Malvern coach can't beat the rain

Like countless other high school baseball coaches in the area, Malvern Prep's Mike Hickey tried his best to get a game in yesterday.

He took the tarp off the bases, mound, and home plate. He kept his eye on the weather radar. And he checked the field again and again.

In the end, after about 45 minutes of waiting, the rain won out (again). Hickey and Chestnut Hill Academy skipper Stan Parker agreed that Malvern's field was unplayable and postponed the teams' Inter-Ac League meeting to Monday.

"It's frustrating for the kids," Hickey, Malvern Prep's 11th-year boss, said. "They want to play. As coaches, we scratch our heads and, moving forward, try to figure out what do with the pitching rotation."

Tim Cooney, an ace lefthander, was scheduled to start yesterday for Malvern, The Inquirer's top-ranked squad in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Now, Hickey must decide whether to use the Wake Forest recruit in a nonleague doubleheader today or keep his arm rested for Monday's game against the fifth-ranked Blue Devils.

"I'm pretty sure this is the third time that this has happened, when I was going to start and then we got rained out," Cooney said. "It's starting to get really annoying."

Cooney said throwing long-toss or warming up in the bullpen was not the same as pitching in a game.

"The whole mentality is different," he said. "In the bullpen, you focus on your mechanics. In the game, your intensity level is much higher and you're going all-out to sit batters down."

Today, weather and field conditions permitting, the Friars (14-2) will compete in the Shore Challenge in Wall Township, N.J. Their 2 p.m. foe is St. Mary of Rutherford, N.J. At 4:15 p.m., the opponent will be Don Bosco Prep of Ramsey, N.J.

In mid-April, Don Bosco was ranked seventh in the country by Baseball America.

The Ironmen, 33-0 last season, have five Division I recruits: southpaw Niko Spezial (Wake Forest), first baseman Chris Picyk (Villanova), shortstop Anthony Gomez (Vanderbilt), and outfielders Brett Knief (North Carolina) and Scott Hansen (Lehigh).

Like Cooney, Spezial, who will room with Malvern Prep catcher Mike Lubanski at Wake Forest, throws in the high-80-m.p.h. range.