Baseball: Caccia breaks St. Charles North’s strikeout record in victory over Batavia
Fans of St. Charles North have probably gotten used to the sound of the catcher’s mitt popping and the home plate umpire wringing up an opposing batter.
That’s especially the case when Josh Caccia is on the mound for the North Stars.
After striking out Batavia’s Bryce Burgoni and Henry Haug in the second inning of Monday’s 8-1 victory over the Bulldogs in their DuKane Conference game, he became the North Stars’ all-time strikeout leader, breaking Zach Hirsch’s 17-year record of 164 strikeouts over his career before going to Nebraska.
“When I first came in, I had no expectations to break the record, it was like ‘Yeah. I’m never going to touch that,’” Caccia said. “And now that we’re here, and I’ve broken the record, it feels amazing. I want to accomplish more for this team and I want to keep winning with them.”
Caccia, who is set to join his brother, Ryan, at Elgin Community College next season, finished the game with eight strikeouts and only allowed two hits and one earned run over six innings.
Although the stat line is impressive, St. Charles North coach Todd Genke has come to expect nothing less from his ace.
“He gets on the mound and he competes,” Genke said. “He works at his craft and he loves competing on the mound. And it says a lot because we’ve been blessed with a lot of quality arms here.
“For him to break that record is definitely special because you don’t forget that, and for him to do it the way he did today, I mean, that’s pretty standard for him.”
Caccia started out the game a little rocky, allowing the first two batters to get on base after a walk and a hit-by-pitch. But he recovered quickly after forcing a fly out and two straight strikeouts.
The North Stars (9-3-1, 3-1 DuKane) got on the board in the bottom of the first thanks to an RBI single from Mike Buono and a two-run home run to dead center field from Parker Reinke.
Reinke finished the day with a team-high three RBIs, Ty Heimbuch added two, and Buono and Jake Kujak each had one.
Genke said that getting runs on the board early is a huge part of North’s game plan.
“It just puts much more pressure on the opposing team,” Genke said. “We can try and play with the lead and then do some things more efficiently like small ball to move runners over for the big hitters in the middle of the order. And then, with the way we can pitch, we should be able to hold on to those leads.”
Caccia seemed to find his stride once again after Reinke’s blast, only allowing two more Bulldogs to get on base in his final five innings.
“Seeing that home run definitely got everyone’s morale up, and it definitely helped me calm down on the mound,” Caccia said. “Knowing that Reinke is able to do that for us and give us runs made me pitch a lot better.”
Not everything went perfect for the North Stars in the game, as a scary scene unfolded in the second inning when Colin Ryder took a pitch that clipped his helmet and ended up hitting his nose. Ryder had to leave the game and got his nose checked out.
“We’re hoping that it’s nothing major,” Genke said. “He’s a big part of our team and a big bat in our lineup. But if he’s out for a bit, we’ll have to have the next guy step up. But we hope that he’s OK.”
Batavia (3-12, 0-4 DuKane) only managed to scratch two hits across Caccia on the day, with Brandon Oke getting a double in the third inning and Jacob Aseltine lining a single in the sixth. RJ Bohr had the only RBI on a groundout to score pinch-runner Nate Nazos.
At the end of the day, Batavia coach Alex Beckmann said it was the small mistakes at the plate and on the field that lead to the loss.
“[The North Stars] are a good hitting team, and if you give a team like that more than three outs in an inning on defense, it’s going to be tough to win,” Beckmann said.
The Bulldogs are in the middle of a seven-game losing streak, their second streak of five-plus losses this season.
“We’ve just got to work and not think about all the little mistakes and keep playing the game,” Beckmann said. “That’s what it’s all about.”