In his first varsity season, Gavin Fuscone expected to be a big contributor for St. Charles East.
In order for a new player to take the next step, however, sometimes it takes a signature moment or a signature game to establish himself. And the Saints have been looking forward to that.
“He had a strong summer,” St. Charles East coach Derek Sutor said of Fuscone. “He’s a guy who’s trying to make a name for himself. He had a heck of a summer. He hit the ball hard for us.
“This is kind of his time.”
Fuscone announced his arrival in a big way Thursday in a 8-6 nonconference win at West Aurora.
The junior outfielder hit a game-tying three-run homer in the fourth inning. Not to be outdone, with two outs in the top of the seventh, he snapped another tie with a huge two-run single.
That led the Saints (3-2) to the dramatic comeback win as Xavier recruit Joey Arend struck out nine in four innings. He gave up four hits, three walks and three runs. Andrew Zolna went 3-for-3, while Dylan McCabe added two hits and an RBI.
Jake Niedzwiedz hit a three-run homer for West Aurora (2-1) and Zach Toma went toe-to-toe with Arend, leaving the game in line for the win by striking out eight in five innings. Oscar Alexander reached base four times with two hits and scored three runs. Eliseo Liscano had a two-run double.
St. Charles East trailed 3-0 in the fourth when Fuscone came up with runners on first and second and one out. He launched a three-run shot to straightaway left for his first varsity homer.
“On an 0-2 count, too,” Fuscone said. “I was not expecting that. I decided that this one is for the team, shorten up, and that was what happened. I couldn’t feel my toes.”
After his impressive summer, Fuscone had a trying offseason. A broken back meant he had no path whatsoever to ramp things up heading into the season.
“This felt really good,” Fuscone said. “I had a hard start to the season, but coming out (Thursday) and doing what I did, that definitely felt good. It feels like a changing point in my season.
“I’m excited to move forward.”
Fuscone wasn’t done, either. The Saints were down 5-3 going into the seventh, but James Feigleson cut the deficit to one with a sacrifice fly. McCabe followed with an RBI single.
That left it up to Fuscone with two outs. He laced a single into left-center to plate both Andrew Evans and McCabe. He later scored on Zolna’s single.
“I definitely felt a lot more confident going into my at-bats, especially after that home run,” Fuscone said. “I felt more confident coming in. Same situation I could come in and be a clutch hitter again.”
Sutor was happy to see a young player take that big step forward.
“He has that ability,” Sutor said of Fuscone. “He’s demonstrated that in practice. It’s been a long time coming for him. It was fun to watch that.”
West Aurora coach John Reeves wished his team could have held on to give Toma the win after his solid outing.
“Zach is a guy,” Reeves said of Toma. “They’re obviously a pretty good team. He went out and pitched well. He had the mistake with the three-run homer, but then it’s even.
“He’s going to be a nice pitcher for us all year long.”
Sutor confirmed the Saints’ hitting has struggled all season, so he has been waiting for somebody to take control.
“It’s like, ‘Who is going to be the guy to step up and break us through?’” Sutor said. “(Thursday) was his day.”
Fuscone also hopes that continues.
“I feel like this was definitely the momentum that we needed,” he said. “We needed a new turning point, and I feel like this is our turning point.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
