The autographed baseball currently displayed on George Bilecki’s mantle may be losing its place of honor later this spring.
In the fourth inning of Lewis’ 5-2 victory at Rockhurst on April 26 in Game 2 of a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader, the junior center fielder made history, hitting his 21st home run of the season. That made him the single-season leader for Lewis since the 1994 season when Division II teams had their schedules reduced to 50 games.
Leading off the inning for the Flyers and having fallen behind 0-and-2, the lefty finally got his pitch and made the most of it.
“I didn’t think they were going to try to blow a heater by me,” Bilecki said. “As crazy as this sounds, I saw (Rockhurst’s pitcher) pre-grip the changeup and I thought a changeup was going to come. I got lucky enough where I got a great changeup to hit. He left it over the heart of the plate and I just hammered it over the right-field wall.
“The wind was actually blowing in from right, so I really didn’t know if it was going to go (over the fence). About three-fourths down the first-base line, I watched the right fielder coast over to the fence knowing that it was gone. We took the lead 1-0 and we ended up winning the game.”
Thanks to the diligence of his teammates, the ball was retrieved and presented to Bilecki, a 2022 Marist graduate.
“After the game, Coach (Mike Vucsko) brought the team together and I got recognized for it. That was a really cool moment,” Bilecki said. “When we got back (Sunday) night, one of the first things I did was put the ball right on my desk. …
“Once I get back home, I actually have a ball signed by Gordon Beckham back when he was playing for the White Sox. I think I’m going to replace that ball with this one.”
Not bad for someone who had one career home run in four years of high-school baseball at Marist.
This season, Bilecki is batting .375, having started all 46 games for the Flyers, who were 34-12 overall and 22-6 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. He leads Lewis in home runs (21), RBI (63), total bases (143) and stolen bases (17 in 19 attempts). Bilecki is second in doubles (13) and runs (56).
“I’ve never really considered myself a home-run hitter until I got to college,” Bilecki said. “I hit seven my freshman year and that was really cool to me and I felt that was a huge number.
“My sophomore year I came out and my coach and I worked in the offseason on swinging for power. I ended up hitting 10. The average went down a little bit which was not ideal, but the home runs were up. I hit my first double-digit home runs in a season and I thought that was pretty cool building off freshman year. This year, I feel like I’ve really come together and become a complete hitter. I’m hitting for power and my average is back up which is great. I can’t complain.”
● Dubuque’s Otis Patterson was named the American Rivers Conference’s Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week for April 14.
Competing at the Wisconsin-Platteville Invitational, the Richards graduate finished first in the 200 meters with a time of 21.79 seconds. In the 400, Patterson posted a winning time of 47.72. He also participated in the 4×400 relay that was second (3:14.87).