They weren’t supposed win. They weren’t even supposed to be a minor contender, but the University City High Centurions boys baseball team proved all the experts wrong in winning the Division III title June 6 with a systematic 8-6 victory over the St. Augustine Saints at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Mitch Beacom led the Centurions (22-11) to their first CIF title victory with a gutsy performance on the mound and an even deadlier one at the plate, going 3-for-4 with one walk and 2 RBIs. The lanky left-handed flamethrower kept the Saints baffled for the first two innings but began to run out of steam as the game hit the twilight hour.
“We knew that Mitch would throw 90 pitches and that he would throw his hardest for those 90 pitches,” UC head coach Joe Radovich said. “When we took him out, we knew he was tired, but he was still battling.”
The Centurions pounded out 12 hits, but it was Tyler Saldino who started the first inning rally by getting hit by the first pitch of the game. He would eventually score the game’s first run.
The largest crowd to witness a Centurions baseball team play got their money’s worth on this afternoon. As with most contests involving the Centurions this year, this one came down to the wire.
After jumping out to 6-2 lead on a booming two-run double by Ed Kalankiewicz with two long innings to go, the wheels almost came off for the champs.
Centurion first baseman Matt Frankfurth found himself flying through the air on a collision at first base. Frankfurth was shaken up on the play but was dismayed when the runner who had collided with him was called safe. This play allowed the Saints (22-11) to put two runs on the board and give them hope going into the final frames.
Another controversial call threatened to derail the Centurions’ solid effort. With runners on second and third and one out in the bottom of the fifth, UC third baseman Dexter Coleman ranged to his left to field a hot shot. Coleman made a split-second decision to attempt to tag the runner moving toward third. The runner avoided the tag, but seemingly had broken the imaginary plane of a running lane, thus becoming an automatic out. Only one problem: The umpire did not see it that way, the runner was awarded the bag and UC was in trouble.
A couple of singles later and the Saints were only down by two at 6-4. Beacom slammed the door, getting the next two hitters on groundouts to end the threat.
“We had the momentum all game after the first inning,” Coleman said. “When we play well, we play with intensity all seven innings.”
The private schools tend to have some kind of weird aura that surrounds them during the playoffs. This Saints team was no different.
The Saints, even though they did not play their best ball, found themselves with many opportunities to win. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, St. Augustine had already pushed two runs across and had the tying runs on second and third. Beacom, who had been replaced by Kalankiewicz on the mound, took over at first base.
Beacom had pitched well, going six innings, but struggled during his last inning of work. The normally steady Kalankiewicz dug deep to entice the potential final out of the game in a ground ball to shortstop Saldino off the bat of Saints’ designated hitter Tim Barnes.
Saldino fielded the soft ground ball cleanly, but threw high and wide to first. Any other player on the Centurions side besides the 6-foot, 8-inch frame of Beacom and the game would have been tied.
Instead, Beacom nabbed the errant throw and in one valiant swoop, tagged the runner as Beacom and Barnes crashed into one another in a pile of dust at first. The umpire hesitated in his call and then signaled that the runner was out.
“This win feels great,” Coleman said. “I myself didn’t do too much, but this is a lesson in how to bask in your team’s glory. Every time that I didn’t do something or someone else didn’t do something, there was someone else to pick us up. I had an epiphany on what teamwork was about today.”
The Centurions flew out of the dugout and dog-piled one another in the middle of the diamond.
“I have been coaching for 35 years and this rates as high as any experience as I have ever had,” Radovich said. “I am feeling awfully good right now. This is what coaching is all about “¦ to get to the top and win it. It is also in the fact that I have ten seniors that are leaving, and outside of graduation this CIF championship is one highlight of their senior year that they will remember for the rest of their lives. Their gratification is my gratification.”