By Doug Smith
BUFFALO – Sometimes, when the going gets tough, the tough get throwing. And so it was Tuesday at Coca-Cola Field as St. Joe’s left-fielder Jake Kopacz, still beating himself up for missing a play Mays might not have made, fired a 220-foot strike to cut off the tying run and preserve Marauders’ first Msgr. Martin Assn. baseball championship in seven years.
St. Joe’s clung to a 4-3 lead as the seventh and final inning began, largely on the gritty determination of sophomore pitcher Chris Falk, who winked his way to a complete game. Two St. Francis batters grounded to shortstop Tyler Mills and after Falk’s 2-2 pitch to Frannie leadoff Paul Wujek, 500 Marauder supporters rose and declared the final out.
But the plate umpire over-ruled that majority and Wujek turned on the next pitch, drilling it far over Kopacz’s head. Turning the wrong way with the ball transiting the afternoon sun like a wayward planetoid, Kopacz lost track of it, then found it in time to hold Wujek to a double.
“I should have had it, I missed that play, I cost my team,” Kopacz insisted. Not a chance. Any major-league outfielder making that catch would have ruled the highlight reel.
In stepped Matt Michalski, quickly drilling a single through the hole to left. On came Kopacz. “I didn’t know if he would try for home or not, but I was throwing anyway,” he said. It came in about two steps up the line to catcher Alex Kovacs, who almost made the tag look easy. “I knew he’d get it to me,” Kovacs said. “He’s got a cannon out there.”
Almost overwhelmed, second-year coach Paul Nasca, summed up the emotion of a conclusion putting anyway walk-off to shame. “It’s just something else,” he said.
St. Joe’s led all the way, scoring three in the second on just one hit, Kopacz’s RBI double. Kovacs beat out a bobbled topped grounder and on the key play, with the bases loaded, one out, Donny Kilian stroked one way wide of first, where Matt Carrie made a lobsterman’s grab and flipped to second as a run scored. But the Frannies’ double-play attempt went wide, another run scoring.
In the fourth, Kovacs and Baldinelli singled around a second consecutive picture-book sacrifice by Kevin Kabacinski. Each sacrifice led to a run.
St. Francis scored on an error in the fourth and in the fifth, Falk hit the eighth batter and walked the ninth. “I thought I was coming out for sure,” he said. “I was almost surprised when coach left me in.”
Nasca had a different story. “He looked over at me and he winked and I knew then that he was OK and wanted me to trust him,” Nasca said. “Our program is founded on trust.” Wujek singled for a run but thereafter Falk retired eight in a row before Kopacz’s golden arm raked in the pot.
MAROON TUNES: Marauder fans seemed to outnumber the Franciscans by about 4-1, perhaps a function of their occupying the sunny side of the stadium… Not everyone got the memo about returning foul balls to the field of play and the blue wound up sending out for more… So many birds pestering players, fans and officials and many wondered whom Hitchcock was rooting for… Anyone needing an energy boost should find a seat next to Tyler Mills’ Mom at a game… The aroma of Wheaties from the nearby General Mill was overwhelming, just the right breakfast of Marauders this morning.
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