Point Park’s Krivijanski gets off to perfect start
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Nolan Krivijanski was in shock after throwing the first perfect game of his career on March 18.
Not just because the 26year-old Point Park baseball senior had accomplished one of the rarest and most difficult feats in all of sports, but because of the journey he took to get to that point.
Twelve years earlier, he had given up playing organized baseball. There was a time in his life when his biggest goal was starting at quarterback for a Division I football team. Life had other plans.
It took an injury, a transfer during his initial college stint, and multiple stops with collegiate summer baseball teams across the country before he finally ended up at Point Park. Though his journey didn’t go as expected, he is grateful for his current opportunity and his place in life.
In seven starts, he has an ERA of 2.27 with a 5-2 record. In 43⅔ innings pitched, he has 34 strikeouts with 11 walks. A game after pitching a perfect game, he pitched a one-hitter and earned NAIA national pitcher of the week honors.
“Every pitch I’m throwing, the only thing I can control right now is each pitch and the mindset I bring with each pitch,” said Krivijanski, who lives in West Mifflin. “When I let go of the ball, it’s in God’s hands. That’s how I’ve been pitching and I’m blessed to have the opportunity to throw that perfect game.”
Krivijanski grew up a two-sport athlete in football and baseball. As a child, he looked up to his grandfather, Gerald Kushner, who played minor league baseball with the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds in the 1960s. He wears No. 30 in his honor.
Krivijanski attended Central Catholic and played football and baseball his freshman year. He gave up baseball, however, once he had an opportunity to play quarterback at the school that produced Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino, two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Marc Bulger and a list of college starters. He couldn’t pass it up.
Central Catholic’s baseball coach at the time, Rich Krivanek, told him that he had the talent to be a Major League draft prospect.
“As far as a baseball player goes at that time, he had every tool,” Krivanek said. “He had the arm strength, the speed, the size, the knowledge. Every player who succeeded and went to Division I and pros and such, he had every tool that they had.”
In football, after sitting behind former Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri for a couple seasons, he finally earned the starting job before the beginning of his senior year, the 2008 season. His first game started off promisingly, as Krivijanski completed his first three passes against Lakeland (Fla.). On the fourth play of the game, he sustained an injury that nearly cost him the entire season.
“We were playing on synthetic turf and the way I got hit, my cleat wouldn’t pivot in the turf, and my whole body turned over and I just felt a few clicks in my knee,” Krivijanski said.
He feared he had torn his ACL. The injury ended up being diagnosed as a torn patellar tendon, a ligament that attaches the bottom of the kneecap to the top of the shinbone. The injury didn’t require surgery, but it caused him to miss all but three regular-season games in his senior year.
Despite the setback, he still earned a scholarship to play football at Duquesne. His stint there was shortlived. He wanted to play quarterback, but the coaching staff suggested he switch to receiver so that he could get onto the field. Former Michigan State quarterback Connor Dixon had just transferred to Duquesne and was ahead of Krivijanski on the depth chart.
Krivijanski redshirted his freshman season, and then transferred to California (Pa.), where he thought he would have a better opportunity. Instead, he entered a locker room filled with the most talented group of athletes he had ever been around, he said.
After two years at Cal, he left to pursue a baseball career. In the back of his mind, he had always figured that if football didn’t work out, he could switch back to baseball. He bounced around collegiate summer baseball leagues, looking for an opportunity to move up to a pro league.
He had good stints in California, St. Louis and New Jersey, but didn’t find that opportunity. Discouraged, he returned home and pitched in a local league, discouraged that his efforts hadn’t paid off.
While pitching at a local park, he was noticed by a group of Point Park alums. Impressed with his pitching ability, one of them reached out to Point Park baseball coach Loren Torres, who called Krivijanski the next day.
“We had a talk and he offered me on the spot right there,” Krivijanski said. “I can’t thank him enough for signing me onto Point Park and giving me the education to get my degree, which I’ll graduate this spring with.”
He signed and enrolled in Point Park during the summer of 2013, and after sitting out his initial season because of an issue with his NCAA credits transferring, made his debut in 2015.
Unsurprisingly, his time at Point Park hasn’t gone exactly as planned. He had a child with his girlfriend last season, and with a new family, he now has more motivation than ever to finish his degree in business management and prepare for his future.
“I have a family now, they’re my number one priority,” he said. “I’m getting my degree, so if I have an opportunity to play baseball beyond this year then I’d love to. We’ll see what’s in the mix when the time comes. Just leave it up to God for now.” played third and short for me, and he pitched and he wasn’t really a pitcher. But he had good mechanics, he threw strikes and did whatever I wanted. He batted from probably the lead-off spot to, as a freshman, ninth. He loves the game and he put the time into it to get him to where he’s at now.”
Popa is one of five WPIAL products on Pitt’s roster, joined by infielder P.J. DeMeo (Central Catholic), the team’s sixth-leading hitter at .231, pitcher Tyler Garbee (Quaker Valley), pitcher Collin Liberatore (Greensburg Central Catholic) and pitcher Sam Mersing (Montour).
As fall practices elapsed and some of the nuances of the college game started to become habit for Popa, the opportunity to start began to look like a realistic possibility.
“That’s everyone’s goal, to come in and play as early as they can,” Popa said. “Luckily enough, I was given the opportunity to do so. It’s pretty awesome.”
It’s a designation Popa earned through the skill and promise he exhibited at such an early point in his career, but it’s partially born out of necessity.
Following a 25-26 finish last season, the Panthers lost six of their starting position players and four pitchers with at least 10 appearances.
Some of the departures, primarily the team’s sen i o r s , w e r e e x p e c t e d . Others, however, weren’t. Shortstop Charles LeBlanc moved on to the professional ranks after being sel e c t e d by the Texas Rangers in the fourth round of the MLB draft, culminating a rise in which he batted .417 and was an all-ACC selection one season after posting a .291 average as a freshman. Junior Nick Yarnell left as a late-round signee, meaning, when paired with LeBlanc’s move, Pitt lost its three and four hitters sooner than anticipated.
Rather suddenly, the Panthers became a relatively young, inexperienced squad, one with nearly as many freshmen (two) position starters as seniors (three). For many players like Popa, it’s truly baptism by fire.
“Instead of a freshman coming in and possibly redshirting or having a little extra time to develop to be prepared for that next step, we basically have to throw them in the fire day one and they have to figure it out,” Jordano said. “Obviously, we’re there to help them for that transition, but at the end of the day, they’re at the plate, they’re on the bases and they’re on the mound. They have to get the job done.”
Led by Popa and a handful of other promising young players, including what he believes to be a strong 2017 recruiting class, Jordano is encouraged by what awaits his program in the coming months and years.