By Jonah Bronstein
SANBORN — Brian Kwiatkowski didn’t come out for the Niagara County Community College baseball team looking to play for a national championship. He just wanted to play again.
A three-year letterwinner, two-year captain, senior MVP and the first Coach’s Award winner under John Frank at Tonawanda, Kwiatkowski attended Erie Community College for three semesters, but didn’t play baseball.
After some time off, Kwiatkowski enrolled at NCCC in the fall of 2007, and decided to tryout for the baseball team to play with a few former teammates. By now, each of them are gone, except Kwiatkowski, 20, who remains as one of the most important members of the trailblazing bunch headed to Tyler, Texas, this week for the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III World Series.
“It’s surreal,” Kwiatkowski said Tuesday on his way out to practice, looking a little dazed from the half-hour travel itinery meeting the team just sat through.
Matt Clingersmith, less than a year into his attempt to revive the moribund NCCC program, said he didn’t expect much out of Kwiatkowski when he kept him as a walk-on last fall.
“He was very quiet; he didn’t stand out,” the Niagara Falls native said. “But the more intra-squads we had, I thought we might have a player. But I didn’t think he would be a key player.
“... In the fall, we played Erie, and he had a couple of nice games. I knew right then that this kid was going to be a key player for us for two years.”
Kwiatkowski batted .433 with two home runs in 2008. He also used his high-80s fastball to go 3-0 with an ERA less than 1.00 as a closer. He hit a leadoff home run in the regional championship game, an eventual loss for the Trailblazers.
“He’s a versatile player,” Clingersmith said. “He can play any position in the outfield. Great power hitter in the leadoff spot. As a closer, he doesn’t get rattled. He’s a perfect player to coach.”
This year, Kwiatkowski batted .415 and was just as effective, in fewer innings, as a spot closer. And when it came down to the regional championship game Sunday against Herkimer, the No. 4 ranked team in Division III, Kwiatkowski took another round trip to lead off the game.
“That was probably one of the best feelings I’ve ever had, leading off that game with a home run,” Kwiatkowski said.
The Trailblazers had needed late-inning runs to win their first three playoff games, but after Kwiatkowski gave them an early lead in the championship game, they cruised to a 10-2 victory.
“BK is the best kind of teammate you could ask for,” said Chris Carden, a Niagara-Wheatfield graduate who walked-on with Kwiatkowski last fall. “Not a whole lot of rah-rah. He goes out every day and gives 100 percent. He’s a great teammate, and a great person.”
Contact reporter Jonah Bronstein at 282-2311, ext. 2258.
