Flower Mound-ex is striking back
11:33 PM CDT on Saturday, May 31, 2008
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His first game back on the mound at Elfstrom Stadium in Geneva, Ill., Craig Italiano tried not to think about how long it'd been or why.
A year ago May 14, he'd been hauled off the home field of the Kane County Cougars, Oakland's Class A team, after a line drive caught him flush on the top right corner of his forehead, just under his cap.
An inch or two over, the doctors told the second-round pick out of Flower Mound, and he'd have been dead.
Even at that, a CT scan revealed bleeding in his brain. Doctors told him his season was over. He couldn't do a thing for three months.
Couldn't pitch, couldn't run, couldn't lift, couldn't stand it.
He'd been a can't-miss prospect at Flower Mound, where he blew away high school hitters with a 98 mph fastball. He was on a fast track at Kane County. But his first two seasons had been cut short by injury. First his shoulder, then his head.
"The worst has already happened to me," he said last week. "I don't feel like it can get any worse than that."
Hard to say for sure what life holds from here on out, but it certainly got better. And quickly.
Facing the Burlington Bees at Elfstrom Stadium on April 9, Italiano retired the first 16 batters he faced. Besides his overpowering fastball, he used a plus curveball and plus change-up in any count.
How locked in was he? He struck out six in a row at one point and didn't even realize it.
"But it was cool learning about it afterwards," he said.
The streak finally ended with a hit batsman. He struck out the next hitter and was lifted after reaching his pitch limit.
Bottom line: In his long-awaited home debut, Italiano fanned a career-high nine batters and combined with reliever Branden Dewing for a seven-inning no-hitter.
No one was happier for Italiano than Dewing, who said his teammate "deserves this more than anybody after all the hardships he's been through in the last year."
Since the no-hitter, Italiano hasn't let up. He's 6-0 with a 0.72 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 50 innings.
If he keeps dominating like he has so far, he won't remain in A ball much longer. Still, his goal is simple: He'd like to make it through a full season for a change.
Asked if he dwells on what happened a year ago, he said, "Not really. Off and on you think about it. But not on the mound.
"Out there, it's just me and the catcher."
And the hitter, of course. Now it's his time to worry.
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