in to make it a one-run game. Santoria earlier singled in Brandon Ramos.

Justin Bishop also had three of Plano’s nine hits.

“Our lineup is really contributing so far, especially the last three games, 1-9,” Plano coach Tyler Mulligan said. “Quentin is just building his confidence right now. He’s finally finding the barrel again. He was our best hitter last year. We’ve been waiting for him to find it and he’s found it.”

A young Plano lineup was hurt by three outs on the bases.

“Definitely part of a young team,” said Mulligan, himself a first-year head coach. “I told the guys at the start of the year we were going to be as aggressive as we possibly can. Sometimes we’re going to get hurt by that but sometimes it’s going to help us.”

Davis, who left at 103 pitches with a walk with two outs in the sixth leading 6-2, was dominant at times.

The Chargers’ left-hander struck out the side in the first, second and fourth innings, and has struck out 11 in each of his first two starts this spring.

He did so with a fastball with zip and a curveball that when located well on the armside to right-handed hitters is a difference-maker.

“Tyler can be dominant – he occasionally has that inning that drives his pitch count up – but at times he can be dominant, and he was at times today," Swann said. “It’s pretty tough for anybody to hit him when he’s locating that curveball.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/kendall-county-now/2026/03/28/nick-czerak-new-to-leadoff-spot-comes-a-hit-shy-of-the-cycle-in-powering-aurora-central-catholic-past-plano/