Sports

Coleman basks in unlikely state baseball title (video)

Published: Monday, June 11, 2012

By RON ROSNER
Sports editor
rrosner@freemanonline.com; http://twitter.com/RonRosner

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — John A. Coleman Catholic High certainly proved records can be deceiving.

Heading into the Class D baseball postseason with a less-than-glittering 6-10 record, most scoffed at the notion the Statesmen could win a state championship.

But as the sun broke through the clouds on what was mostly a gray Saturday and centerfielder Mike Opitz squeezed the final out of a 2-0 victory over Oriskany, that’s just what Coleman did for the first time in 35 years.

“I think the kids exceeded our goals,” Coleman coach Bob Brinkman said.

“This is unbelievable,” senior shortstop Chad Callahan added. “I didn’t think we’d win the region, let alone win states.

“We stuck together and did it. This is crazy. I’m so happy to be part of it.”

A tough Mid-Hudson Athletic League season, where it faced solid area Class AA, A, B and C schools, helped Coleman become a battle-tested team as the Section 9 tournament loomed.

The Statesmen won their final four games — beating defending state champion Livingston Manor, 4-3, in the sectional final; Smithtown Christian, 2-1, in the regional final; Fort Ann, 2-1, in Saturday’s semifinal before securing their first state title with their win over Oriskany.

Oriskany ended the season 19-6. Fort Ann was 22-4, while Smithtown Christian and Livingston Manor each finished 14-6.

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“We play great teams in the MHAL,” Brinkman said. “And I’m not sure we could have done what we did in winning a state title if our regular season didn’t prepare us for this.

“We won our last four games by one or two runs and didn’t score more than four. That shows our team was about pitching and defense.

“If we played an easy schedule, where we just blew out easier opponents, we would not have been prepared for this.”

“I’m sure teams looked at our record and overlooked us, but to be honest, I enjoyed that,” senior third baseman Connor Bannen said.

Bannen is one of seven seniors on the team and one of Coleman’s version of the New York Yankees’ core four — including Mike Smithmyer, Austin Koo and Juston Bressack — that have been chasing postseason playoff glory since freshman year.

“To finally win states ... it’s just amazing,” Bannen said.

“It makes it that much sweeter (to win it as a senior),” Bressack added. “Our goal was win sectionals. Once we beat Livingston Manor, we began to believe.”

Minutes after Saturday’s victory, Koo was still trying to grasp the notion of winning a state title.

“I think I’ll need a day or two,” he laughed.

“I think we knew we had the potential to do this, but we kept getting shut down in sectionals. Continued...

“This is the best feeling. I could not have asked for anything more.”

Brinkman, meanwhile, could not have asked for anything more from Smithmyer on Saturday.

Pitching on just three days rest, Smithmyer was the winning pitcher in both the semifinal and final.

He tossed two scoreless innings in relief of Jim LaValle as Coleman scored a run in the seventh to beat Fort Ann before tossing a complete-game, one-hit masterpiece (with 13 strikeouts) against Oriskany in the final.

“It really didn’t surprise me to see Mike do that,” LaValle said. “Mike is an amazing, dominating pitcher.

“When we scored those two runs (in the third inning of the final), I was confident we would win because we all have that much confidence in Mike.”

Koo agreed.

“There was no doubt in my mind once we took that lead, Mike wasn’t going to give it back,” he said.

Heading into the semifinals, Brinkman knew LaValle would start, but wasn’t sure how much we would use Smithmyer.

“He hadn’t pitched on three days rest for us and my biggest concern was not hurting Mike,” Brinkman said. “Mike said he felt in the good and we got everything we asked for out of Jim. He pitched a heck of a game. Continued...

“So we brought Mike in for those two innings and he was great.”

With approximately four hours between the end of the semifinal and the start of the final, Brinkman said he was still unsure whether he could come back with his ace for the title game.

Smithmyer made the decision clear-cut.

“Mike said he was ready to go and that put a smile on my face,” Brinkman said. “His arm looked really lively (in the final).”

“I was ready to pitch. I felt good,” Smithmyer said. “(After the semifinal), I relaxed for a couple of hours between games and felt surprisingly good. I felt better in the second game than I did in the first.”

That was apparent, as Smithmyer carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning.

He had yielded one walk (in the second inning) and a hit batsman (in the fifth) before allowing a bullet single to opposing pitcher Austin Smith in the sixth.

“I knew I had a no-hitter but I really wasn’t concerned too much about it,” Smithmyer said. “My focus was on us winning the game and getting that state title.”

Getting a state title proved elusive to Bressack in basketball.

As a member of the 2010-11 team that reached the state final, Bressack saw that team’s hopes of a title dashed with a 47-42 loss to New York Mills.

“I think winning a title in baseball might be even better than winning it in basketball, just because this came as such a big surprise,” he said.

Despite losing Bannen, Bressack, Callahan, Koo, Smithmyer, Opitz and Anthony Sorbellini to graduation, Brinkman knows his team won’t surprise anyone next year.

“We’re losing seven great players and great kids and you really can’t replace them,” he said. “But we have some great players and great kids coming back as well and I see no reason why we won’t be very competitive next year.

“It starts with that first practice. If next year’s team practices and plays as hard and with as much determination as this team did, we’ll do just fine.”