Over the years, Josh Caccia has established himself as St. Charles North’s ace, but it hasn’t been easy. He didn’t just strut into his first tryout with a fastball that destroyed the catcher’s mitt.
By adding a split-finger pitch and refining his delivery, the senior right-hander has added 10 mph to his fastball since his sophomore year and is now flirting with the coveted 90 on the radar gun.
He has been through the gauntlet.
“I feel I’ve progressed really well considering I came in sitting upper 70s,” he said. “Through all the workouts we have, getting my mechanics down helped me gain velocity, throw my pitches better.”
It’s why North Stars coach Todd Genke deploys Caccia in the first game of every DuKane Conference series, which was the case once again Monday afternoon against Batavia.
Caccia rewarded that faith from Genke with another gem in a 9-1 victory. Caccia worked six innings, striking out seven and allowing only that one run on a pair of hits and a walk.
Parker Reinke had a two-run homer and an RBI double for St. Charles North (9-3-1, 3-1). Jackson Spring was 2-for-3 with two runs, while Ty Heimbuch and Jake Kujak added RBI doubles.
Brandon Oke doubled and scored for Batavia (3-12, 0-4), but Caccia did exactly what Genke expected Monday.
“He’s obviously our best and we wanted him to set the tone in game one of the series,” Genke said. “Josh has been fantastic. He just goes right at you. His ball moves all over the place.
“He threw really, really well. They didn’t square up too many baseballs.”
Caccia has been relishing his role as the North Stars’ ace.
“It’s huge for me considering I’ve always been on older teams pitching second or third,” Caccia said. “Knowing I’m the No. 1 guy now and that (Genke) trusts me to put me on the mound, I’m going to do my best to give back to this program and help this team win.”
Caccia surrendered a walk and hit by pitch to the first two Batavia batters but settled in Monday.
“I kind of just reset myself when I got back to the dugout,” Caccia said. “I started the second like it was a whole new game, forgot about the first inning.
“I just trusted my pitches and started throwing to my target better.”
Oke led off the third with a double and scored on a groundout. Jacob Aseltine had a two-out single in the sixth. That was all the damage Caccia allowed.
“He was really good,” Batavia coach Alex Beckmann said of Caccia. “He threw every pitch for a strike and attacked hitters. He had some good defense behind him, too.
“They’re a good team. They shut us down.”
It was the seventh straight loss for the Bulldogs.
“We’re on a bad streak of baseball right now,” Beckmann said. “We hope to be trending in the right direction at the right time. If our guys continue to work, we’ll get to that point.”
In the second inning, Caccia’s fourth strikeout broke Zach Hirsch’s program career record.
“It says a lot because we’ve been blessed with a lot of quality arms,” Genke said. “To break that record is pretty special. He won’t forget it. It was something on his radar he wanted to get done.”
When his career began, Caccia could have never dreamed to be in position to break that record.
“It feels amazing to have a record here at North,” Caccia said. “When I first started throwing I didn’t expect to even come close to that record.
“Now that I set the record, I’m just planning on keeping on pitching the way I am and helping the team win.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
