Last Look: Providence Baseball Season One for the Ages

The number three.

It figured so prominently for a Providence baseball team that came so close to its third state title and first since 1982.

The Celtics featured a roster with a handful of big-name third-year players, including Sam Travis, Matt Trowbridge and Collin McEnery.

Back when coach Mark Smith was a senior in 1988, he was a pitcher for a Celtics team that was ranked No. 1 for most of the year, but lost in the regional championship to finish 33-3.

In 1995, when the Celtics last advanced to state, the team went 33-3-1 before losing in the quarterfinals.

On Saturday, Providence entered with three losses, just like the 1988 and 1995 teams, so the Celtics couldn't lose a fourth game, right?

And, of course, there's the biggest No. 3 for the Celtics in Travis. The senior plays third base. There's one three there. He bats third in the lineup. That's another three. And he dons a Celtics jersey with a big No. 3 on the back. Oh, and throw in the fact that he finished the season hitting over .500 with 17 home runs and 75 RBIs.

Regardless of the symbolism and trends of the No. 3 and the Celtics, that third title eluded Providence on Saturday as the Celtics ran into a Lyons pitcher in Connor Cuff who never experienced a third loss, nor or second or first one. The Pennsylvania recruit finished the season 11-0 and 19-0 in his career.

"We were in front of his curve and change up," Travis said after Providence dropped an 8-3 decision to Lyons. "He kept us off balance."

Not Expected

Cuff's ability to stifle the Celtics bats wasn't something Smith had witnessed all spring.

"He baffled us a bit," he said. "He's the first pitcher all season long, I'd say, that's done that to this team."

The top three hitters for the Celtics went 5-for-10 with all three runs but No. 4 through No. 9 went a combined 0-for-15 with six strikeouts.

"We saw them the game before against Prospect, and we picked up some strategies," Cuff said. "They have a pretty lefty-dominated lineup and I like to work my changeup a lot. It drops away from lefties, so that was definitely my best pitch."

Providence (37-4) went ahead 1-0 in the first inning as Travis once again delivered a first inning blow with his 17th home run. The lead didn't last long, though, as Lyons greeted Celtic starter Brandon Magallones roughly in the bottom of the first. Spencer Mahoney, Steve Heilenbach and Brian Rodemoyer loaded the bases with consecutive singles. Left fielder Dominic Olszta misplayed Rodemoyer's hit down the left field line, which allowed Mahoney and Heilenbach to score. The Lions went ahead 3-1 later in the inning on a sacrifice fly from Cuff.

The Lions ended Magallones' final start of his high school career in the third inning. He surrendered three straight hits to open the inning, including a two-run double off the bat of Cuff.

"They found some gaps, and I don't think 'Mags' (Magallones) has been hit like that all year," Smith said. "Give them a ton of credit. They hit a damn good pitcher and they deserve it. They were the better team, and I'm not afraid to admit that, but we have a heck of a ballclub here."

Lyons (37-4) extended its lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth.

Trowbridge, who threw a complete game on Friday, relieved Dan Wetzel, who had put two runners on with nobody out. Trowbridge intentionally walked Rodemoyer to load the bases before uncorking a run-scoring wild pitch. He escaped further damage when Olszta threw out a runner trying to score on a fly out and got Cuff to ground out to second base.

The Celtics had one final rally left in them and it came in the sixth inning with the top of the lineup. Kevin DeFilippis and Joe Houlihan singled before Travis doubled home DeFilippis to make it 6-2. With two runners on, cleanup hitter Dan Potempa just missed a three-run home run that curved just outside of the foul pole in left field. He would strikeout for the first out in the inning.

"It's a game of inches. If he would've swung two-tenths of a second later, he makes contact and its going out and it's a 6-5 game," Smith said. "But hat's off to that pitcher. It got tough, and we put some pressure on him, but he found a way to make big pitches at the right time. That was the best a pitcher has done on us all season long."

Willing to Take One for the Team

Potempa was willing to spend some time on the DL as long as his blast could've stayed fair.

"If it was either break my arm or lose state, I'd rather break an arm," he said. "This is the worst feeling, to train all offseason and come up short."

McEnery walked to load the bases and bring up the tying run in Zak Kutsulis, but the junior grounded out to drive in a run to make it 6-3 before Cuff fanned Olszta looking.

The Lions scored a pair on insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth to give Cuff some added breathing room, but he didn't need it as he set down the Celtics in order in the seventh, getting the final out on a popout off the bat of DeFilippis to Rodemoyer, the Illinois State recruit at first base.

The loss was the Celtics first since dropping a wild 12-11 contest to Brother Rice on May 4. The team's other losses were to St. Laurence and St. Rita.

While the loss marked the end of the high school careers for Providence's 16 seniors, it by no means signified the end of their baseball careers. As many as 14 are committed to play college baseball somewhere next year, including several at Division I programs. Some will even remain teammates as Houlihan and Trowbridge will follow each other to Central Michigan.

Target on its Back

Just like this season, Providence had a target on its back back in 1988.

Smith could feel it too, as one of the seniors and an all-conference selection along with Mark Hokanson, Dave Kucharski, Andy Carlton and Ed Janke.

The Celtics started the postseason strong, beating Joliet Central 10-1 behind Kucharski's four-hitter in the Lockport Regional. The Celtics received a grand slam by sophomore Pete Bercich, who would later play football at Notre Dame and for the Minnesota Vikings, and a two-run shot from Jason "Jammer" Montgomery.

The bats continued to stay hot in the semifinals against Lincoln-Way as Janke, who would go on to have a fine career at Southern Illinois University, hit a slam and Hokanson overcame a sluggish start to throw shutout ball for the final six innings.

But then things unraveled quickly in the regional title game against Joliet Catholic. Coach Jaime Garcia gave the ball to Kucharski, and he was in the showers before the second inning was over. The Celtics committed six errors and walked 10 batters as Joliet Catholic hammered the Celtics 15-6. The Hillmen would advance to the state quarterfinals before being upended by Edwardsville, a program, coincidentally, that the Celtics beat in this year's Champaign Supersectional.

"It was Murphy's Law," Garcia said. "Whatever could go wrong went wrong."

A similar target was on the Celtics back this season, and having experienced it in 1988, Smith knew the pressure it could put on the kids. Regardless, it never got to them as they began the season ranked as the top team and advanced to the state title game.

"As a coach, you know how hard it is to win in this sport," Smith said. "There's no harder sport in the world to win than a championship in baseball, especially in a single-elimination format. These guys did it all season long. They were preseason No. 1, and I think they deserved it. They always took it one game at a time and got better every game."

Loving His Work

As a former player at Providence, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who loves his job more and wants to see the program succeed more than Smith.

"I love this school, and when I was a senior I remember we were ranked second in the nation back in 1988 and we fell way short," he said. "When I got hired five years ago, my goal was to get this program and bring it a state title."

The players not only wanted to win it for themselves, but they wanted to win for Smith.

"Coach Smith loves baseball and loves us more than anything else in the world," Houlihan said. "I know he really, really wanted this and we really wanted to get it for him. It just hurts that we were so close and then just kind of lost it."

After losing in 1988, Garcia said, "I've been at Providence for 16 years, head coach for 12. Never before had I said this. I told these guys that they were the best team I have ever had because they were the deepest, most selfless team I've had. And that comes from this senior class."

On Saturday, Smith told his team that this was the most enjoyable season in his 19-year coaching career. "I couldn't ask for more than these kids gave me. It may take months or even years for them to get over this loss and realize what they accomplished, but it will happen, and they will be great memories."

Emails and Phone Calls

It took 29 years for Providence to bring a trophy back to New Lenox. It's pretty remarkable that it took so long, especially for a reputable program with so much history.

When Providence last won a state title, Survivor was one of hottest bands and not must-see TV. It was also right around the same time that Cal Ripken Jr. began his 2,632 consecutive game streak.

The Providence program produced Bryan Rekar (1990), who pitched for eight seasons and appeared in 131 games for the Colorado Rockies, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Kansas City Royals, and more recently was home to Kris Honel (2001), who looked to be a sure thing to make the big leagues before arm troubles sidelined his career, as well as Carmen Pignatiello (2000), who enjoyed a cup of coffee with the Cubs.

None of those teams could get as far as the 1995 team, nor this year's team, though.

"The great thing about sitting in the bleachers this weekend was there were a lot of players from '88 and a lot of other alumni," Providence athletic director Doug Ternik said. "It's been awhile since we've had that environment of champions and they deserved to be there."

After winning the WJOL tournament earlier this spring, Smith started receiving more phone calls and emails from former teammates and alumni. Seemingly, everyone affiliated with Providence baseball, regardless if they were still in the New Lenox area, or somewhere else in the country, was excited about how the season was shaping up.

"It's great to be a part of program that's great on tradition," Smith said. "After the supersectional, I got an email from an alum from 1972, which is awesome. This stuff means a lot to me, and I've gotten a handful of calls and emails this year, which is great. It lets you know that the Providence family is around and proud of what we're doing."

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