Amherst baseball wins first state title
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LOWELL - From the time Kevin Ziomek started playing Little League baseball he knew something bigger was on the horizon.
As an eighth-grader, his Amherst Mickey Mantle team reached the North Atlantic regionals, a sure sign that success was brewing.
On Saturday, playing with the same teammates he has had for the last decade, Ziomek and Amherst Regional beat Xaverian 3-2 to win the state Division 1 championship at LeLacheur Park in Lowell. It is the school's first state baseball title.
"We knew we could do something big like this our whole careers," Ziomek said. "It finally happened and it means a lot."
Ziomek was one of seven senior starters and the main attraction for the Hurricanes. The 6-foot-3 left-hander, who has signed to play at Vanderbilt University, was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 13th round of Major League Baseball's first-year player draft earlier this month.
Also during June, Ziomek was named the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year.
Championships though have a way of superseding individual awards and this is no different for Ziomek, who would gladly trade any accolade for a state title.
"This trumps it all," Ziomek said. "It's a team effort and these guys, I've been playing with them my whole life, and this is huge. It's huge for all of us. It means a lot to me and it means a lot to all the seniors on the team. This trumps any individual award I could get."
Ziomek's future came into play during the game. He had thrown a career-high 126 pitches following his 1-2-3 eighth inning.
Amherst coach Greg Vouros contemplated pulling Ziomek, who had never thrown a nine-inning complete game, in favor of classmate Dean Bonneau. High school games normally are seven innings, with the full nine played only during the state tournament.
"You don't want to push it at all," Vouros said. "That's something that we're thinking in the back our mind."
Ziomek had other plans though. He wanted the ball, three outs away from the championship.
"We couldn't take the ball out of Kevin's hands," Vouros said. "He's the guy that led the way for us on the mound and we had to let him go if he wanted it and he did."
Ziomek struck out the first batter in the ninth on four pitches. Vouros was going to visit Ziomek on the mound following the first out but that never happened. "He waved me off as I came out and the rest is history," Vouros said.
Ziomek fanned the second batter, the last of his 17 strikeouts. The final hitter grounded out to first on Ziomek's 138th pitch. He allowed four hits and finished his senior year with a 9-1 record and 134 strikeouts.
Ziomek went 18-5 with 266 strikeouts during his high school career.
"We actually said before the season started that we wanted to win the state title," said senior Sean Cunningham, who is Ziomek#s neighbor. "It's a huge thing to say and a huge goal but we really thought coming into the season we could do it. We took it one step at a time and we really started to play well down the stretch."
Everyone contributed to the state title run as the Hurricanes finished 18-7.
Cunningham, who played right field, smacked the game-winning two-run double in the bottom of the seventh inning against Xaverian.
Senior center fielder Chuck Hebb scored twice in the state final with a walk and a single.
"This is what we worked for, all four years in high school," Hebb said. "We came in as freshmen and we wanted to win a championship before we left."
Senior left fielder Derek Osborne earned a 5-0 win in the state semifinal round against Wachusett while Bonneau, a senior shortstop, pitched a 1-0 shutout against East Longmeadow in the Western Massachusetts Division 1 final.
Senior third baseman Matt Musante drew a walk against Xaverian, and fielded two tough grounders, the second of which came with a runner at second.
Senior second baseman Zak Tanne singled and walked, and also turned a double play and fielded a grounder in the fourth inning.
Junior catcher Steffen Herter and junior first baseman Bobby Carkhuff also made key plays through the postseason - Herter with his play behind and at the plate and Carkhuff with his defense and bat.
"It's been great," Herter said. "I told (Ziomek) out on the mound that #It was a great ride, thanks man.' It was a long road."
Seniors Anthony Ortiz, Jack McCutcheon, Luke DeRoy and Anthony Fabozzi also contributed.
But nobody did it quite like Ziomek with his dominant fastball and hard-breaking, off-speed pitches.
"Unbelievable career and no better way to end it here," Vouros said. "I can't say enough about him, his work ethic and where he's come in three years. If he keeps working like that he'll get to where he wants to get to."
Which will be something much bigger - the major leagues.
"This is just the first of many steps in hopefully a successful career," Ziomek said. "This shows that baseball is a team game and it's huge to have a good team like this."
Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com.
