Sophomore shortstop Brett Tucker took it all in during his varsity debut for Lemont.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Tucker reached first base on an error. After stealing second, he joyfully raised his arms in the air. He was grinning from ear to ear when he reached third on a fly out, then smiled and clapped his hands when he came home on a heroic hit by Max Michalak.
That caused a wild celebration in the middle of the infield.
“It was cool,” Tucker said. “I like being around this atmosphere. This was a lot of fun.”
Tucker and host Lemont had a lot to celebrate Saturday after rallying from deficits of 6-0 heading into the bottom of the second and 8-3 going into the sixth en route to a 9-8 win over Sandburg.
Earlier, Tucker singled in a run for Lemont (1-0). Michalak added three walks and scored three times. Matt DeVoy had two hits and three steals and worked three solid innings in relief.
Shea Glotzbach earned the pitching win, keeping the Eagles (1-10) off the board in the sixth and seventh. Nick Morsovillo led Sandburg with two doubles. Charlie Snoreck had a two-run single.
Tucker’s debut also had Lemont coach Brian Storako smiling.
“He’s a spark plug,” Storako said. “He has some growing to do, and we’re excited to see where he’s going to be. He had a really good offseason, worked his butt off, so we expect big things.”
Tucker, a three-sport athlete, also plays soccer and basketball for Lemont.
He comes from a family of athletes. That includes older brother Eric, who was a member of Lemont’s 2014 Class 4A state championship baseball team and attended Pikeville in Kentucky.
“My dad (Patrick) was a three-sport athlete in high school at Morton, playing football and baseball and he wrestled,” Brett said. “He had us playing sports at an early age.”
As a freshman, Brett played on the sophomore team in baseball for Lemont. Prep Baseball Report’s scouting review lauded his “whippy, quick hands” at the plate and “soft hands” in the field before Tucker even took his first varsity swing with the program.
Michalak’s scouting report, meanwhile, was glowing about Tucker and what he tends to offer up.
“He’s a young guy, but he’s mature for his age,” Michalak said. “The way he stands out in the dugout, he’s never pouting or anything like that. He’s a leader as well.”
Michalak, a team captain, drove a 3-0 pitch into left field to ignite Saturday’s celebration.
The Parkland recruit did not play much last season for Lemont, but in the summer he participated in travel for the White Sox Elite and produced a game-winning hit during a tournament in Iowa.
Storako is glad that a team with scant experience could pull off a dramatic come-from-behind win.
“It’s the first varsity game for a lot of these guys,” he said. “We have only one returning starter, and that’s our catcher (Noah Tomaras). Everyone else is kind of brand new here.
“They have fight in them, that’s for sure. After that second inning, we said we had two options, and they obviously picked the option to fight back. They are a bunch of dogs, and they are ready for the season.”
Tucker studies MLB shortstops. He said he admires Brandon Crawford, a former longtime for the San Francisco Giants who is now in the St. Louis Cardinals’ spring training camp.
“I really like him because he’s really smooth,” Tucker said of Crawford. “I like watching him, and it’s why I like playing shortstop.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
