"It's more satisfying to watch it," says Randy Koleno, whose son Justin Koleno is a junior outfielder/first baseman/pitcher. "It was a blast going through it but the fact that this year's team is ...having similar success is fantastic." "I'm working on bragging rights now," said Justin Koleno, who's hitting .304 and will carry a five-game hitting streak into today. "But it's not about beating them now." "Whenever I was younger, he would encourage it," Trevor Schall said of his lean toward pitching. "He didn't force me to but whenever we'd play catch, he'd try to show me what he knew."
DREAM SEASON Ganim, Sara
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John Schall, who scored the first run, a home run, said, "It just all seems like a blur." From the winning out, to the bus ride back and people waving in the streets, "I just kind of want to live in ...the moment," he said. "It was pretty crazy," Justin Koleno said of the ride home. "We were yelling a lot, passing along the big trophy." "It's so special. From a player's perspective, I experienced it," Jim Gardner said. "I know how special it was. I remember it like it was yesterday."
Mark of a champion Ceisner, Todd
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"I had never seen him catch except for helping out catching pitchers in the gym," Jim Gardner said. "I thought, 'Well, our best bet at that point was to go with Bob Newman.' He had knee problems, ...too, and he told me if we had a three of four-game week, he might need somebody (to play for him). I just told him to let me know and we'll figure something out. That never happened. We did have some four-game weeks but he never said, 'I need a break.'" "I really like to do that," he said. "Once I settle on something, if it's working, I'm not going to change it. I don't like to mess with the kids' heads and have them wondering why and doubting themselves and wonder, 'What's coach going to do next?' Once we find something that works -- you also have to be patient and know a guy may have a game or two where he's struggling a little bit but you don't want to start moving him around. You want to stick with him and support him and hopefully, they come out of it. These guys always did." "We were going on a road trip and he started handing these papers out," Brian Kochik remembered. "We were like, 'What's this?' And he said, 'Just read it.' It was a big, long thing and I didn't feel like reading it but I read it anyway. It said, 'Hold the rope,' and talked about how you had to be a team and if someone can't hold the rope, you had to hold it for them, no matter how bad it burns or how bad it hurts. You just have to be there to back each other up. That's pretty much how our season went. One guy got down, another guy picked him right up. It made for a great team."
Getting a leg up Ceisner, Todd
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"We took advantage of a couple plays at the plate that should have been outs," Jim Gardner said. "That was big. We didn't necessarily come through big in the clutch with hits but we scored the runs." ..."It's nothing new. It's every game -- we're just not hitting with guys on base," said P-O coach Doug Sankey. "It's just pressure situations and we're not driving in runs. It's frustrating." "That's very frustrating and the fact we brought up Luke Curtis and he pitched fantastic for us," Sankey said. "Then we can't make a play in the field. The errors killed us early."
Brian Kochik, fresh from his victory Saturday in a charity home run contest at Bellefonte, smacked two homers for the Eagles and drove in four runs. Tyler Quick, Ryan MacNamara, Brad Kling, Kochik ...and A.J. Robinson all finished with two hits apiece. Justin Koleno sent Tommy Bush's first pitch bouncing over the fence in right for a ground-rule double. Shawn Switzer and Quick followed with singles to load the bases for MacNamara, whose grounder was bobbled by shortstop Chad Davis, allowing Koleno to score. Kling's bloop single into short right field scored Switzer to make it 8-5 before Kochik's bases-loaded walk forced in Quick and chase Bush after just six hitters. Patrick McKee came on and struck out Robinson before issuing another bases-loaded walk to Bob Newman which made it 8-7. Then John Schall, who'd struck out three times against Nick Gillung, delivered a run-scoring single to left to tie it. Kochik was thrown out at home with the potential go-ahead run. The Chucks (4-3) got to MacNamara early. McKee's two-run single in the top of the first was answered by Kochik's two-run homer to left in the bottom of the inning. Punxsutawney made it 4-2 in the third on Zack Smith's RBI double and McKee's run-scoring single. Chris Reesman's two-run single and Gillung's two-run homer to left- center extended the lead to 8-2 and prompted Jim Gardner to pull MacNamara, who struck out nine, including four in the third.
Paint crew reunites Robert Miller and Greg Koleno ran their first business together in college. Miller was a summer paint contractor and hired Koleno for his crew. Miller later let Koleno take over ...the business when he went to law school. Insurers and customers approve Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, a leading employment practices insurer, recently gave the startup a big boost of credibility. The insurer endorsed the product by agreeing to give Compli's customers a 10 percent credit on their insurance premiums for use toward the cost of Compli's system. The company has since rolled out Compli's compliance system to 100 managers and, on Compli's advice, plans to install computer kiosks in its warehouses soon so that drivers can easily sign off on company policies, Joth Ricci said.
