Landon Thome was the young Nazareth kid the last time the team made this deep of a postseason run.

So he knew the feeling.

“I was a freshman once playing here in this game, and it was crazy,” said Thome, Nazareth’s senior shortstop and a Florida State commit. “Biggest environment I’ve ever played in. Our older guys helped me stay in the game, stay within myself, not get too rushed.”

Back in a supersectional game for the first time since winning back-to-back state titles in 2022-2023, and starting four sophomores and a freshman, the young Roadrunners acquitted themselves well.

Sophomore starting pitcher Jimmy O’Connor allowed just two hits and one earned run over four innings, striking out three. Freshman second baseman Todd Dulaney Jr. had one of Nazareth’s two hits in a 2-0 loss to St. Rita in the Class 3A Crestwood Supersectional at Ozinga Field.

O’Connor, who combined with Eddie Donnelly and Christian Drye to hold St. Rita to five hits, relished the chance to start such a big game – and to play alongside this Nazareth (29-10) group.

“This is a really special team we had,” O’Connor said. “I would do it all over with these guys, [Nazareth] coach [Lee] Milano and all the coaches. It was really special.”

O’Connor, making his third playoff start, looked the part of a pitcher with a bright future. The 6-foot-3 right-hander shut out St. Rita for three innings until the Mustangs scratched across a run in the fourth.

“If you look at his body he has that pitcher’s build,” Thome said. “I’m proud of him and the season he has had.”

O’Connor walked four, but limited the damage.

“Just had to trust my training, trust my work, go in there with confidence,” O’Connor said. “Trust my defense and trust what coach calls. At the end of the day they were the better team today.”

Julio Gutierrez doubled to lead off St. Rita’s fourth inning, and took third on a fly out. After a walk and stolen base, O’Connor was called for a balk to bring in the game’s first run.

“I don’t even want to make a comment on how we got behind in the game,” Milano said. “That’s really unfortunate for a situation like that, to be down 1-0, it puts us at a deficit.”

A tall order indeed the way St. Rita’s Will Rewers was throwing.

The senior right-hander struck out 10 in a 117-pitch complete game, allowing just two infield hits to lead St. Rita (28-12) to state for the first time since 2019.

“He was just attacking the zone,” Thome said. “Coming in there he had two different speeds on the slider which I have not seen too much of.”

Dulaney beat out an infield single with two outs in the third inning in a scoreless game, and Thome walked, but Rewers came out to strike out Gavin Hartigan looking on a full count.

It was the only inning Nazareth put two runners on. Hartigan accounted for the Roadrunners’ other hit, a pop fly in the sixth that landed between three fielders near the mound.

“He was a horse,” Milano said. “It was a very well pitched game, a well defensed game. A break here, a break there, that’s the name of the game.”

St. Rita’s only other run came in the seventh, on a wild pitch. Nazareth allowed just nine runs over five games during its playoff run.

“Our game plan is pitching and defense,” Milano said. “I thought we did a good job of that.”

Dulaney perhaps had the hardest-hit ball all game off Rewers. With a runner on first and two outs in the fifth, he hit a deep drive that St. Rita left fielder Joe Camer made a tumbling catch on.

“I thought I was going to get a double or a triple off of that,” Dulaney said.

Thome, Illinois’ Gatorade Player of the Year for the second straight year and a potential high draft pick next month, looked back with fondness at his four years with the Nazareth program.

“It is such a special group of guys to be playing with,” Thome said. “Honestly I wouldn’t rather play with any other group. So close. I’ve loved the last four years. Grateful for it all.”

Nazareth, which started its season 9-1, won 10 in a row until Monday.

“You look at the big picture, proud of the team,” Milano said. “Obviously had one of the best players in the nation back-to-back years. Proud of the way they’ve been resilient. We hit a bump in the road and toward the end of the season they bounced back. A lot to be proud of.”