Where Are They Now?: Forty Years After Pitching Quabbin to a Title, Joe Orszulak Is Pitching in on the Construction of Worcester’S Polar Park
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Where Are They Now?: Forty years after pitching Quabbin to a title, Joe Orszulak is pitching in on the construction of Worcester’s Polar Park By Mike Richard / Sports Correspondent Posted Jun 19, 2020 at 6:00 PM BARRE — Under legendary coach Mike Dymon, the Quabbin Regional baseball team had perhaps the greatest local high school dynasty in the sport with three district titles and a state championship during his tenure. It was 40 years ago this month that Dymon’s squad won the third of his district titles and much of the success rode on the right arm of his standout pitcher Joe Orszulak, who went on to become one of two Quabbin players who signed pro baseball contracts. Orszulak was drafted in the 12th round of the January phase of the 1982 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees, while 1983 Quabbin grad Drew Stratton was drafted in the eighth round of the 1986 MLB Amateur Draft by the Oakland A’s. Over a spectacular three-year Hall of Fame pitching career at Quabbin prior to his 1980 graduation, Orszulak posted a 29-8 record, tossed the program’s first- ever nine-inning no-hitter and was instrumental in the 1980 district championship run. Ironically, an incident during a Little League game when he was 12-years old almost made him give up pitching altogether. While hurling for the Barre’s Beard Motors team, a fastball got away from him, striking an opposing player in the mouth and knocking out his two front teeth. “I was so upset that I really didn’t pitch much after that,” he recalled. “I spent my last year in Little League as a catcher.” However, once he made it to Quabbin, junior high baseball coach Ray Castriotta sought him out, knowing of his past experience on the mound. “Mr. Castriotta came up to me and said, ‘I heard you can pitch. I’d like to have you pitch for us,’” he recalled. “That’s how I got back into pitching.” In time, Dymon got wind of the kid from the Quabbin junior high who was mowing them down on the mound and brought him up to the varsity team as a ninth grader for the district finals run in 1977. In his junior year he went 10-1, with his only loss coming in tournament play. During his senior year in 1980, he went 14-1 on the season with a 0.53 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 85 innings, striking out 10 or more in at least 7 games. At the plate, he batted in the mid .300′s and belted three home runs. Toward the end of his senior year, he pitched a nine-inning no-hitter against Narragansett Regional. It would be the second-ever Quabbin no-hitter, with Chuck Andrukonis pitching the previous one in 1974 against Murdock in seven innings. “Two weeks before (the Narragansett no-hitter) I was pitching against Quaboag and had a no-hitter in the sixth inning of a seven-inning game,” Orszulak recalled. “Mike Dymon came out and said, ‘Do you want to tie the record?’ (with a seven-inning no-hitter) and I said, ‘No, I have to go to band practice after this.’ So, he took me out.” Not too long after, he pitched the no-hitter, blanking the Warriors, 8-0, over nine innings on May 27, 1980. “To watch the game, you would have never known a no-hitter was going on,” he said. “I remember I walked a lot of batters and I was in trouble almost every inning. I’d walk the bases-loaded and then strike out three-straight.” On the mound that season he also pitched a one-hitter, a two-hitter, four three- hitters and a four-hitter. He was named team and Wachusett League MVP and also selected a member of Worcester Telegram & Gazette All-Star team. The Panthers won the Wachusett League title and then advanced right into the District E, Division 3 semifinals, beating Bartlett behind Orszulak on the mound. The Quabbin team also had senior Bobby Roy on the pitching staff, sophomore Rich Zalneraitis was the catcher, while around the infield was Rich Holden at first, Craig Sullivan at second, Barry Berthiaume at shortstop and the third baseman was Dan Haynes, Dave Newell was the left fielder and Doug Prentiss in right, while Orszulak would play either shortstop or flip flop in centerfield when Roy was pitching. Fellow senior Roy took to the mound to beat Hudson Catholic, 8-1, for the Division 3 championship. “We were really happy because Mike Dymon told us, ’If you win the league, I’ll shave my beard, which he did when we won the league,” Orszulak recalled. “Then he said, ‘If you win the districts, I’ll shave my head.’” However, the coach soon changed his tune when his team captured the title. “He got on the bus after we won it and said, ‘Hey guys, my wife will divorce me,’” Orszulak noted with a chuckle. “We let him off the hook because, at the time, he didn’t think there was any way we’d be better than .500 that season.” The dream ride ended in the state semifinals against Ware High School, 5-1, which featured future Major Leaguer Billy Joe Robidoux, who later played for Milwaukee, the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox. “Ware had a powerhouse team with Billy Joe and Kevin Lavallee, who I pitched with in college,” he noted. After Quabbin, Orszulak played for coach Ted Lekas at Quinsigamond Community College and while there in February of 1982 got an offer from the Yankees, prior to his second season. The first team to draft him was the Montreal Expos, but he declined. “I wanted to finish my second year of college, but then the Yankees came along,” he said, noting that Worcester scout Jack Gillis of the Yankees pursued him It wasn’t a tough sell, as the Yankees had been his favorite team since his boyhood, “ever since Reggie Jackson hit three home runs on three pitches in the 1977 World Series,” he noted. Orszulak also got some interest from the Mets, the Cincinnati Reds and the Orioles, However, to the dismay of his parents, who were big Red Sox fans, he headed to the Yankees’ spring training facility in Sarasota with their Double A affiliate. While pitching for Greensboro, N.C. he struck out future Mets star Darrell Strawberry and also had the opportunity to meet future Red Sox pitchers Roger Clemens and Bob Ojeda. Then, just a couple of months into his career in June of 1982, he suffered an injury to his arm, which sent him back to Worcester for rehab with Dr. Arthur Pappas. “I just couldn’t do it anymore, I had hurt the arm so badly,” he said. In 1984, he met with Worcester native and former major leaguer Paul Mitchell, who taught him the slider and he considered making a comeback at Worcester State. “I tried to make a comeback, first as an outfielder, but then Worcester State wanted to turn me back into a pitcher to come on in relief, but it just didn’t work out,” he said. He got married to his high school sweetheart, the former Jamie Keans, and they have two grown children, Dylan and Kylie, who were both Quabbin athletes. For many years, Orszulak showcased his skills in the Gardner City Softball League with the Hakala Brothers entry, beginning in 1984. The team won the City League title in 1988 and he continued to play in local recreational leagues for the better part of 20 years. He currently works for Liro Engineers out of Boston as a construction inspector. The firm has worked on a number of high-profile jobs including the $4.2 billion MBTA Green Line extension, the $2.8 billion Encore Casino in Everett and Worcester’s $100 million Polar Park. “They won’t allow me on site, because they know I’m a Yankee fan so security is all over me,” he joked about the new Woo-Sox playing site. He enjoys playing golf with his wife Jamie in his spare time and the longtime musician is president of the Community Band in Barre, where he still plays the trumpet from his high school band days. “My parents had a big goal one day that we were going to form a family band,” he said, noting that older sister Sandy was an accordionist, brother Tom played the saxophone and another brother, Rich, was the drummer. “We tried to practice together, but we fought like hell,” he said with a hearty laugh. “So, we all just went on to play with different bands.” .