Kowalski hopes rest will have his club rested and ready for tournament

With a sweep of the Atlanta Huskies last Wednesday and a fourth-place finish in the North Star League the focus of the Posen baseball team now shifts to the 2005 playoffs, which start for the Vikings Saturday at noon. Coming out of the doubleheader with Atlanta, coach Pat Kowalski had a concern, though. While his batters rocked Husky pitching to a season-high total 21 runs in one game, and a total of 34 runs on the day, Posen arms gave up 15 runs, 13 in one game alone. The final scores in the doubleheader were 21-13 and 12-2.

Kowalski was hoping the long rest between the time the Vikes ended the NSL campaign May 25 and the doubleheader Wednesday (past press time) against Oscoda did some good.

?WE ARE getting back from a nice long weekend to have all the arms heal up,? said Kowalski. ?Hopefully our pitchers are going to be strong and ready for districts against Atlanta.? The district tournament is being played on Maxon Field in Onaway. If Posen takes care of the Huskies a third time this season, they will play for a district championship. ?This ball club has improved as the season has gone on,? said Kowalski of his team?s chances. ?One of our problems is that we don?t have all the confidence we need on defense. Sometimes we start throwing the ball around. If we stay away from that we will be fine.?

Now that the dust from league competition has settled, Kowalski looks back at that twinbill with Au Gres as the games that got away from his team and cost them a share of the league crown. Posen would have finished tied with an 11-3 mark with a sweep of Au Gres May 23, but because they were swept, they settled for a 9-5 record.

AGAINST OSCODA, the Vikes were seeking another 20-win season, which would be nice, but the main goal is to gear up for the tournament. The games against the Owls were added to the schedule to give both schools some competition before the tournament gets underway. Kowalski said he?ll pitch Brandon Hentkowski in the district opener, play his veteran catcher Nick Goupell behind the plate, and have Matt Szczerowski in center field and ?youngsters at the corners,? he said. Goupell improved his record to 3-3 in the mound and proved to be an elusive out for Atlanta.

Goupell was a perfect five-for-five with four RBI in the 21-13 spanking of the Huskies May 25. Included in the hitting barrage was a homer in the top of the third. The anch

or of the 2005 club also scored five runs. Nick Idalski, who will more than likely take over the catching duties fulltime in ?06, was four-for-four with a pair of doubles and knocked in three runs, in his best offensive showing of the season.

THE VIKINGS already had a one-touchdown lead at 7-0, before Atlanta could get on the scoreboard. The Huskies answered with three in the bottom of the second but Posen answered with three in the top of the third, highlighted by Goupell?s homer. Hentkowski was two-for-four, while Szczerowski was two-for-three. Cleanup man Andy Styma was two-for-three with three runs scored.

In the 12-2 win, Derek King, Nick Delekta, Hentkowski, Szczerowski, and Idalski all had two hits apiece. Szczerowski had a pair of doubles and knocked in three. Hentkowski improved to 8-5 on the season with a one-hit, seven strikeout performance. He set down the first 12 batters before the Huskies could muster anything. By that time, the Vikes were in command, 6-0.