Blue Jays win COMMAC Senior title

The Mel Ott Blue Jays defeated the Central Amherst Giants, 5-0, on Aug. 8 to win the Senior Division 2006 COMMAC baseball championship. Members of the team, pictured from left, are: first row coach Mick Demyan, Michael Demyan, Brad Lepovich, T.J. Leber, Alex Polanski; second row Casey Kacz, Brian Pappagallo, manager Dave Barnas, Ryan Gutt, Pat Luvender, Dan Ministero, Brian Barnas, Mark Steinkirchner, and coach Ken Gutt; missing from photo Mike Campise and David Wantuck.

The Mel Ott Blue Jays won the Senior Division 2006 COMMAC baseball championship, 5-0, in a game played at the Amherst Pepsi Center on Tuesday, Aug. 8.

The game featured a matchup between the Central Amherst Giants and Mel Ott Blue Jays. The Giants, who finished the regular season with a league best 13-1-1 record and the Blue Jays, who finished second at 12-3, had won two previous playoff games to advance to the championship.

Casey Kacz and Brian Barnas combined to shut out the Giants on three hits. Kacz was superb, striking out 10 batters in six strong innings. Barnas came on in the seventh to preserve the shutout. Michael Demyan made a key defensive play at third base on a hard hit ball to get the important first out of the seventh inning.

The Blue Jays scored a run in the first inning off Giants starter Tom Ponticelli as Ryan Gutt singled home Mike Demyan. Ponticelli was a warrior for the Giants as he struck out 14 Blue Jay batters in a strong complete game performance.

The Blue Jays added another run in the fourth when Brian Pappagallo doubled to score Brad Lepovich, who had two hits and scored two runs in the game. The Blue Jays added two more runs in the fifth when Casey Kacz knocked in Pat Luvender (two hits, run scored). Pappagallo completed the scoring for the Blue Jays by adding another RBI single in the sixth.

The Blue Jays played superb defense as T.J. Leber made several great catches in center field and Brad Lepovich called a great game behind the plate.