Baseball: Claeson’s clutch hit helps Kaneland take down St. Charles East

Nolan Claeson just wanted to do his job.

After Kaneland had just tied the game on an errant pick off throw and had the go-ahead runner on third against St. Charles East, the junior was solely focused on driving that run in.

And even in such a crucial early-season game, winning wasn’t even on his mind.

“I had two strikes on me and I knew that I needed to do my job,” Claeson said. “That was my thing, just do my thing to get the guy in. I knew that I needed to get the ball in play.

“I wasn’t expecting to get a double out of it though.”

Claeson’s second RBI double of the game proved to be the winner, as the Knights would hold onto the lead over the final two innings to secure a 6-5 victory over the Saints.

“It means a lot,” Claeson said. “There’s a lot of hard work going into the season and stuff, so for it to work out and put the ball out in the field definitely helps, especially with the wind.”

Claeson finished the game going 2 for 3 at the plate with a pair of doubles and RBI. He also ended up coming around and scoring a run twice for the Knights (2-4-1).

“He’s a guy that’s coming around for us,” Knights coach Brian Aversa said. “He’s battling for a position and he did a good job stepping up when we needed it. And in a tight game like that, he contributed well.”

Claeson’s first double put the Knights on the board in the bottom of the second inning. Colton Ludwig would follow it up with an RBI groundout and Carson Humay would score on an errant throw to give the Knights a 3-1 lead.

“(Nolan) is a good athlete, and he’s somebody that we’ve been working with,” Aversa said. “I think a lot of guys, especially after our trip, are starting to settle in and realize that we’ve got to get going now. They’re starting to figure it out.”

Ludwig, another guy in a position battle, would add an insurance run in the fifth inning with an RBI single to score Claeson. The Knights would go on to put their trust in Kanon Baxley for a five-out save.

Of the six batters that he faced, five of them struck out. The lone hit he allowed was a solo home run from Gavin Fuscone, which made it a 6-5 game.

“We’ll trade just one of those for five strikeouts from him,” Aversa said. “His ball was coming out really well. Hayden (Foster) was throwing some heavy balls too. We really like out pitching staff, that’s one of our strengths this year.”

Fuscone’s home run was one of two the Saints (6-3) hit on the day. Niko Vahmistrous hit an opposite-field two-run homer in the third inning that tied the game at 3-3.

“He’s been coming around a lot for us,” Saints coach Derek Sutor said. “He started to swing the bat more on our spring trip and he started to heat up. And he finally decided to stay back on a ball and he hits an opposite-field home run, so it was good to see him start hitting the ball.”

Dylan McCabe gave the Saints the first lead of the game on an RBI single in the second inning. He would also give them a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning after scoring on an RBI groundout from James Feigleson.

“Through all the ups and downs in the game, there’s so much that can be easy to point your finger at as the reason why we lost,” Sutor said. “But at the end of the day, our guys competed for seven innings. Our guys did a good job of competing at the plate and hit the ball hard. And at the end of the day, there’s a lot of positives to take from it.”