Chaminade baseball captures first state CHSAA championship

The goal was to make history.

And when it was over, the theme echoed by the Chaminade Flyers was:

Mission accomplished.

“We’re state champions,” Nolan Nawrocki said after Chaminade became the first ever state CHSAA Varsity AA champions with a 3-0 win over Iona Prep Saturday afternoon at Jack Kaiser Stadium at St. John’s.

“It means so much to me,” Nawrocki said. “And I just know that I’ll be able to tell my kids when I’m older that we were the first state champions ever, and my high school team was unbelievable.”

You could say that. 

The Flyers finished their 2022 season with a record of 25-2 overall and 19-2 in the CHSAA. And in doing so, earned high praise from their coach, Michael Pienkos,  

“I couldn’t ask more from these kids,” Pienkos said. “What a great team. Probably the best team I’ve ever had.”   

After taking two of three to beat Kellenberg for the NSCHSAA title, Chaminade advanced to the two-day, semifinal and championship games at St John’s, where they would join Iona Prep, St. Joseph’s Collegiate (Buffalo) and Farrell (Staten Island) to determine which CHSAA baseball program was the best in the state.  

To reach the state championship game both the Flyers and Gaels had to outlast the Marauders and Lions, respectively, in instant classic semifinal games Friday. 

The Flyers topped the Marauders, 1-0, on Nawrocki’s bases-loaded base hit in the bottom of the eighth inning, and the Gales scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh in the second game to beat the Lions, 3-2. Along with qualifying for the state championship game, Iona Prep also became city champions for the first time since 2016.

So the standard had been set: All Chaminade and Iona Prep had to do was author a taut, dramatic winner-take-all game to match what had taken place on the same field not 24 hours earlier. 

Pienkos tabbed Brian Downing to start the game. Downing’s task was to match JJ Gatti, who merely threw an eight-inning one-hitter against St. Joseph’s. 

He was up to the task, throwing a one-hitter of his own.

“JJ came in (Friday and) did a great job for us, per usual and I knew I was going to shut the door after him,” said Downing, who struck out 13. “I just knew how to establish all three off-speed (pitches) and just keep throwing the fastball. I had every pitch today so it was great to keep them off-balance.” 

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead on Nawrocki’s first inning RBI single. After Nicholas Ungania struck out to start the game, Aidan Katzman doubled to the leftfield wall and advanced to third on Brady Steinert’s single to right to set Nawrocki up with runners on the corners. The Michigan-bound senior slammed a single to right off of John DeStefano to plate Katzman, but the Iona Prep starter staunched the bleeding by inducing Matthew Dieguez and Evan Baschnagel to fly out to rightfield and centerfield, respectively, to end the inning.

After walking Katzman to start the third, Iona Prep coach Ryan Mahoney replaced DeStefano with Vito Gallello. DeStefano finished with a run allowed on three hits and two walks in two innings plus one batter. 

“He hasn’t pitched that much this year,” Mahoney said, when asked about his decision to pull DeStefano. “I think he was falling behind some hitters and they were putting some good swings…they were on hitters’ (counts).” 

For all intents and purposes, Chaminade put the game away in the sixth. Catcher Brian Heckelman drilled a one-out RBI single to leftfield that scored Dieguez to extend the lead to 2-0. Two batters later, Baschnagel scored on Nicholas Ungania’s bases-loaded sac fly.  

“A real confidence builder,” Pienkos said of the tack-on runs. “We felt very good with John on the mound (and had) a three-run lead.”