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LaGRANGE PARK – Nazareth’s Jaden Fauske is widely considered one of the best baseball players in the country.
The LSU recruit is built like a tank, capable of smashing balls all over the field and over the fence with regularity.
In Wednesday’s home game against Joliet Catholic, Fauske picked a good time to show off a few of his other skills to help the Roadrunners capture the second game of the series.
Instead of using his power, Fauske, a left-hander and former Louisville recruit, hit a slow chopper down just past home plate along the right side and used his speed to beat out the throw to lead off the top of eighth inning.
Three batters later, Fauske flashed his speed and sliding skills, diving head first into home plate to score the walk-off winning run off a hard-hit grounder by Drew Hyland for a 2-1 victory over Joliet Catholic at R.J. Sanders Field.
Nazareth senior right-hander Chase Zidlicky was strong on the mound, tossing six innings and allowing five hits. The Hilltoppers’ lone run came via a balk by Zidlicky in the top of the sixth inning that plated the tying run. Sophomore right-hander James Wasson pitched the final two innings to get the win.
The Roadrunners (20-4, 6-4) loaded the bases in the eighth, aided by a walk and a perfectly placed cut single by Aiden Nunez to set up Hyland’s RBI grounder.
“It’s all about getting on base and putting the ball on play and pressing the defense,” Nazareth coach Lee Milano said. “It was kind of ironic that the two runs that were scored first were on balks. I think Chase pitched an unbelievable game. I loved the way James came out of the bullpen and did a great job.
“The kid who doesn’t have any or that many at-bats comes in and he’s been the best bunter in practice and gets a great one down in Aiden Muniz,” Milano said. “That was a huge play. We scored the winning run without getting the ball out of the infield.”
In an unusual game for two East Suburban Catholic Conference programs, both teams scored their first runs via a block. The Roadrunners managed just four hits in the game, including just two in the first seven innings.
The Hilltoppers (10-11, 4-2) were aiming to take the game after recording a 10-0 triumph over the Roadrunners on Monday. Joliet Catholic’s Lucas Grant picked up the win on Monday.
“It was a typical JCA-Nazareth battle and we go extra innings,” Joliet Catholic coach Jared Voss said. “It’s a typical conference battle. It’s what we expect in our conference. We’re really happy with our pitching. Ian Campbell had a very good start. We have a pretty solid top two guys if everyone keeps doing what they’re doing.
“We had a little bit of everything today, from balks, hit by pitches that nobody knew if they were hit by pitches or not. We had a little bit of everything today. I appreciate our kids and their consistency.”
Zidlicky said he was frustrated about his run-scoring balk, but he recovered close out the threat and inning with a strikeout to end his outing.
“I felt very good out there and great to shut them down a while,” Zidlicky said. “My fastball and curveball was working. I felt confident with my curveball and could throw it any time I wanted to. I was glad we got the win.”
Wasson did a solid job in relief, working his way out of small jams in both innings to earn a post-game fun ribbing session by his teammates during a postgame interview.
“I felt really good,” Wasson said. “It was one of those games I was really pumped up to get in there. I was going and felt good. My arm hurt a little bit, but I was just thinking attack and attack. We didn’t have our best game on Monday, but we came back today and reset and a lot of guys made meaningful contributions.”