Wauconda’s Ryan Fostiak swings a loud bat.
Perhaps no one understands that better than Wauconda baseball coach Shawn Rudolph, who watches Fostiak hit all the time.
But Rudolph, who was standing in the third base box when the 5-foot-9, 185-pound Fostiak laced a screeching foul ball toward him during a game on March 22, bears a not-so-gentle reminder too.
“He smoked me in the leg,” Rudolph said. “My knee still hurts.
“Pound for pound, he’s one of the strongest kids we have, and he hits the ball so hard, it always seems to find a hole.”
In Fostiak’s case, “always” isn’t such an exaggeration. The senior outfielder is hitting .500 with a 1.332 OPS, 12 RBIs and 15 runs scored after playing in nine of 10 games for the Bulldogs (5-5, 1-0), who won their Northern Lake County Conference opener against Lakes on Tuesday.
Fostiak already has nine extra-base hits, and that’s part of his plan.
“I’m fully confident in myself, and I’m ready to hit in every at-bat,” he said. “My approach is to go gap to gap, aiming for doubles and line drives. Not every line drive that you hit is going to fall, but all you can do is try to piece every ball up.”
Fostiak’s approach isn’t new, and his torrid start isn’t too surprising after he hit .387 with a 1.003 OPS, a team-high 43 hits, 24 RBIs and 34 runs scored during his junior season, when he was named all-conference.
Perhaps most impressive, though, is the fact that Fostiak struck out just eight times in 126 plate appearances.
“I credit that to having a solid two-strike approach, where you’re not giving in to the pitcher,” he said. “You have to put those tough pitches in play and be totally dialed in. All of a sudden, that big power you hope for isn’t there. You still want to hit it hard, but you’re thinking that a single is good there.”
Fostiak’s mindset reflects his love for the sport. He briefly considered playing football at Wauconda, but he resisted the temptation.
“It’s always been all baseball with me, so I figured if I like baseball so much, why risk injury in a different sport,” he said. “I decided to stick with a sport I love, and practice and play it as much as I can.”
Fostiak wasn’t kidding, as Rudolph can attest.
“I remember in the fall, being at the football field, coaching the D-line and looking over at the baseball field and always seeing Ryan there, either by himself or with random kids or his dad,” Rudolph said. “He’s old school in the way he approaches the game, and he has his own accountability. It’s awesome to see.”
Those fall workouts are fun for Fostiak.
“I’d bring a bucket of balls in my car and go straight out to the field after school and do my throwing and get my running in,” he said. “Then I’d go home and wait for my dad to get home from work, and we’d go back. He’d throw 80 to 100 pitches per night, and we’d stay out there until we got kicked out.”
Fostiak’s long drives crossed into the soccer field at times, but getting in as many swings as possible is nonnegotiable for him.
“In hindsight, we probably shouldn’t have been out there, but no one got hurt,” he said with a chuckle. “In the fall, I’d play weekend travel tournaments, but those only get you so many reps. I work on baseball day in and day out.”
That dedication shows. The Bulldogs scored 65 runs in their first four games, a level of production that wasn’t sustainable, but it showed how explosive the lineup can be when Fostiak is in it. The one game when he didn’t play, on a day with two games during spring break in Tennessee, Wauconda lost 2-1 to Whitney Young.
“Even in practice, it’s fun to watch him smack the ball around,” Wauconda senior first baseman Carson Koehler said. “The ball has always jumped off his bat. He always makes it easier on us behind him in the order and always gives us a good shot.”
Fortunately for Fostiak, his baseball career will continue after high school. He will play at Illinois Institute of Technology, where he intends to major in mechanical engineering.
“It means everything to me that I’ll be playing baseball and going into a field that I’m highly interested in,” Fostiak said. “I’m definitely not ready to give that part of my life up.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.
