Lincoln-Way West’s Owen Chudzinski has a love for baseball that goes back a long way.
Some of Chudzinski’s earliest memories involve the sport. And his family tells him stories about his passion for the game from a time that he can’t even remember.
“My heart has always been on baseball, ever since I was a little kid,” Chudzinski said. “It’s the first thing I learned to do when I was younger. My first steps came with a bat.”
These days, Chudzinski is mostly making his mark with his arm. In his first varsity season, the junior infielder/pitcher has developed into a reliable reliever for the Warriors.
That continued Saturday as Chudzinski came out of the bullpen to fire four scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing just one hit to lift visiting Lincoln-Way West to a 4-2 nonconference win over Oak Forest.
Notre Dame recruit Michael Pettit and Jackson Mansker each added a single and scored a run for the Warriors (14-4). Peyton Globke produced a sacrifice fly.
Logan Mackowiak worked 6 1/3 strong innings for Oak Forest (10-10), allowing just one earned run on five hits. Kevin Sullivan drew two walks and came through with a two-run single.
Sullivan’s big hit tied the game 2-2 in the third inning, but Chudzinski shut down the Bengals the rest of the way. Senior catcher Owen Weber was certainly impressed for Lincoln-Way West.
“Coming out of the pen, he really threw his curveball and change-up out of the same tunnel and that tricked hitters,” Weber said of Chudzinski. “It really worked.
“He has confidence on the mound, and he’s just out there with a dog mentality, ready to compete at all times.”
With the Warriors’ pitching staff undergoing a full overhaul from last season, Chudzinski felt some pressure to step up as he made the transition to varsity.
“It was exciting,” he said. “There was a little anxiety the first couple outings but I got rid of that. I’m used to it now and I’m ready to attack.”
And he’s adjusting to his relief role.
“I was a starter all the way up to sophomore year and that’s when I shifted into more of the bullpen — closer’s role,” Chudzinski said. “It’s the same mindset. You’ve got to attack hitters.”
Chudzinski is certainly doing that. He’s now 2-1 with a save, an 0.91 ERA and 19 strikeouts over 15 1/3 innings.
He’s proven to be exactly what Lincoln-Way West coach Jake Zajc was looking for .
“He’s been one of our key guys out of the pen and he’s done a really nice job competing, mixing up pitches and throwing strikes,” Zajc said. “There were some moments in this game where he could have lost his composure and he didn’t. He stayed tough throughout the end.”
Chudzinski’s most stressful situation came in the bottom of the sixth inning with the Warriors clinging to a 3-2 lead.
Oak Forest had runners on second and third with no outs after a single, a walk and a wild pitch.
Chudzinski got out of the jam with two straight strikeouts followed by a pop-up.
“I was thrown into the same situation earlier in the season and I got the first two strikeouts there, too,” Chudzinski said. “I had the same mentality that I had to get this done for my team.
“I just focused on getting one out at a time.”
Chudzinski played basketball up until high school and was on the golf team his first two years at Lincoln-Way West but has decided to zone in on baseball.
It all goes back to those early days.
“Every day in the backyard, in the basement, hitting off the tee, throwing balls, playing catch when I was younger,” Chudzinski said. “I fell in love with the game.”
