St. Laurence’s Luke Stulga has been feeling quite good about his ability to hit a fastball.
“I’ve been feeling like nobody could beat me — nobody’s velocity can beat me,” Stulga said. “I’ve been hitting all the fastest speeds we’ve faced this year. That’s a good confidence builder when you know someone can’t blow a fastball by you.”
On Wednesday, the junior outfielder proved to himself he can also hammer curveballs.
Stulga homered twice and drove in four runs to lift the top-seeded host Vikings to a 10-4 victory over fourth-seeded Marist in a Class 3A St. Laurence Sectional semifinal in Burbank.
“They were both on curveballs,” said Stulga, an Illinois State recruit. “It definitely feels good. If you can hit fastballs and curveballs, you don’t have many things they can beat you with.”
Angelo Luna went 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs for St. Laurence (30-8), which will play at 11 a.m. Saturday in the final against the winner of Thursday’s semifinal between Lemont and Nazareth. Jameson Martin added a double and a sacrifice fly.
Nate Voss went 2-for-4 with two runs for Marist (19-18), while George Bilecki, Jack Wade, Quinn Duffy and Justin Lang each had an RBI single.
Stulga’s blasts — his sixth and seventh home runs of the spring — were major momentum-builders for the Vikings.
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His first homer was a solo shot in the second inning that forced a 1-1 tie. The second was a three-run shot that broke things open for a 9-1 lead.
“It felt good to give us a big boost of energy on the first one when we were behind,” Stulga said. “I feel like our bats started coming around after that and they started falling apart. It was kind of a confidence deteriorator for them.
“Then the second one was like the nail in the coffin.”
After an up-and-down season as a sophomore, Stulga has been a huge contributor in the middle of the lineup throughout this season for the Vikings.
“I know he’s really talented,” Luna said of Stulga. “Last year, he showed little glimpses of it. This year, I’m just extremely proud of him. He works hard.
“He’s becoming an animal. He’s going to be scary next year too.”
St. Laurence coach Pete Lotus said Stulga has put in the extra effort to improve against off-speed pitches.
“I’m super proud of him because he’s worked really hard on his approach and not getting himself out,” Lotus said. “He has tons of ability, but there are times when he’s too aggressive and he’s out in front of everything.
“We’ve spent a lot of time in batting practice on letting the ball travel a little further. Both of those were curveballs, so I was really happy for him.”
The Vikings turned to freshman Joe Olson for the pitching start. He committed an error on the first play of the game and gave up a run in the first but got an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
He then settled down to throw 3 2/3 innings, allowing just the one run.
“It was huge to get a double play in that first inning and only give up one,” Lotus said of Olson. “He’s been as composed as I’ve seen for a freshman.
“We’ve purposely put him in big games in the Catholic League just to see if he could handle something like this, and he’s responded every time.”
The Vikings escaped another bases-loaded situation in the fourth when Kannen Mosher came on in relief and delivered a strikeout to end the inning.
St. Laurence avenged a 3-2 loss to Marist on April 29.
“It was a redemption game for us,” Luna said.
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.