Baseball: Nazareth doesn’t dwell on outside noise, looking to repeat as state champs

It would have been very easy for Nazareth’s baseball team to bask in the glow of accolades and expectations this season.

That’s not how they do things.

True, the Roadrunners won’t shy away from the fact that they are defending state champions, with nearly every player back from that group. A loaded roster features six Division I recruits, with more that should play at the next level. Nazareth was ranked preseason No. 1 in the state by the Prep Baseball Report. And yet it’s the expectations the team has for itself, not outside the locker room, that matters to them.

“You can let everybody say what they want to say. The only thing that matters is how you produce on the field,” said Nazareth senior outfielder Lucas Smith, a UIC recruit. “Ranked No. 1, what does that really mean? The way we look at it, we have to do the best we can on the field. That is what matters.”

The Roadrunners have indeed done darn good. Nazareth won its first 18 games of the season, a 35-game winning streak dating back to last season the seventh-longest in IHSA history. After about a two-week hiccup, Nazareth is rolling again, and heads back to the state tournament as the favorite to win its second consecutive state title.

Nazareth (32-6) faces Sycamore (33-5) in a Class 3A semifinal at noon Friday at Duly Health & Care Field in Joliet. Grayslake Central meets Effingham in the first semifinal, with the championship and third-place games Saturday.

Senior Finn O’Meara, who teamed up with Luca Fiore and Cooper Malamazian to throw a no-hitter in the supersectional Monday, said he’s taking the time to enjoy every moment.

“Our first offseason meeting coach right away set the baseline that we’re focusing on the journey ahead, not worrying about other people’s expectations,” O’Meara said. “We’re taking the season in stride, realizing that it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Veteran Nazareth coach Lee Milano said they attacked the elephant in the room of being defending state champs ranked No. 1 head on. He worked with a sports psychologist in the offseason to come up with a plan of how to address the expectations.

“We say at every daily team break ‘values, purpose and vision’ – the last part, vision, is living up to our own expectations and nobody else’s,” Milano said. “We hammer it home daily, what is important to us. I think that has helped us. We have an extremely talented group and an excellent staff. But we try to stay in the moment all the time, not look ahead.”

It has not always been smooth sailing. Milano said despite Nazareth’s success the team has had more injuries than the last 10 years combined. Louisville recruit Nick Drtina, who set a single-season win record last year and was the starter in the state championship game, couldn’t pitch any more after a UCL injury shelved him with a 5-0 record.

After an 11-1 loss to Marist May 11, Nazareth’s fifth in eight games after its 18-0 start, Milano had a meeting with Smith and his son, senior Nicholas Milano.

“They were upset after that game and I told them ‘It’s OK, we’re not going to panic,’” coach Milano said. “I talk to them all the time about believing in the process.”

The playoffs scores don’t really reflect Nazareth’s tricky path back to Joliet. The Roadrunners and Marist were 1-1 in the sectional semifinal before a seven-run Nazareth fifth. They knocked out St. Laurence ace DJ Helwig, a Notre Dame recruit, with four consecutive second-inning doubles in a sectional final.

“I will put those two games up against anybody,” Milano said.

Nazareth’s lineup has only hit 16 homers on the season, but it’s a doubles machine. Louisville recruit Jaden Fauske is batting .487 with 17 doubles, 36 runs scored and 38 RBIs. Smith has 15 doubles to go with a .408 average and 32 runs scored and 32 RBIs. Malamazian, an Indiana commit, is batting .569 with nine doubles, a team-high five homers and 32 RBIs.

“We just try to drive the ball in the gaps,” Smith said. “I don’t think we have the most homers of any team. But as long as you hit balls hard, line drives, stay patient at the plate and relax you’ll be OK.”

The pitching staff, even without Drtina, is plenty deep.

North Carolina recruit John Hughes, himself a year removed from a UCL injury, is 5-0 with a 0.48 ERA. O’Meara is 7-0 with a 1.62 ERA and Fauske is 4-0 with a 0.45 ERA. O’Meara has thrown the most innings this spring, 39.

“We have a lot of depth on the mound,” Milano said. “With these guys playing travel ball in the summer and fall ball, we have to protect those arms. We have enough depth. We have three guys that have touched 90 and Finn is close to that. John Hughes is arguably the best pitcher around.”

Nazareth can join rarefied air should it win its second straight state championship this weekend.

Only four baseball programs have gone back-to-back, Joliet Catholic in Class 2A becoming the fourth this past weekend.

“That would be awesome to end on a win, especially after last year being the first one,” Smith said. “It would be more special. It would mean the world.”