Catholic school grads cover the bases

BY BILL DOYLE | CFP CORRESPONDENT

This summer Worcester Bravehearts suffered their first losing season in their nine years in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, but their fans still had a lot of fun.
Three diocesan Catholic school grads were among those who helped make that happen: Donny Porcaro, a graduate of Holy Name Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School and director of fan experience and media; reliever Jared Kapurch, and shortstop Kosta Drosidis, both graduates of St. Peter-Marian Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School.
Mr. Porcaro, 24, of Worcester, came up with an idea this season to try to help the Bravehearts come from behind. Whenever the Bravehearts trailed in the seventh inning, they changed into yellow, orange and red plaid rally jerseys patterned after the wild sports jacket of general manager Dave Peterson (who is a parishioner and a member of the Knights of Columbus at St. Richard of Chichester in Sterling).
Elementary students were invited to choose new rules for each inning of two weekday morning games they attended. During one inning, anyone who struck out in a specified inning received a pie in the face. Two Bravehearts and two Nashua players did.
“That’s what it’s really all about,” Mr. Drosidis said. “It’s about putting smiles on people’s faces.”
Throughout the entire season, whenever a Braveheart hit a home run, a teammate handed him a T-shirt as he rounded third base, and he threw it into the crowd after he crossed home plate.
“That was a big thing we wanted to do,” Mr. Porcaro said, “to make baseball more fun and appealing to kids. If you look around Worcester, Little Leagues are declining.”
Mr. Porcaro was president of his class for four years at Holy Name.
“The big thing with Holy Name was the opportunity that it brought,” he said. “I was able to do a lot more than just be a student there.”
Mr. Porcaro created the school’s first sports blog, oversaw the Holy Name athletics Twitter account and interviewed the school’s student athletes for a video series called “The Penalty Box” that he hosted on YouTube. During his senior year, he served an internship with Emmanuel Radio and traveled to Philadelphia to report on the visit of Pope Francis in 2015. He also wrote an article on the trip for The Catholic Free Press.
Mr. Kapurch, 20, of Charlton, pitched for St. Petersburg College, a junior college in St. Petersburg, Florida, the past two years, so he was thrilled to relieve for the Bravehearts near his hometown.
“I got to stay home, see my family and play in front of a bunch of people I know,” he said.
Mr. Kapurch will transfer this fall to Worcester State University to play for new WSU baseball coach Phil Price. He used to play for Coach Price’s Evolution Baseball travel team.
Mr. Kapurch led the Bravehearts with 19 pitching appearances and posted a 2-1 record with a 5.81 earned run average over 21-2/3 innings. He struck out 15 and walked only three.
“I feel I had success out of the bullpen,” he said. “I did my job. For most of the year, I played my role.”
In a season-ending, 15-2 loss to Norwich on Aug. 6, Mr. Kapurch allowed seven hits and four earned runs in three innings and his earned run average jumped a run. In his previous eight outings, however, he allowed only five hits and two earned runs in 10 innings.
“I was going out there with the mindset,” he said, “that nobody was going to be able to beat me and that I can beat anybody in the league. I had confidence in myself and in my stuff.”
Last summer, Mr. Kapurch pitched in only five games for the Bravehearts before a virus caused him to lose nearly 50 pounds and ended his season.
“I felt tired and weak and dead, really,” he said.
Fortunately, he’s healthy again.
The St. Petersburg pitching coach convinced Mr. Kapurch to drop his arm slot and he showed him how to throw a sinker. It’s become his go-to pitch.
He started at third base for SPM as a sophomore and began pitching as a junior. Unfortunately, his senior season was canceled because of the pandemic.
Mr. Kapurch appreciated his Catholic education.
“It helped me a lot,” he said, “because it led me on the right path in life. It helped me grow a lot more, like what’s right and what’s not right. I took advantage of everything I learned.
“All of my teachers were good. They all cared. They all wanted the most success out of every student.”
Mr. Drosidis, 23, of Holden, is Greek Orthodox, but he has attended Catholic schools since kindergarten, from St. Stephen School to St. Peter-Marian to Anna Maria College.
“My religion and Catholicism are basically the same thing,” he said. “Basically, what I learned were Bible scriptures, readings. Looking at it more in depth about what Jesus is really teaching here. It all translates at the end of the day to just being a good person and serving others and making them happy over yourself.”
Mr. Drosidis graduated from Anna Maria last spring but will continue to play baseball for the AmCats as a graduate student this coming school year. He hopes to play for the Bravehearts again next summer.
“I loved it,” he said. “We played every day. It’s definitely up there in terms of my baseball experiences. The biggest takeaway I made is the relationships I made and connections I made with my teammates. Some come from California, Texas, Florida, some from the New England area, and, by establishing those relationships, they will stick with me for the rest of my life.”
Mr. Drosidis finished the season with only one hit in his final 22 at-bats to drop his batting average from .273 to .240 in 42 games. He admitted that he may have been worn out after playing so many college and summer league games.
“I think people can definitely get worn down,” he said. “It’s more mental than anything.”
His best day was June 4 when he went 5 for 5 and drove in two runs in a 9-4 victory over the Brockton Rox at Hanover Insurance Park.
For the season, Mr. Drosidis drove in 20 runs and was hit by a pitch a team-high 12 times.
Bravehearts of the past included pitchers Luke Delongchamp of St. Peter-Marian and St. Paul Diocesan Junior-Senior High School, and Pat Gallagher and Jack Riley of St. Peter-Marian, and outfielders P. J. Barry of St. Peter-Marian and Joe Caico of Holy Name.
The Bravehearts won four championships in their previous eight years in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, but they lost their final five games this summer to finish with a 26-36 record.
“The main goal this year was to give back to the fans,” Mr. Drosidis said, “because without them we’re not going to be as successful.”