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Baseball coaches optimistic of locals' chances of making postseason run
By Michael J. Petro Times
With the high school baseball sectional playoffs beginning this week, local coaches are keeping their teams on their toes.
 | | MAIN MAN...John F. Kennedy senior pitcher Jerome Okonzak has carried the Bears on the mound this season. (Times photo) |
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Despite some playing in what appear to be typically unevenly matched contests at the outset of the playoffs, these managers are taking nothing for granted.
After all, the Section VI singleelimination playoffs, especially in the sport of baseball, are wideopen and full of strange scenarios that can make or break a season.
These coaches all realize that any team can win on any particular day, sometimes depending on pitching matchups, while other times winning or losing can be determined by speed on the basepaths or fielding errors. Even weather and rain, cold or wind can become an equalizer.
The key to a run in this type of tournament is not so much a team's regular-season results or playoff seeding but many times becomes simply executing in the clutch, minimizing mistakes and of course, receiving pitching and defense, the backbone of most successful baseball teams.
"In the playoffs, you don't score 10 to 12 runs so you have to do the little things right," said first-year Maryvale head coach Kurt Hansen, whose team finished tied for first in Erie County Interscholastic Conference III and will be seeded fourth in Section VI Class A, beginning play Friday in a prequarterfinal game at home against today's No. 19 Tonawanda at No. 14 West Seneca East winner. "You can't have defensive and mental errors...To do well, you have got to get the breaks and execute."
No one realizes these factors more at this point than Cheektowaga Central head coach Dan Kaplan. After a surprisingly big season out of his youthful ball club, in which the Warriors finished atop ECIC-III with Maryvale and Starpoint, his squad must match up Friday in the prequarterfinals with a scrappy 13thseeded
Depew team.
Despite losing twice to Central in the regular season, the ECIC-III fifth-place finishing Wildcats played tough in both regular season contests between the two and just avoided a play-in game Thursday in which Depew would have thrown its ace pitcher.
Instead, an inexperienced Central team, still seemingly a distinct favorite against Depew, may actually be fighting an uphill battle against one of the better starters from the ECIC in Wildcats senior Cody Stachewicz.
"This tournament is wide open, that's for sure," Kaplan said. "We'd rather be playing a team that had to throw their ace and may have had to play a long game in a qualifier. We've only seen Stachewicz a few innings this year, but it definitely makes them tougher with him on the mound. That's a nice team that we are definitely not looking past."
If they can play fundamentally sound and continue to peak, ECICIV's John F. Kennedy and Cleveland Hill are other local squads who believe they can compete in the Class B tournament, but only one will advance past Friday's prequarterfinal round as the two teams square off at JFK in their third meeting of the season.
While the youth and inexperience of 11th-ranked Cleveland Hill may make that task slightly more difficult, JFK, the sixth seed, is primed and confident in the possibility of making it difficult for the top seeds in Class B.
However, first the Bears, who finished third in the ECIC-IV, must handle their business against Cleveland Hill, a team they recently defeated 8-7 and 14-5 in a home-andhome series.
"As long as we don't beat ourselves, I think we can make a run," said JFK head coach Casey Snyder, whose team lost only once this year by more than two runs. "We have the bats and the pitching. The games
+ from page 10 we've lost this year, we've done it to ourselves with errors and mistakes."
(3) Maryvale vs. TBA
Friday, 5 p.m.
The Flyers will face the winner of 19th-seeded Tonawanda at No. 14 seed West Seneca East, who play today in a play-in contest.
By virtue of a random draw, Maryvale (9-3 league, 11-5 overall) garnered the top seed of all local teams competing in the sectional tournament at No. 3. Williamsville East won the No. 1 spot and Starpoint, No. 2, in Class A and with all of its talent is considered one of the favorites.
The Flyers hit the ball extremely well, featuring a lineup with speed and power, and despite the loss of senior Matt Mohr on the mound, have put together a formidable pitching staff. Maryvale's only issues are its own mental mistakes in the field and base paths, which cost it a chance at sole possession of the league crown.
"If we clean those things up, hopefully we'll be successful in the playoffs," Hansen said. "As you get deeper and deeper into the playoffs, teams will take advantage of mistakes like that...There's so many good teams, but if we don't have a game with five errors, I'll take my chances with this team."
Leading the offensive production are the Flyers' top six hitters in the lineup- Jake Nowak, Mike Martin, Mohr, Shane Latshaw, Nick Law and Nick Nolder- while Nowak, Latshaw and Ryan Domkowski rotate on the mound. All these key players are juniors except for Martin, a senior shortstop.
Hansen said Mohr, who has been throwing on a limited basis in games, may see some time on the mound in the playoffs but added that they don't want to push him because he is too valuable offensively and in the field.
If the Flyers win tomorrow, they will face on Tuesday in the quarterfinals the winner of 11thseeded Iroquois at No. 6 Grand Island, who square off tomorrow. (4) Central vs. (13) Depew
Friday, 5 p.m.
The play of the Warriors (9-3 in league, 11-7 overall) this regular season has surprised their eighth-year head coach, but Kaplan would not go so far as to call his team, which featured eight new starters at the year's outset, an overachiever.
Although his team is young, Kaplan has been impressed with Central's baseball IQ, ability to become baseball players and not just athletes and show growth even under the pressure of playing competitive varsity baseball on a team with historically high expectations.
It's the type of team that has him excited about not just this year's playoffs but seasons to come.
"We came into the season with a lot of question marks, so I had no idea what to expect, but this team has played well all year and matured quickly because they had to," Kaplan said. "We weren't talked about when there was discussion about divisional champs. They have done a great job answering the bell."
The Warriors were successful, thanks to using "small ball" to manufacture runs and receiving solid pitching and defense, a far cry from the big bats and big arms Central has enjoyed in years' past.
Central received production at the plate from many players including Jared and Jonah Messina, Jeremy Limardi, Justin Hejna, Jordan Cave, Tyler Molina, Ryan Jaracz and one of just two seniors on the squad, Matt Sonricker
The Warriors have been especially tough up the middle defensively with Sonricker at shortstop, Jared Mesina at second and Jaracz in center. Freshman Jon Klein has been Central's go-to pitcher.
Depew head coach Jim Stevens, whose team is coming off an inconsident regular season in which it went 5-7 in ECIC-III, 7-8 overall, thinks the Wildcats could surprise some people in their first-round matchup.
"I think we match up pretty well (with the Warriors)," Steven said. "(Central) is a younger team and a lot of its players are seeing sectionals for the first time. It's hard to beat somebody three times in a year...It's not a bad draw for us."
On the mound, Stachewicz has been Stevens' go-to guy, compiling an earned run average of 2.37, along with a won-loss record of 2-3. Junior left-hander Nick Kozak is also capable of pitching effectively when called upon, according to Stevens.
At the plate, sophomore catcher Joe Christiano led the team with a .411 regular-season batting average, while junior shortstop Steve Karnyski hit .345. Junior first baseman Bryan Aichinger (.296) and Stachewicz (.290) overcame earlyseason slumps to finish strong.
The winner of tomorrow's contest will likely play on Tuesday in the quarterfinals the winner of No. 12 Dunkirk at fifth-seeded Albion, who face each other today.
(6) JFK vs. (11) Cleve Hill
Friday, 5 p.m.
Despite having the potential to blow the doors down off many of their opponents with their hitting, the Bears (8-4 league, 9-8 overall) have kept many games very interesting this season.
JFK has won by large margins in some games, but too many times has kept lesser teams around with its own mental and physical mistakes, forcing the Bears to come from behind for several victories.
In the postseason, Snyder is hoping to minimize those mistakes and take advantage of his squad's solid pitching, which gave up very few earned runs during the league season.
He knows his team is capable of playing well after splitting the regular season series with the tournament's No. 3 seed East Aurora and playing extremely competitively against No. 2 and ECIC-IV champion Eden. Newfane is the No. 1- ranked school in Class B.
JFK will count on the bats of leadoff hitter and shortstop Ryan LaCorte, third baseman Dan Skoczylas, second baseman Adam Ferraro and outfielder Brian Lewandowski, who started the year on the bench but has since become a fixture in the starting lineup and contributed two late-inning game winning hits.
Senior Jerome Okonzak will anchor a pitching staff, which also includes the lively arms of Jake Jankowski and Ben Walkow. Snyder has been thrilled with his hurlers' performances and sustained positive attitude despite many fielding problems this season.
The Golden Eagles (5-7 league, 5-9 overall) will attempt to approach the postseason with a new attitude after winning their last two league games of the regular season, according to head coach Jason Przybysz. However, forgetting all of the growing pains the 2007 season has presented may not be all that easy.
Przybysz said this year has been an uphill battle for his team because of limited numbers and youth. He noted that the problem has been playing at the varsity level with a junior varsity mentality. Despite all of his efforts, Przybysz has had difficulty keeping his team from falling apart at times, then getting his players' heads back up. Still, he remains proud of his team's accomplishments.
"When you have a young team, you're coaching every single play and inning because most of the them haven't been out there on a regular basis," Przybysz said. "We're trying to pick things up and make things happen going into this new season and hoping that with a couple of practices and looking at it like it's a new season, will help."
Cleveland Hill needs the top of its order- which includes juniors Charlie Eichhorn (first baseman) and Aaron Kaczmarek and freshman Ron Lawrence- to produce hits and the bottom of the lineup to be selective and try to get on base so that the Eagles can compete by playing "small ball" and situational baseball.
Kaczmarek is the ace of the staff, while Lawrence is the team's No. 2 starter. Przybysz has also been impressed with the way first-year starting catcher Ryan Gemmati has handled the staff and his role as the team's backstop.
The winner of tomorrow's contest will likely play Tuesday in the quarterfinals the winner of the No. 14 Southwestern at third-seeded East Aurora matchup.
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