Aurora Christian pitcher Noah Zappia saw the quality of his stuff tick up in the offseason.
Suddenly, the sophomore left-hander was throwing in the low-to-mid 80s, becoming a viable option for the Eagles’ rotation. The thing that held him back early on, however, was walks.
“I was releasing too early,” said Zappia, who had allowed 12 walks in 12 1/3 innings heading into Thursday’s game. “I started releasing a little lower and they started going in there.
“It was so great. I was feeling it today. I was like, ‘This is going to be a great day.’”
Indeed, Zappia was dominant, striking out nine without a walk and allowing only two hits for Aurora Christian in a 10-0 five-inning win in a Chicagoland Christian Conference opener at St. Edward.
Cristian Huerta finished with two hits and four RBIs and hit his first career home run for the Eagles (8-3, 1-0). Preston Morel added two hits and two RBIs. Gavin Pesek picked up two hits and scored twice for St. Edward (1-7, 0-3), while Zachary Lombardo doubled.
Zappia, meanwhile, got the breakout outing he was looking for after spending the offseason working with Jake Kuntzendorf, a former Eagles star. The two unlocked something in February.
“He really found an extra gear over the fall and winter,” Aurora Christian coach Andy Zorger said. “He worked with Jake a lot on his pitching and it’s really showing. The velocity really kicked up.
“He’s probably sitting 83, touching 85. The first couple weeks watching his bullpens we thought, we’re going to put him out there and see what he has.”
The thing holding him back was walks. To Zorger, it all came down to mechanics. Once Zappia and Kuntzendorf ironed that out, Zappia was able to show off his talent Thursday.
“He found his fastball command, which he’s been struggling with,” Zorger said. “He’s been effective enough. He’s still done enough to keep us in the games he’s started.
“He just hasn’t dominated yet. That was really good to see.”
Zappia perked up after following the advice from Kuntzendorf and putting it into action.
“I was like, ‘Oh wow, you were right,;” Zappia said. “This is amazing. He just really worked with me in the offseason, got all my mechanics right. Before, I was way out in front.
“I stay back and rotate better now and I’m throwing a lot harder.”
That velocity was noticed by St. Edward coach Mike Aydt.
“That makes it tough,” Aydt said. “He had pretty good velocity, was able to locate it and had movement on his breaking pitches. You could see some of our guys were a little bit fooled.”
Huerta’s three-run homer in the first inning opened a 4-0 lead for Aurora Christian. A missed pop-up in foul territory gave Huerta new life and he took advantage.
“He’s been struggling, so that was really nice to see,” Zorger said of Huerta.
Aydt was happy his team made things difficult on Aurora Christian at times. Eventually, however, walks came back to bite the Green Wave. The Eagles drew five walks and had a hit batter.
“When we start giving up free passes, it puts the pressure on him to throw a perfect pitch,” Aydt said. “And it puts the pressure on the defense to not mess up.”
Aurora Christian left five runners on base in the first three innings. Eventually, the Eagles started to break through again. Morel’s two-run double in a four-run fifth built a 10-0 lead.
And now that Zappia has seen results, he’s ready to move forward.
“This means the world,” Zappia said. “It just really helped my confidence. I’m going to start dominating now. It’s only up from here.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
