MCC Abandons Baseball Program and its Players

said some goodbyes and cleaned out his office at Manchester Community College last Tuesday.

He was the baseball coach at the two-year school for 12 seasons – the longest tenured over the program’s 41-year run – and was on top of his game. The Cougars had won four consecutive Region 21 (New England) championships and finished at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III World Series last May.

The decision to leave was not Strahowski’s. MCC cut his baseball program from the school’s budget on July 13 and despite a tremendous fundraising effort to keep the program alive, it will not return in 2012. 

Strahowski’s track record on the field is well documented, but his success with salvaging derailed academic careers and sending his student-athletes off to four-year schools to further their education is often overlooked.

in a school-wide email on July 13, Strahowski has heard from alumni like Josh McElroy, a Connecticut State trooper who took advantage of the school’s outstanding Criminal Justice program and went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree from John Jay University while rounding out educational experience on the baseball field.

Liam Ohlmann had given up on college after a traumatic brain injury when Strahowski found him pitching in a twilight league. Two years later, the Milwaukee Brewers drafted him in the 20^th round. And there is Stan Lewandowski, who transformed from a homeless teen to an NJCAA All-American – Strahowski’s first of nine – before graduating from Central Connecticut with a BA in finance and a 3.1 GPA in 2004.

There is a common thread running between theirs and other similar stories – the baseball program at MCC, the only school  of the 12 in Connecticut’s community college system with a  baseball program - provided opportunities for student-athletes to advance that no other in-state schools offer.

"We often get the type of kid who needs us either fiscally, academically or athletically to mature," said Strahowski." For the state not to have any community college baseball is sad indeed, especially with our track record on the field and with sending our players to quality four-year institutions."

So what about the next McElroys, Ohlmanns and Lewandowskis? The student-athletes Strahowski brought to the school hoping to parlay athletics skills with affordable costs into opportunities at a higher level? 19-year old kids such as Kyle Jones, who like McElroy before him, has dreams of becoming a state trooper but now feels abandoned by the school. The 6’2” right-handed pitcher with a buzz cut and perpetual smile already has the state trooper look, but is now looking at more costly options that he simply can’t afford to pursue at this time.

“I worked hard in the off-season and my sophomore year was supposed to be my big year,” said Jones, who has a 3.3 GPA after two semesters at the college. “MCC is the perfect fit for a kid who doesn’t have the grades coming out of high school or a lot of money.”

The school claims to advance “academic, economic, civic, personal and cultural growth by providing comprehensive, innovative and affordable learning opportunities to diverse populations” in its mission statement. The abandoned baseball players are being denied the opportunity for cultural growth, denied the opportunity for personal growth and denied the opportunity for a comprehensive learning experience.

Kyle Holland has been raised by his aunt and grandmother in Montville and probably would not be in college if not for Strahowski’s program. His grades are decent, but not good enough yet to transfer into a four-year school. He hit .327 over 50 games as a freshman and was the NJCAA defensive player of the year in 2011, but wonders where he will find a program that fits his academic and financial needs next spring.

Then you have Kyle Lentini, who transferred to MCC from University of Southern Vermont specifically to play for Strahowski and is now scrambling to find a school that fits his needs in time for the next semester.

The three abandoned Kyles and their teammates will survive and eventually find their way in life, though at least one of Strahowski’s returning players dropped out of college all together over MCC’s decision to eliminate baseball.

They are a resilient bunch who played baseball in March with snow piled up outside the foul lines and battled through a horrendous start (7-19 on April 11) before winning 12 of its last 13 to earn the right to represent the school and New England in Texas. They beat eventual national champions Eastfield College (Mesquite, TX) in their own back yard and will eventually beat this disruptive decision.

But the college that claims to offer affordable education to a diverse population is less diverse without its baseball program.

Paul Ofria was the Assistant Director of Athletics/Sports Information at Manchester Community College from March 2008 until his position was eliminated on August 31.