Nic Kovacs Tosses a Complete Game Shutout

“Beautiful.”  That’s how Coach Frank Viola described Nic Kovacs (Lake Sumter CC) unbelievable pitching performance.  In a short game of less than two hours, Kovacs threw the first complete game of the 2010 Florida Collegiate Summer League season.  Kovacs shutout the DeLand Suns and only allowed four hits the entire game, retiring the Suns in order in six of the nine innings.  Kovacs dictated the strike-zone from the beginning of the game, working his fastball and curveball on the corners and forcing the Suns into fifteen ground outs.  The most amazing part of his performance is that he did it with just 81 pitches.  The Lightning would support Kovacs with two runs and give the right hander his first win of the season, and a memorable one at that.

After the game, Kovacs was all smiles.  This isn’t the first complete game that he’s thrown.  “I threw one this spring at Lake Sumter, but it wasn’t a shutout,” Kovacs said.  “This is my first shutout.”  Kovacs said he felt very comfortable tonight.  “I felt good.  My two-seamer (fastball) felt good.  When I threw it I just knew it was going to be a strike,” Kovacs said with a smile. 

Kovacs also had stellar defense behind him going errorless in the game with some outstanding plays by the left side of the infield.  “I felt like I didn’t need to strike anybody out.  I just threw strikes and let them hit it, go after contact, and my defense was there to back me up.  It’s a great feeling knowing that your team is going to make the play for you.”

The DeLand Suns never seemed to threaten the entire night, reaching second base in only two innings.  The first inning was the longest inning for the Suns, where they would send five batters to the plate.  Up until the fourth inning, the Lightning had also shown no signs of scoring.  Starting pitcher for the DeLand Suns, Manny Rodriguez (Palm Beach State) set the Lightning down in order in the first three innings.  It wasn’t until the bottom of the fourth inning where Mike Albaladejo (Florida Atlantic) started the Lightning offense with a one out single.  He would then take second on a throw that would go astray from the catcher.  Mark Darlington (West Virginia Wesleyan) would drive Albaladejo in with a two out line drive through the left side of the infield.

The Lightning would strike again in the fifth inning with first baseman Sean Killeen (Lehigh) hitting a line drive that took a crazy hop over the first baseman’s head for a single.  After the next two Lightning batters would fly out, Adam Cellini (Belmont) would get hit by a pitch to advance Killeen to second, and right fielder Danny Baatz (UNC Asheville) would bring Killeen in on a single to short and a throwing error by the third baseman.  The rest of the game the bats stayed fairly quiet on each side, Kovacs ending the game with three perfect innings.

On his team’s great turnaround from the previous night’s performance, Viola said, “The whole game of baseball is you throw strikes, you get ahead of the hitters, and your defense is ready to make the plays for you.”  Coach Viola was very impressed with his pitcher/catcher battery tonight.  “Nic (Kovacs) established (the strike zone) right from the start and Adam (Cellini) did a terrific job calling the game.”

In the end, Kovacs was the man of the hour.  “This whole ballgame was Kovacs.  He pitched a beautiful, beautiful ballgame,” Viola said.  It was a beautiful game indeed. 

The Lightning now move to 4-8 with the 2-0 victory over the Suns Wednesday night.  The Lightning play the DeLand Suns again tomorrow, Thursday, June 17^th at 7:00PM where they will look to win the three game series at Pat Thomas Stadium/Buddy Lowe Field in Leesburg.

Trey Garant (University of Michigan)

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