Connecticut Tri-State Baseball League

Copyright Peter Wallace/Rick Wilson    Register-Citizen/Republican-American

Bob McMahon and Kevin Pettit stood off to the side a bit and took it all in like proud parents instead of ecstatic kids. For 22 years, the two have worn their Bethlehem Plowboys gear with style, and while still playing and contributing, part of the fun now is watching what they have helped nurture. So a big part of the fun Wednesday night at Fuessenich Park was experiencing one more title with a new group and feeling that titles never get old, only better, as the faces change.

Some of the Plowboy youth is well-known to area fans – former Holy Cross star Nick Chiovitti who led the Crusaders to a state title game; Eric O’Toole of Sacred Heart and Aaron Granahan of Thomaston. All in their 20’s and ready to roll for Bethlehem. League Commissioner Ed Gadomski was on hand to wax poetic behind the PA system announcing the game. People heard Gadomski, but what they couldn’t see was the commish’s pride for a worthy championship ending to a superb season.

The Plowboys rode an outstanding pitching effort from Jason Krajeski and a seventh-inning home run from Tony Geraci to a 2-1 win over Tri-Town to capture another Tri-State League championship, two games to none, and left both teams and the league proud of the game. Bethlehem (23-4) has been in the championship round 12 times in 15 years, winning six times, the last crown in 2005 and fourth championship of the century. This season, the Plowboys finished with a 15-game win streak in league play.

“It was a great series,” said Tri-Town coach Ryan McDonald, whose 5th-seeded Trojans (in a playoff field of 12 from the 18-team league) came from behind late in a 2-1 win a week ago to get here. “Every single play counted,” said McDonald, recalling two clutch hits that won the first game 5-3 for the Plowboys last Saturday in the best-of-three championship series. In Wednesday’s standoff, every play counted; so did every pitch between two of the league’s finest young aces, Bethlehem’s Jason Krajeski (9 innings, 1 earned run, 4 hits, 7 strikeouts, 3 walks) and Tri-Town’s Miles Scribner (9 innings, 1 earned run, 6 hits, 11 strikeouts, 0 walks). In a game with just 4 total errors (3-1 Bethlehem) and 10 total hits (6-4 Bethlehem), one Tri-Town error and a high inside fastball to Plowboy player/coach Tony Geraci (2-for-4, home run) were the two flashes in time that won this game, while the Trojan run also had help from an error.

“Jay (Krajeski) doesn’t have very much room for error,” said Geraci, looking back on a season in which the No. 1 playoff seed (23-4) had just enough runs to do the job, but rarely much to spare. That includes a 3-2, 10-inning win early in this double elimination tournament over Tri-Town. Krajeski, a graduate of Nonnewaug High School and the University of Hartford, pitched the first nine innings of that game, extended to a second day because of darkness. “I’m used to it,” grinned the big right-hander whose fastball clipped 94 miles an hour three years ago in his prime with UHart, consistently ranging between 89 and 92 miles an hour. But fastballs, however lethal, for pitchers like these, are often just the setup. Strikeouts on both sides left great hitters leaning over the plate trying to catch an unhittable curve or a “slurve” for strike three.

The Plowboys started hot at the plate, with first-inning hits by lead-off hitter Eric O’Toole and Aaron Granahan (2-for-4, run scored). But Scribner fields almost as well as he pitches. He turned a sharp grounder to the mound into a double play, then coasted through a fly to left. It turned the other way in the bottom of the second. Tri-Town’s Steve Price (2-for-3) led off with the first hit against Krajeski. Kyle Osolin followed with a walk. Then Krajeski replayed Scribner’s first-inning: he fielded a hot grounder, threw to second, then watched it unfold back to first for a double play. A line-out to short ended his inning. So fasten your seat belts; it’s that kind of game.

The Plowboys thought so, too; they called for small-ball. Granahan reached first on a one-out single in the top of the fourth. Geraci picked a high fastball out of the air, turning it into a bunt single. With Granahan already on the run, the throw from third to first was too late to get Geraci out. Worse, it was wide, rolling far beyond the bag while Granahan scrambled home, 1-0. In this game, a single run threatened to be enough. Geraci caught Scribner’s first pitch of the seventh inning for a homer over the left field fence; two runs seemed plenty.

But Tri-Town (17-12), on fire since mid-season and up-starts against Bethlehem’s long pedigree in the league (the Trojans began in 2005; the Plowboys, in 1935), didn’t give up. Kyle Osolin slammed a one-out hit through the left side in the bottom of the seventh. Troy Kobylarz bounced a hit off Krajeski’s glove. A throwing error on the play brought Osolin to third, one out. Trojan Landon Gardella hit a fielder’s choice for the RBI, 2-1. From there, both pitchers bore down harder. A casual fan who didn’t know the term “pitcher’s duel” knew it for the next two innings. Scribner struck out two in a one-two-three top-of-the-eighth. Krajeski struck out the third in a one-two-three bottom-of-the-eighth. With every pitch counting, two more strikeouts by Scribner in the meat of the Plowboy order got the first two outs in the top of the ninth; then Scribner sprinted to first for the third out on a grounder to first baseman Jon Smart.

Krajeski, too, faced the meat of the order in the bottom of the ninth. He started with a strikeout, then a grounder to third. Tri-Town’s Price gave the Trojans a glimmer of hope with a single. Krajeski sprinted to first for the final out on a grounder to first baseman Kevin Pettit. That’s a duel; that’s a proud game; that’s a proud league.

“The last 10 years Bethlehem has a record of 197-55″ added head coach Tony Geraci. “I’ve been part of it since 2005, this is my second championship, this one is just as good as the first one. First one was with a little bit of an older group, this one was with the new guys so we completed the whole transition and we made it.”

The Bethlehem Plowboys beat the Tri-Town Trojans 5-3 Saturday afternoon in the first game of a best-of-three championship series for the Tri-State Baseball League title. Strong pitching and hitting carried the teams through a double-elimination gauntlet of 12 qualifying teams from the 18-team league. So Saturday, with those assets on display, the score was both higher and lower than seemed appropriate. “Our pitchers kept us in it the whole game, but it came down to leaving guys on base,” said Tri-Town coach Ryan McDonald. “My hat’s off to (Bethlehem complete-game pitcher) Tyler Erickson.”

Erickson (3 earned runs, 7 hits, 15 strikeouts, 1 walk, 1 hit batter) went all nine innings for the Plowboys; McDonald used a three-man committee — Jason Patrick (2.1 innings, 3 earned runs, 4 hits, 2 strikeouts, 1 walk), Andy Dooley (3 innings, 1 earned run, 2 hits, 2 strikeouts, 3 walks) and John Conley (2.2 innings, 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 strikeouts, 1 walk). The results, where they counted the most, were very nearly the same (8-7 hitting advantage for Bethlehem; 10 Plowboys left on base, 9 Trojans). So, on the one hand, the game was full of “the right pitch at the right time;” on the other, Bethlehem got the right hit at the right time just two more times than the Trojans. Erickson has all four wins, three as a starter and one in relief. Overall this year Bethlehem is 22-4.

Tri-Town left the bases loaded twice, in the third and fifth; the Plowboys did it once, in the third, in perhaps the best escape job of the day, from Tri-Town’s Andy Dooley. In the end, it came down to those two extra timely hits, by Nick Chiovitti (2-for-4, 2 RBI, run scored) and Aaron Granahan (2-for-4, double, 2 RBI), plus, perhaps, the intangible magic of championship experience. “We have a good mix of veterans and young players,” said Granihan, who’s in a middle territory, seven years with the team. “We have young guys here a couple of years; then, each year, we lose a couple of guys and new guys just step in,” said player/coach Tony Geraci, with the team five years.

Bethlehem, one of the original Tri-State teams (1935), has played in four championship series in the past five years. This is the first one ever for Tri-Town, established in 2005. Maybe it was experience that put the Plowboys on the board in the bottom of the first. Eric O’Toole led off with a walk, reached second on a ground-out and scored on a double to right center by Granahan. On the other hand, winning pitcher Erickson headed back to college (Division III LaSales University) right after the game. He’ll be a junior. Maybe it’s just talent. Both teams have that.

Tri-Town established itself in the top of the third, with a leadoff single by Joe Bunnell, sacrifice bunt by Landon Gardella (2-for-3, double, RBI) and RBI single from Jon Smart. Plowboys pushed experience in the bottom of the inning, leadoff singles from Dan Goscinski (run scored), O’Toole and Chiovitti (RBI), no outs. With one more Plowboy run already across, Dooley came in to pitch; he walked the bases full, then got a nice play by Steve Price at third for a fielder’s choice at home. Plowboy Dave Green hit an RBI single, but a short fly to left and a ground-out to third held the damage down to a minimum, 3-1. The Trojans chipped away with a run in each of the next two innings.
Kyle Osolin (2-for-4, RBI, run scored) and Gardella (RBI) had the key hits in the fourth inning.

In the fifth, Casey McDonald, hit by a pitch with one out, got home on hits by Price and Osolin, 3-3. Dooley walked Bethlehem veteran Bob McMahon to start the bottom of the sixth; Rob Geraci singled to left; Goscinski bunted them over to second and third, one out. One more talented young pitcher, John Conley, came in for Tri-Town. Experienced runners for Bethlehem watched his warm-ups. Conley got an infield pop-up for the second out. Chiovitti chopped a single down the third base line for one run; Granahan burned a grounder up the middle for the second.

Talent or experience? This time, both. Today, the Trojans pit their considerable talents again against the Plowboys again, 1 p.m., at Fuessenich Park. If the weather holds out, Tri-Town ace Miles Scribner faces Bethlehem ace Jason Krajeski.Talent and experience on both sides guarantee another riveting game

copyright Joe Palladino – Waterbury Republican-American 8/11/2010

Bobby Wilcher was in uniform again Wednesday night, only this time he was not in fatigues and not in harm’s way, although anyone who has tried to hit one of Dan Connelly’s curveballs might disagree with that. At Fuessenich Park on Wednesday, Wilcher traded in his government-issue Army uniform and instead pulled on his Waterbury Wild uniform to play in a Tri-State Baseball League playoff game. It was a one-night-only opportunity for Wilcher, who is home from Afghanistan on a two-week leave. Wilcher is a 2007 Kennedy High grad where he was an All-State baseball player and a football quarterback. In 2008, he signed up to serve his country, and five months ago he shipped off to Afghanistan for his first duty in the war against terror.

Wilcher had played one season of Tri-State ball with the Wild. Wednesday was his first time swinging a bat or tossing a baseball in, “I don’t know how long,” he said. “I am very nervous,” he added prior to the first pitch. “Hopefully, I won’t embarrass myself.” A man who puts his life on the line in hostile territory is an All-Star in my baseball scorebook. Give credit to Tri-State commissioner Ed Gadomski and Winsted Whalers manager D.J. Reese for allowing this to happen. When Wild manager Tom Van Stone presented this idea to the league, Gadomski was enthusiastic. “I made one phone call, and the league said, ‘We’ll do anything we can do; don’t worry about,’” Van Stone said. “Technically, he’s not on the roster. They said, “Do whatever you want to do; he’s in the game.’”

“I called D.J. to ask him if he would object,” Gadomski noted, “and I didn’t even finish the question and he was saying yes.” Unbeknownst to Pfc. Wilcher of the 630th MP Company, the league had a surprise for him. Van Stone had Wilcher bring the lineup card to home plate, then both teams assembled on the baselines. An announcement was made explaining his current military duty, and every player on both teams lined up to hug him, shake his hand and say thank you. “I knew there were going to be some tears tonight,” said an emotional Wilcher.

He didn’t embarrass himself either. He reached on a fielder’s choice, flied out and struck out twice. The swing was rusty, but still quick. In right field, he had one adventure, but we don’t need to go into detail about that. Winsted (15-10) won the elimination game, 8-3. Joel Castillo stroked a single, a double and a solo home run, while Chris Davidson and Charlie Putnam added two hits in support of Connelly, who earned the victory. Waterbury (10-12) had two singles and a double from Fraz Kader. Those were the baseball numbers. There were more important issues in this game. When Wilcher arrived at the field just before 5 p.m., the first thing he noticed was the flag in center field. Most ballplayers check it to see if the wind is blowing out. Wilcher was stirred simply by seeing the Stars and Stripes.

“There are no words to describe this,” he said before he dashed off to hug some teammates. “It is baseball, and I am excited.” The Wild players were happy to open up a playing slot for Wilcher, and Van Stone explained that Bobby has been a part of this team throughout the season, even if he was half a world away. “I gave them a history lesson all season long,” said Van Stone, whose family all but adopted Wilcher during his high school years and helped guide him through school. “If the team ever got down, I talked about Bobby. On Memorial Day, I made a point to say that your friend is fighting so that we can have this holiday. Bobby was never far from our minds and hearts. They are honored to play with him tonight.”

The Whalers won. They move on in the playoffs. The Wild lost. They collect the uniforms. No one likes that moment. But remember, guys, in eight days you are not going back to Afghanistan. Bobby Wilcher is. You all helped send him off with an evening that he will likely never forget.

And before I forget: Bobby, thank you.

To view video and pictures of ceremony please click on link below:
http://rep-am.com/sports/doc4c6371f06bb67926541061.txt