Senior Kam Alikhan prepared for the move from starting right fielder in 2025 to center fielder this season for the Nazareth baseball team.
“Just me and my coaches, I even tell them (to) throw balls on the wall so I can know my area behind me and use my hand as leverage to see how far away I am from the fence,” Alikhan said. “Just practice like that comes out into the game.”
With one of the Roadrunners’ best defensive plays in recent memory Wednesday, Alikhan was part of many momentum changers that turned an early deficit into a 5-2 victory over Montini in the Class 3A Nazareth Sectional semifinals.
Nazareth (28-9), the sectional’s No. 2 seed, is scheduled to play No. 4 De La Salle at 10 a.m. Saturday in the sectional final, but the game may be played Friday.
With Nazareth losing 1-0, Alikhan’s catch at the fence in deep center to begin the top of the third inning turned out to be crucial.
“I haven’t actually, (previously caught) nothing on the fence,” said Alikhan, a John A. Logan College recruit.
After another out, the No. 3 Broncos (23-14) put runners on third and first before sophomore winning pitcher Jimmy O’Connor (6-2) got a strikeout to end the threat.
Nazareth went ahead for good with three runs in its half of the third. Senior shortstop and Florida State recruit Landon Thome hit a two-run homer, his eighth homer this season, and Gavin Hartigan singled and scored on a two-out single by No. 4 hitter Alikhan.
“I don’t know if we’ve had a better defensive outfielder in the years I’ve had,” longtime Nazareth coach Lee Milano said. “(Alikhan) covers so much ground. He made (two) unbelievable plays. What he did out there doesn’t surprise me because he’s that good defensively.”
The Roadrunners led 5-1 entering the seventh when Alikhan robbed leadoff hitter Kameron Cox yet again with a great catch near the fence. Drew Chrastka, who led off being hit by a pitch, eventually scored on a two-out wild pitch.
“That was a great high school baseball game. It doesn’t get any better than that,” Montini coach Eric Scott said. “Hats off to their center fielder (Alikhan). Those are two of the best catches I’ve seen all year. And a big hit by Thome. That was a tough one.”
Varsity returnee O’Connor (five strikeouts, 5 hits in 4⅓ innings) battled after his only two walks to Cox and Julio Ayala followed by Nick Mandra’s RBI single put the Broncos ahead in the first.
Catcher Marco Fiore threw out Ayala at third on a double steal. Like the third, an O’Connor strikeout ended the threat. Reliever Eddie Donnelly got a double play to end the fifth. Christian Drye pitched the last two innings.
“It was really special (to start). The offense got it done. I made some pitches,” O’Connor said. “I had really good defense behind me that made a lot of good plays. And then the bats – (sophomore Nick Petrecca) with the big hit and Landon with the really big hit as well.”
“You’ve got a sophomore on the mound with jitters and to hold them to one run that first inning was huge,” Milano said. “He gave us a great outing, tremendous. It’s all about pitching, playing defense and then finding out how to score runs.”
Petrecca, often a late defensive sub in the outfield corners, entered in the fifth as a left fielder.
Now in the lineup for the bottom of the fifth, he delivered a bases-loaded, two-run double after a double by Hartigan, bunt single by Fiore and walk to Alikhan, who was thrown out at home.
“I’d say probably the biggest one (I’ve hit this season),” said Petrecca, whose tough catch was the game’s final out. “I’m ready for my name to be called. I got called and just stepped up and continued with the momentum.”
Just recently, Thome was named Gatorade Illinois Player of the Year. Thome contributed to the Roadrunners’ second straight 3A state title in 2023 and starred for teams the past two years that lost in 4A sectionals.
“(On the homer) I would just say watching for the fastball in the zone and I got it. I knew it was gone off the bat,” Thome said. “An electric moment but when you’ve got guys like (Alikhan) making plays like that and pitching dominating and guys who come through (like Petrecca), it’s just been awesome to see.”
Montini won the Chicago Catholic League at 13-1 and captrued its first regional title since 2022. While graduating 11 seniors, promising underclassmen include junior starter John Louise (6-4), who pitched until Hartigan’s fifth-inning double.
“He’s been our No. 2 all year. He throws gas. He’s a competitor. He left it all out there, just maybe made one bad pitch,” Scott said. “We’re ready to be back next year.”