Threw first no-hitter at PNC Park
The Post-Gazette periodically takes a look at outstanding athletes from the area.
It has happened to Chris Koutsavlis countless times over the years. He will be at a social event when a friend will throw out the trick trivia question.
“Who threw the first no-hitter at PNC Park?”
There’s a decent chance someone with knowledge of Pirates history might answer “that Homer guy.” Yes, Homer Bailey of the Cincinnati Reds threw a no-hitter against the Pirates in 2012.
But go ahead and sound the buzzer for wrong answer.
The correct answer to the question is Chris Koutsavlis.
OK, so it wasn’t a major-league game and the contest lasted only seven innings. But it was still the first no-hitter at PNC and came on the grandest of WPIAL stages. And it will forever be a part of Koutsavlis’ legacy.
Koutsavlis was a senior at Mt. Lebanon High School in 2002 and made history with his no-hitter on a Friday night on the final day of May. It was “mayday” for Blackhawk as Koutsavlis and Mt. Lebanon beat the Cougars, 2-0, to win the WPIAL Class 3A championship at PNC.
“I think the people who know me well, it’s one of their favorite pieces of trivia,” Koutsavlis said with a laugh. “I’ve had to grin and bear it for 18 years. It’s never been a conversation icebreaker for me. But for some reason it’s a pretty good icebreaker when I’m standing there and people talk about me. I’d say it’s been brought up more than a few times.”
Koutsavlis is now 36, living in Brookline with his wife, Jourdan, and their 1-year-old son, Ignatius. Little “Iggy” has some good athletic genes. Jourdan Koutsavlis is the sister of Madison Cable, former Mt. Lebanon basketball star who played on three Final Four teams at Notre Dame.
Chris Koutsavlis is still involved with baseball. He works with Mt. Lebanon coach Patt McCloskey, giving baseball lessons to youngsters.
“I work mostly with pitchers trying to go to the next level — college,” Koutsavlis said.
Koutsavlis was on a different level when he threw the “no-no” at PNC. But there were other dynamics surrounding the game that also made it unique. Mt. Lebanon lost to Franklin Regional a year before in the title game at PNC. In 2002, the WPIAL was able to swing a deal for a championship tripleheader at PNC — and Blackhawk vs. Mt. Lebanon was the final game. But the start of the game was delayed as horrible storms moved through Western Pennsylvania. Winds from the storms were so strong that the wooden pavilion that sheltered the whip ride at Kennywood Park collapsed and killed a woman.
“That was probably the most violent storm I’ve ever been around,” Koutsavlis said. “I have a vivid memory of it raining so hard that you couldn’t see the flags in center field.
When everything died down, one of those flags was missing.”
The attendance at PNC for the three games was 4,587 and the fans who stayed for the final game saw two excellent pitchers. Blackhawk’s Brian Omogrosso, who would go on to pitch 29 games in the major leagues with the Chicago White Sox, was throwing fastballs that were clocked in the low 90s. He struck out 12 and allowed only four hits.
Koutsavlis wasn’t as overpowering as Omogrosso, but more effective. A 6-foot-1, 190-pound lefthander, Koutsavlis threw hard enough and had great command. He struck out seven and walked four. Mt. Lebanon scored single runs in the third and fifth innings to give coach Mark Saghy a title.
Koutsavlis had taken a no-hitter into the seventh inning in a semifinal win against North Allegheny.
“From my perspective, I don’t remember going out in the championship and saying, ‘I’m going to put these guys on my back and throw a no-hitter,” Koutsavlis said. “I just remember everyone being able to do things and achieve things that were greater than ourselves because of the type of group we were.”
Koutsavlis still talks about the great defensive play by third baseman Justin Steranka that saved the no-hitter in the sixth inning. Omogrosso hit a hard grounder near the third-base line. Steranka made a diving, back-handed stop, got to his feet and threw out Omogrosso.
Steranka and Koutsavlis were two of eight seniors that started for Mt. Lebanon.
“I’ll bet you 15 of the 18 players on that team were seniors and we had been playing together since we were 10 years old, with Mt. Lebanon travel baseball,” Koutsavlis said. “It was the kind of thing where we grew up waiting for this championship. I’m friends with all those guys to this day.”
After Mt. Lebanon, Koutsavlis went on to pitch at Marshall University, where he won 18 games. He still holds Marshall records for games started (53) and innings pitched (322⅓). He never played baseball again after college.
The no-hitter capped off a tremendous season by Koutsavlis. He was named Post-Gazette Player of the Year after finishing 9-0 with a surreal 0.25 ERA. He struck out 86 in 55 innings, and also hit .464 with 38 RBIs.
“I will never be the person to tell you he’s the best player I’ve ever seen in high school,” Saghy said in 2002. “But he had the best season I’ve seen from a high school player.”
Coincidentally, eight years later, another Mt. Lebanon pitcher made history. This June marks the 10year anniversary of the first perfect game in PIAA softball championship history. It was thrown by Mt. Lebanon’s Geena Badolato in 2010.
Two historical games by two Mt. Lebanon pitchers. Koutsavlis still remembers the postgame activities of his no-hitter.
“I remember we went over to the house of one of the guys on the team, and we ended up just staying over night,” Koutsavlis said. “I still remember his dad waking me up in the basement the next morning because somebody wanted to do a live radio interview with me.”
Koutsavlis doesn’t remember the interviewer. It’s merely trivial.