Craig Italiano = dominant

When he walked off the Elfstrom Stadium mound at the end of the fourth inning Wednesday night, the three of us in the press box just looked at each other. It was one of those nights where you could tell a pitcher had it going and the 21-year-old right-hander had knocked down the first 12 Burlington Bees with relative ease.

Because the game was the back end of a doubleheader, he only had nine outs left for a perfect game and the way things were going he looked like he had a great chance. Italiano later hit a batter and left at his 80-pitch limit five outs later, but Branden Dewing came in and retired the four Bees he faced to finish out the combined no-hitter as the Cougars improved to 7-0 on the season with a 3-0 win.

For more on the game, see my story here

It was a pretty amazing pitching performance as Italiano was awesome - the Bees didn't even come close to a hit when he was in the game. He faced 18 batters in all and recorded nine strikeouts, four groundouts and four fly balls on the night, but all of the balls put in play were pretty much right at people.

Along with his 95 mph fastball, he was mixing up his pitches really well. He started a few hitters off with breaking balls and wasn't afraid to go to his secondary pitches even when he was behind on the count.

Overall, it was just a great story given all he has been through the last couple of years and it was cool to see him pitch near his potential. He is very well-liked in the clubhouse, and everyone, from manager Aaron Nieckula on down, seemed genuinely happy for him.

Things haven't gone Italiano's way since he was drafted in 2005. Coming into Tuesday he had just one win as a pro, and had missed most of 2006 with a shoulder injury, then sat out most of last year after being drilled by a line drive and suffering a skull fracture in a very scary incident on May 14. He didn't get to pitch again until instructs in the fall and this was the first time he had appeared on the mound at Elfstrom since it happened.

Pitching coach Don Schulze said at media day last week that Italiano's physical - and mental - well-being was 'not an issue' and Craig seemed to put those questions to rest. He's very fortunate to be pitching again and I think he realizes it (in a good way) and is working to get back on track this year. He's still only 21 so he has plenty of time.