Zuzek pitches West Catholic to win over Dougherty

Some baseball traditions are nuttier than others.

At games involving West Catholic High, especially in the first few innings, the players call one another names that are nowhere close to their first names.

Kevin can be Manny. Eric can be Larry. Jim can be Fred.

"I don't know what that deal is. It comes from Albert Campbell," said senior righthander Jake Zuzek, speaking of the Burrs' junior leftfielder. "He's never serious. Ever. Every time I go up to bat, it's a different name."

At about 5:45 yesterday, Zuzek came striding off the mound and, for the first time since the seventh grade, his handle was this . . . Winning Pitcher.

"It feels good," he said after the Burrs' 4-1 victory over Dougherty in a Blue Division game at Sunoco Field, hard by the oil refinery on the west side of the Schuylkill Expressway.

"Especially because I did it for West Catholic."

For a long time now, West has experienced mighty struggles along the Catholic League diamond trail. It dropped 81 consecutive league games over six seasons, before topping Cardinal Dougherty, 9-5, last May 11, and its CL record over the last 10 campaigns is 6-154.

The number on the left side of the hyphen is different thanks in large part (pun intended) to Zuzek, who goes 6-2, 295, and is headed to Navy for football (after a stop at that school's prep academy.)

Overpowering no one, and not giving it a second thought, Zuzek spun a two-hitter with seven strikeouts.

After serving up a leadoff walk to losing pitcher Colin Strapp in the seventh, Zuzek fanned the final three batters.

He'd never done that in his life, he acknowledged.

Unfortunately, there were ugly moments as the K's were recorded. Upset that freshman Chris Kaminski was picked to pinch-hit for senior Craig Orlick, another Cardinal mocked the decision within earshot of an assistant coach. That guy, at high volume, then belittled the player in Dougherty's bench area, within footsteps of the plate, and soon commented on how many errors the team had made all season and welcomed anyone and everyone to challenge him verbally after the game.

"You can come at me three at a time!" he roared.

At least 10 minutes later, with the assistant still out on Moore Street and continuing to scream negative comments toward him, the player was fearful of leaving the field area. Eventually, the assistant calmed down enough to acknowledge his behavior, and especially its timing, had been unacceptable. He traced it to seasonlong frustration. Dougherty, which will close next month, is also no stranger to recent baseball failure.

Its CL record over the last six seasons is 7-86 and it dropped 46 in a row before topping - you got it - West, 7-5, 2 years ago today.

On Wednesday of this week, Dougherty posted a 13-9 win over West.

"We went into that one overconfident," said Zuzek, who wears No. 99. "We didn't do what we wanted to do, and we lost."

Wait. Back up. How can a winless team enter any game overconfident?

"From what we heard, we just figured they were worse than us," he said. "We were wrong . . . Today, we came in calm. Ready to play. Not thinking about who was better."

Zuzek played baseball as a freshman (he never pitched), then skipped the next two seasons while focusing on football. Half because he wanted to, and half because others begged him to, he decided to return this season and wound up dragging along another good football player, junior first baseman Jim Lynch.

"You can only lift weights so much, right?" Zuzek said. "This gets me off the sofa. I like being here with the other guys, too. After baseball, me and Jimmy go lift weights as he gets ready for next season. I've also got the City All-Star Football Game coming up [Thursday, 7:30, at Lincoln Financial Field]."

This was Zuzek's fourth mound appearance, and second start. The left hand of catcher Bill Tobin didn't come close to being bruised.

"Don't know why, but I've never been able to throw the ball fast," Zuzek said with a shrug.

Zuzek received all the support he would need in the first. With Ryan Murtagh and Campbell (walks) on third and second, respectively, Kevin Sessa, a righthanded hitter, slashed a two-run double down the rightfield line.

"Kevin has been solid at the plate all year," Zuzek said. "Especially at times when we've needed runs."

West managed no hits in its two-run sixth; Blaise Scheiler and Geoff Walker scored on a ground ball that dribbled right through an infielder's legs.

Joe Bozzelli collected Dougherty's first hit on a squibber halfway toward third that undoubtedly would have rolled foul, had Zuzek let it. The other safety, in the fourth inning, was Strapp's RBI single to center.

Zuzek, meanwhile, will be a free man until July 25, when he reports to Navy Prep.

"I'm ready for the change of scenery," he said. "And ready to get away from my parents."

With a smile, he added: "They're not going to like that, but . . . Nah, really, I'm just ready for the whole away-from-home thing."

Once he gets there, he can brag about his pitching prowess. While only telling so much. *