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Over the last calendar year, senior pitcher TJ Schlageter has been thrown into many intense athletic situations for Joliet Catholic. It’s a lengthy list that goes on and on and on.
His resume includes winning a state title last season in baseball to starting at quarterback for the football team to helping the Hilltoppers make a big postseason run in basketball.
It also means he’s unlikely to get rattled in any tough circumstances on the mound.
“Those competitive moments are big,” Schlageter said. “Having to make a free throw or step into the pocket and make a pass, all those moments add up. They help me.”
Schlageter was calm, cool, collected and dominant in his season debut Wednesday.
The Louisville recruit struck out 11 over five scoreless innings and didn’t need much help whatsoever in leading host Joliet Catholic to a 2-1 nonconference victory over Brother Rice.
The game was called after 5 1/2 innings due to darkness, a decision that upset the Crusaders and coach Sean McBride.
Trey Swiderski, another Louisville recruit, had an RBI single and Brett Hulbert scored two runs for Joliet Catholic (1-0-1). Hulbert also had the defensive play of the game, throwing a runner out at the plate from center field in the fifth inning.
Western Kentucky commit Bryce Nevils led Brother Rice (2-2) with an RBI double. Purdue recruit Amir Gray added a single and a walk.
The Crusaders couldn’t do much against Schlageter, however.
“It’s really comfortable out there knowing he’ll make a competitive pitch any time,” Hulbert said of Schlageter. “I know he’s going to give me an opportunity to make plays, and we love to see when he dominates like that.”
Joliet Catholic coach Jared Voss knows Schlageter is always going to give his all on the mound — and anywhere else he competes.
“He’s got his scholarship to Louisville, and there he is quarterbacking and out there for the basketball team,” Voss said. “He turns his ankle in basketball and comes back two weeks later. He has mono and comes back.
“He always wants to be out there. He’s the ultimate competitor.”
As far as Schlageter is concerned, that’s just who he is.
“The big thing for me is just always giving my all for everybody,” he said. “Even when I was hurt, I just wanted to come back and show my team that I’m going to get out there for them. I just like being around ball.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I was always doing something. It’s kind of been my nature.”
Schlageter did not need a ton of help from his defense, but he got it when he did.
With Joliet Catholic leading 1-0 in the fifth, Brother Rice’s Lance Moon sent a two-out single to center field and Gavin Triezenberg raced toward home as the potential tying run.
Hulbert fired a one-hop strike to the plate to nail the runner.
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“I was just thinking keep the ball low, get it through the cutoff,” Hulbert said. “It was a big play to be made and it was needed at the time.”
McBride was not happy with the performance of the Crusaders, who graduated some big pieces from their Class 4A third-place finisher but also returned several key players.
“There are no excuses,” McBride said. “We have a group that can win and should win and we have leaders that are back. We schedule hard for a reason, but we expect to win. That is the standard that we’ve set, and anything short of that isn’t good enough.
“I want to challenge our guys to be tougher and more confident.”
Schlageter, on the other hand, had many reasons to be confident Wednesday.
“I felt good,” Schlageter said. “My defense did great behind me and I had a little bit of everything working, so that made it fun.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
