Jimmy ZanorNorwich Bulletin
Just thought I’d empty out my reporter’s notebook while trying to score tickets for Lake Street Dive’s Madison Square Garden concert debut on Sept. 14. The band’s new album Good Together hit record stores last Friday …
Ben Jax a two-sport standout
Watching Ben Jax play baseball last Wednesday had me thinking about first-year Norwich American Legion baseball coach Becker Bordeau and what Bordeau had told me about his players earlier this summer.
“They wouldn't be here if they didn’t love baseball and we wouldn't be here if we didn't love baseball,” Bordeau said. “We just want to have a good time and get after it and have some fun.”
Jax certainly loves baseball.
Jax added to his legendary resume when he crushed a fastball from Tri-Town’s Eric Mathewson over the left field fence at Owen Bell Park’s Ben Desaulnier Field. Jax’s homer was the only run Danielson got against Mathewson, a hard-throwing right-hander who is headed to Southern Connecticut State University in the fall.
Jax also attends Southern. He just completed his redshirt freshman season on the Owls football team. The former Killingly all-state wide receiver has size and speed and is going to be someone to watch on Saturday afternoons over the next few seasons.
Jax was also an all-state outfielder for Killingly’s baseball team. He had one-year of eligibility left forDanielson’s Legion program and he’s making the most of it.
“Unfortunately, this is my last year playing organized baseball and there was no way I was going to let that go away,” Jax said. “I mean, I just love the sport too much to not be out here as much as possible.”
During this week’s two-game series against Tri-Town, Jax put on the catcher’s gear for the very first time.
“Yesterday was the first first time ever going behind the plate and today was my follow up debut,” Jax said. “It’s fun, actually. I like it. I used to play centerfield and it was fun flying around and getting to top speed and tracking balls but now I’m involved in every single play. I have control of the game. I can call pitches and maneuver. I’m just in every play and it gets me more into the game. I love it.”
NFA’s Wadecki to coach cross country
Jeff Wadecki has been named the new boys’ cross country coach at Norwich Free Academy. Wadecki has served as the assistant boys’ cross country coach since 2018. He also recently completed his first season as the girls’ outdoor track and field coach.
“This is an easy move for our team and our program,” NFA athletic director Roy Wentworth said in a press statement. “Jeff is well-known among our student-athletes, and I know this will be a smooth transition.”
Prior to being promoted to the head coach position, Wadecki also worked with the Wildcats boys and girls indoor track teams.
“I know this team well, and I’m excited to take this position,” Wadecki said in a press statement. “We have a deep roster, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do. I’m grateful for this opportunity and excited about the fall season.”
More: Sea Unicorns hold off Bravehearts, close in on first place
Killingly football moves to Class SS
The CIAC recently announced the high school football divisions for the upcoming season and it’s great to see Killingly moving back to where it belongs.
After qualifying for the state playoffs for seven consecutive seasons, winning at least one game in every one of those postseason appearances, and playing in four state championship games, Killingly was moved up to Class L last season.
Chad Neal’s club made a terrific late push and qualified for the Class L playoffs with a 7-3 mark. But their seven game postseason winning streak came to an end with a road loss against state power New Canaan.
The CIAC had always recognized Killingly as a school of choice due to its Vocational-Agriculture program that draws kids from towns outside its borders. Class L schools have a boys enrollment of between 638-761 students and it was absurd having Killingly compete in the Class L playoffs.
This season the CIAC has removed VoAg schools as schools of choice. Thus,, Killingly has dropped three classes and will compete in Class SS (395-320 enrollment) in 2024.
ECC teams Waterford, Ledyard, and Windham are also in Class SS.
As for our other local football teams, Norwich Free Academy remains in Class LL; the Thames River Co-op (Grasso Tech/Norwich Tech/St. Bernard) is in Class MM; the Quinebaug Valley Co-op (Ellis Tech/Putnam/Tourtellotte) is in Class M; and the Griswold/Wheeler Co-op and Plainfield will compete in Class S.
Look back at 2018 Sox
Seeing Chris Sale (Braves) and J.D. Martinez (Mets) still flourishing has me reminiscing about the 2018 Boston Red Sox. The Sox went 119-57 during the regular season and playoffs and throttled the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games to win the World Series.
I didn’t research this but I’d wager there haven’t been many pitchers in MLB history who threw the first and last pitch in the Fall Classic. Sale started Game 1 against the Dodgers at Fenway and then got the save in the clinching Game 5 at Dodger Stadium.
Must-See games
It is advertised on the cover as the “book the experts can’t do without.” It’s a magazine that has been annually published now for 29 straight years. And I just picked up a copy at a local Barnes and Noble for the 29th consecutive year.
Phil Steele’s “College Football Preview” is widely considered the Bible for college football fans. There’s more information in Steele’s magazine than the latest omnibus bill headed to the United States Congress.
One of the first things I look at while perusing through the pages is each team’s schedule. There are a number of games this fall in places like Chestnut Hill, South Bend, Ann Arbor, Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge that just jump off the pages. Here are a few of my favorites:
Fordham at Bowling Green, Aug. 29: The Seven Blocks of Granite invade Ohio! It’s always great to see my alma mater, Fordham, open its season against a non-traditional opponent. Go Rams! Joe Conlin, the former whiz-kid offensive coordinator at Yale, begins his seventh season in The Bronx with enough aerial power to make those old Southwest Conference teams blush.
Boston College at Florida State, Sept. 2: Can’t think of a better way for the Bill O’Brien era at Chestnut Hill to begin: a Monday night in Tallahassee against an angry bunch of Seminoles who are coming off a 63-3 defeat against Georgia in the Orange Bowl, the biggest blowout loss in bowl history.
Texas at Michigan, Sept. 7: The Longhorns against the defending national champs! This is Big Boy football at its finest. It’s amazing that these two legendary programs have never met during the regular season. They did meet in the 2005 Rose Bowl with Texas and quarterback Vince Young edging the Wolverines, 38-37, in one of the best Rose Bowl games of all time.
Maine at Oklahoma, Nov. 2: Not sure how many Black Bear sightings there have been in Norman over the years. And I’m also not sure if the guy who scheduled this one should get an award or be fired.
Notre Dame versus Army, Nov. 23: College football pomp and circ*mstance doesn’t get any better than this. And it's back where it all started: Yankee Stadium. The Irish and Black Knights have played in The Bronx 22 times, the last meeting in 1969. The game is the 100th anniversary of the fabled Four Horsem*n - Jim Crowley, Elmer Layden, Don Miller and Harry Stuhldreher - who were immortalized by sportswriter Grantland Rice in the New York Herald Tribune after Notre Dame's 13-7 upset of Army in New York on Oct. 18, 1924. “Outlined against a blue-gray October sky the Four Horsem*n rode again,” Rice wrote in one of the most famous leads in sports writing history.
Connecticut at UMass, Nov. 30: For the Yankee Conference championship!
More: Zanor column: From convertibles to Duck Boats
Stuck in the '70s
On June 30, 1979, Carl Yastrzemski broke a 2-2 tie in the ninth inning with a deep home run into the right field stands at Yankee Stadium, giving the Boston Red Sox a 3-2 victory over the New York Yankees before a Saturday afternoon crowd of 50,253 in The Bronx.
Yaz, who went 3-for-4 and was a couple of months away from getting his 3,000th career hit, blasted his clutch homer off former teammate Luis Tiant. Yup, Tiant had signed a free-agent contract with the rival Yankees following the 1978 season.
It was strange seeing Tiant wearing the blue and white pinstripes. A fan favorite in Beantown, Tiant was instrumental in helping the Red Sox win the American League championship and then nearly upsetting the Cincinnati “Big Red Machine” Reds in the 1975 World Series.
Tiant’s Red Sox departure really didn’t hit home until I saw his son and my high school classmate, Luis Tiant Jr., walking around the halls of Boston College High School that spring wearing a Yankees cap.
Jimmy Zanor is a sportswriter for the Norwich Bulletin and can be reached at jzanor@norwichbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter@jzanorNB.
