Forest Park’s run to state tournament comes up short

By Dave Fawcett

Published: May 28, 2008

After speaking to the whole team following Wednesday’s 6-4 Northwest Region semifinal loss to visiting Colonial Forge, Forest Park head baseball coach John Colantuoni pulled aside his nine seniors.
Standing just beyond third base, Colantuoni wanted to express his gratitude to his seniors and to remind them all they had accomplished, especially in the last two years. Although the Bruins failed to return to the state tournament after the defeat, Colantuoni thought it was important to remind the seniors that they leave the program having won 39 games in the last two seasons, a mark that includes a run to the state semifinals last season.
In particular, he cited players like senior shortstop Jamie Blackwell, who had been slowed with a sore elbow for six weeks and yet still was in the lineup Wednesday. Although Blackwell usually bats right-handed, his sore elbow forced him to switch to the left side of the plate, where he still produced two hits.
“I told them it was an honor to coach them and wished them luck and told them they better come back and see me,” Colantuoni said.
Forest Park (16-7), which lost to Colonial Forge 7-0 in last year’s regional final, was in good shape Wednesday after a three-run fifth inning gave it a 3-1 advantage. Joey O’Donnell got things started with a double. After the next batter struck out, Blackwell followed with a bunt. Bobby Schweir’s double brought O’Donnell in and then John Wright’s single brought in another run to make it 2-1. Schweir then scored on a ball that got away from the catcher.
But as quickly as the Bruins grabbed the lead, it quickly departed in the sixth inning.
Wright started the game for Forest Park, but after giving up a single and a walk to the first two batters he faced in the sixth, Colantuoni decided to replace him with sophomore Chris Paruse.
The first batter Paruse faced singled. The next batter doubled, which brought in two runs to tie the game at three. A single by Nick Lanciault produced another run that made the score 4-3. Three batters later, Shayne Pasknik’s hit brought in two more runs.
“The last couple of weeks, it’s been one inning that has hurt us,” Colantuoni said. “And that hurt us tonight, the one inning blunder. And we couldn’t recover from it.”