Siedlecki's quite a catch for Carmel

With fishing as a hobby, Brian Siedlecki knows all about lulls in the action.

"Fishing is relaxing to me. It's calming," said Siedlecki, whose proudest fishing tale involves him catching a 4-pound bass. "And I like being out there with my dad and grandpa.

"But it can get boring sometimes."

So can playing center field.

Siedlecki, whose friends and coaches at Carmel Catholic characterize him as quiet and extremely reserved, is all for serenity. But when he goes long stretches with nothing to do in centerfield -- which was the case in Carmel's first two state tournament games last week against Lake Forest and Warren -- he gets a little stir-crazy.

"I didn't get a single ball at me in those two games. Not one," said the 18-year-old Siedlecki, a senior who lives in Island Lake. "I don't like those days. You just have to put your sunglasses down and wait."

Fishermen never know if, or when, their day will get more exciting.

But even on the slowest days in center field, at least Siedlecki knows that it's only a matter of time before his boredom will dissipate.

The three-year varsity starter also bats leadoff for the Corsairs. And this season, he's been practically a sure thing once he steps into the batter's box.

Siedlecki has maintained a team-best plus-.500 batting average almost the entire season and is a big reason Carmel boasted 31 wins, an East Suburban Catholic Conference co-championship and a regional championship heading into Saturday's sectional final at Libertyville.

"He's done a great job of hitting the ball for us this year," Carmel coach Chuck Gandolfi said of Siedlecki. "He's had an all-state caliber year."

Siedlecki has been Mr. Consistent for the Corsairs. He frequently ends up with multiple hits and has had at least one perfect performance that he can remember -- his 3-for-3 effort against Notre Dame earlier in the season.

"I also had a really good game against Joliet Catholic and their big (Division I) pitcher, " Siedlecki said of John Ruettiger, who will be playing next year at Arizona State. "I went 2-for-4 against him."

Only 2-for-4?

Tsk. Tsk.

That's what his teammates would say. With a laugh.

Yep, Siedlecki has become so reliable that the guys can't help but give him a good-natured hard time if his stat line isn't nearly perfect every game.

"If (Siedlecki) goes 2-for-4 everyone is asking him, 'What's going on? Only 2 hits today?' " joked teammate and longtime friend Joey Pudlo, who plays right field for the Corsairs. "It seems like every game he takes his first at-bat and lines it into the gap somewhere and gets on base. He's hitting the ball great and he's been so consistent with it."

Siedlecki was fairly consistent last year with a .330 average, but says that his summer workouts at the cages with Pudlo made him even more reliable.

And that gave him the confidence to ask Gandolfi if he could be moved from the No. 9 spot to the leadoff position.

"I really wanted to hit lead-off and I showed coach that I had worked for it," Siedlecki said. "I just kept on hitting. I would switch speeds every time. I worked on a lot on the off-speed stuff, like curveballs.

"I worked pretty hard. But I still never would have expected my (batting average) to be so high."

Speaking of expectations, they've always been high for Siedlecki, a natural athlete who is both tall (6-foot-3) and fast.

Even as a freshman, Siedlecki stood out, and Gandolfi wasted no time bringing him up to the varsity.

"Whether it's fact or fiction, a lot of people have put very high expectations on Brian ever since he's gotten here (to Carmel)," Gandolfi said. "And this season lays all that to rest because he's had his time to shine and he's taken it and run with it."

But not just at the plate.

Siedlecki has been valuable in the field, too -- when the ball is hit to him, that is.

A former pitcher, he's got one of the strongest arms on the team. And with his speed (6.8 in the 60-yard dash), Siedlecki can cover a lot of ground.

Just ask Libertyville.

"We were playing a game at Libertyville earlier this season and they've got this little hill out in center field and Brian was running up the hill as the ball was coming and he made this over-the-shoulder Willie Mays-type catch," Pudlo said, referring to the classic catch that Mays made with his back to the ball in the 1954 World Series. "The guys from Libertyville thought he had dropped it. He looked over at me and said, 'I caught that. Did you see that?' "

Siedlecki, who dreams of playing Division I baseball but will likely start at a junior college first, would prefer that his spectacular catches get much more notice than his offensive statistics.

But he understands that a .500 batting average is hard to downplay.

"Guys on the team are more worried about (the batting average) than I am. They're always asking me what it is," Siedlecki said with a smile. "But I don't really know. I'm not really worried about it.

"I enjoy center field more than hitting anyway."

But only if the fish are biting.