Kopetsky, Aggies longing for the party to go on
Senior doesn’t want season to come to an end in Houston
Outfielder Blake Kopetsky is a senior leader at Texas A&M, but his memories of Olsen Field extend far beyond the past few seasons. They reach back to when his baseball jersey featured a Little League patch, not an SEC insignia.
“I’d have my birthday parties out here,” the Bryan native said, while glancing toward the stadium’s right-field berm. “We’d load up my Little League team and come out here to watch games. That was back when there were metal bleachers out there. We’d spend the day here, getting baked in the sun.”
Ideally for the Aggies, Kopetsky and his teammates would have at least one more weekend to spend on A&M’s home field this season. But a late-season swoon pushed the Aggies (36-21) on the road in the NCAA Tournament, and they’ll take on Baylor (34-21) at 2 p.m. Friday at the University of Houston in the opening game of the regional.
Lucky with location
Host UH is the top seed and will face fourth-seeded Iowa at 7 p.m. Friday, while the Bears are seeded second and the Aggies third. A&M was one of the last four teams to make the 64-team tournament, and coach Rob Childress said the Aggies are lucky to only be playing 100 miles from their campus.
“We’re very fortunate that we’re getting to take a bus ride to our regional, considering we’re a three seed it would have been easy for the (committee) to ship us across the country,” Childress said. “But to go an hour down the road and know we’re going to have a lot of maroon in the stands is certainly a good feeling.”
About a decade ago and when he was beginning to outgrow the Little League birthday parties at Olsen Field, Kopetsky would sit in the stands with his father who would kiddingly ask him, “Do you think you could hit this pitcher?”
The answer was always the same from the youngster: “Oh yeah, I could hit this guy easy.”
“Here the pitcher was throwing about 90 to 95 miles per hour, and I’m 13 years old saying I could hit him,” Kopetsky recalled with a laugh.
That budding confidence served Kopetsky well, after he didn’t get a chance to play for A&M directly out of Rudder High in Bryan.
“The dream was still there, it wasn’t over,” Kopetsky recalled of accepting an offer to attend Temple Junior College instead. “My path wasn’t as easy as some guys coming to A&M straight out of high school, but even those guys sometimes have a difficult time once they get here.”
Unfinished business
Kopetsky played well enough at Temple over two seasons to earn a chance to play for the Aggies, and this year he’s tied for third on the team with a .300 batting average. Kopetsky was listed as a senior at the beginning of last season, too, but tore his rotator cuff in the 2016 opener and later received a medical redshirt and another season of eligibility.
“He had graduated, and it would have been easy for him to go ahead and start his career,” Childress said. “But Blake felt like there was unfinished business left on the baseball field here at Texas A&M, and he’s certainly been a big part of our success this year.”
Added A&M reliever Kaylor Chafin: “He’s a hometown kid, and this is what Blake always wanted as a player. When he’s gotten the opportunity, he’s made the most of it. He’s someone younger guys can lean on, and he leads by example. You can’t ask much more out of a guy.”
Kopetsky has a request, however, and it’s that he’s part of a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, and perhaps even A&M’s first College World Series team since 2011.
“We got our name called for the tournament, and it doesn’t matter what seed we are,” Kopetsky said. “We all have an even shot now.”