CRESTWOOD -- From the first four pitches Monday afternoon, it was not a matter of whether the Joliet Catholic Academy baseball team would keep up with Chicago Jones, but rather could Jones keep up with leadoff hitter Dave Cladis.

A senior shortstop still deciding between the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and St. Ambrose, Cladis started off the top of the first inning with a four-pitch walk, stole second base cleanly and scored on a sharp bouncer up the middle by senior second baseman Nick Ratajczak.

Seemingly a thousand pitches later, Cladis dropped down a beaut of a bunt at the beginning of the Hilltoppers' 7-run rally in the third inning from a 3-1 deficit -- a brilliantly heads-up move on a 2-1 count that provided the template of many at-bats to come.