O-R Athlete of thee Week: Nathan Klodowski, Burgettstown
Name: Nathan Klodowski
School: Burgettstown
Class: Junior
Sport: Baseball
Klodowski’s week: The righthanded pitcher for the Blue Devils struck out 11 and did not walk a batter in helping Burgettstown clinch a WPIAL playoff berth from Class 2A Section 4 with an 11-0 victory over Fort Cherry.
Klodowski also tripled and scored three runs as the Blue Devils moved to 8-4 in the section and 11-5 overall.
Burgettstown won the rematch the next day by the same score to secure third place in the section. Klodowski went 2-for-2 with two doubles and four runs.
“That gave us third in the division so that’s good,” said Klodowski. “That’s been our rival in just about everything.”
For the season, Klodowski is 4-2 with a 1.81 ERA. He’s hitting .430 with 12 RBI. He also scored 27 runs from his leadoff spot to lead the team.
His fastball has reach 87 mph but averages 86-87 mph. He has 72 strikeouts in only 38.2 innings – good enough, Klodowski says – and is sixth-best in the state.
“I’ve been playing travel baseball since I was 8,” Klodowski said. “I was always confident we would make the playoffs.”
Klodowski got started in baseball through his father, who also was his coach. Klodowski started pitching only two years ago. He always wanted to try it and improved enough to be the No. 1 starter on the team.
Oh, and did we mention that he has not decided on a college?
Another sport: Most of the baseball players on Burgettstown’s team have tried another sport just for the fun of it.
“We’ve been going golfing a lot recently,” Klodowski said. “It’s a good way to get away from baseball but have your teammates around you. We just went Saturday and there were six or seven of us.”
Klodowski is in the early stages of learning the game.
“It’s all about having fun right now,” Klodowski said,
Klodowski said he might be able to score better but he and his driver currently are not speaking.
Klodowski is a big Pirates and Penguins fan and has been known to binge watch on Netflix. His favorite is “Outerbanks.”
Compiled by Joe Tuscano