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Sports

Milestone Victory For MCC's Baseball Coach

Cougars hope to qualify for NJCAA Region 21 tournament and a fourth straight trip to the Junior College World Series

Chris Strahowski is proud of his milestone victory last week but he is more focused on getting his Manchester Community College baseball team into and ready for hosting a regional junior college tournament in two weeks that could advance the Cougars to their fourth straight trip to the World Series. Manchester has won the regional the past three years but has yet to qualify with a 5-2 record.

Strahowski, in his 12th year as varsity coach, picked up his 200th career win on April 15 when Manchester beat visiting Holyoke (Mass.) Community College 9-4 in a Region 21 division game. For congratulations from his players and coaching staff, Strahowski – the only coach in Cougars’ history – received a pie in the face, delivered by assistant coach Shawn Barry.

“I didn’t know he was near the milestone,” said sophomore pitcher and first baseman Kevin Madera of Newington (Class of 2008), the national leader in earned run average in 2010 in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III at 2.02. “I’m happy for him,” said Madera (2-1), third in Div. III ERA this spring at 0.73.

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“At the beginning of the year, I knew I was close,” said Strahowski, a former minor league pitcher. “We had a slow start, so it never entered my mind. It didn’t even dawn on me that day. I got reminded of it when I got that pie in my face.”

“Chris does a fabulous job,” said MCC director of athletics Cynthia Washburne. “It is not typical in junior college to have someone stay in that job and have continuity in coaching. He’s helping young men through the vehicle of athletic participation. He’s worked so hard for the program. I couldn’t be happier for him.”

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The Cougars swept Massasoit (Mass.) Community College the day after the historic win but got a reality check on Tuesday when Monroe College traveled from the Bronx, N.Y. and delivered a 19-3 pounding. That left Manchester, which had split a double-header at home against Monroe in March, with an 11-20 overall record. The Cougars have seven more Region 21 games left before the regional tournament. Strahowski says four more wins likely would qualify Manchester for the four-team field among the eight schools in Region 21.

Manchester last hosted and won the Region 21 Division III tournament in 2008 – winning in Holyoke last year and in Massasoit in 2009 – and surviving this year’s field May 6-8 would land the Cougars in the NJCAA Division III World Series in Tyler, Texas (May 21-27). Last year, Manchester went 2-2 in the World Series for a fourth-place finish.

The team’s goals, Strahowski said, are to qualify for the regionals first, then reach the JUCO World Series. After going 0-2 at the World Series in 2008 and 1-2 in 2009, the Cougars seek a progression and to do better than 2-2 in 2011.

MCC plays a demanding schedule to get the team ready for the tougher competition in the post-season. Madera agrees with it. Half the Cougars’ games are against Division I and Division II teams or teams that are national powers in Division III. The division alignment in junior college is similar to the NCAA, with the better teams – with more money to spend­ – in Division I to the generally less ambitious teams in Division III.

“We play as tough of a schedule as we can,” said Strahowski, who pitched for Central Connecticut State University. “We want to be prepared to compete on the highest levels.”

“It gives us more confidence,” Madera, a sophomore captain, said. “Last year we had the worst record of the teams in the World Series. But I like playing against the good teams. It’s not like an excuse when we lose but when you beat them you know you can play against the good teams. We try to keep them focused after they’ve lost three or four in a row. If they begin to hang their heads, we make them realize how important the conference [Region 21] games are.”

Strahowski said the slow start – Manchester was 4-10 on March 20 and 5-15 through April 11 – was a function of not collecting timely hits. He believes the Cougars have enough pitching depth, ability and experience to do well in a four-team tournament format. Of the 23 players on the team, nine are pitchers only and three pitch and play another position, such as Madera, who is hitting over .300.

A.J. Silberman (Wilcox Tech-Meriden 2009), a third baseman who played at second last year, was hitting .343 with 13 RBI. Sophomore first baseman Alec Brown (Montville 2009), who played third a year ago, was batting .311 with a team-leading 19 RBI. Sophomore Chris Rivera (New Britain 2008) and freshman Jesse Sutherland (Montville 2010) are the other Cougars over .300. Brown and Silberman were second team All-New England Division III selections in 2010.

The team’s success has led to attracting players from outside MCC’s typical service area, the town’s most closest to the campus, Washburne said. Madera believes playing in the regional tournament will be an advantage because of field familiarity and the lack of travel time to the games.

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