Ex-rivals team up for CCSU
Shelton’s Kanios, Newtown’s Matthews help Devils into NCAAs
NEW BRITAIN — Competitors since they were 10 years old, it seemed as if the final chapter of the friendly rivalry between Chris Kanios and Dave Matthews took place during the 2015 state tournament game.
On that day, Kanios’ RBI single was the lone run in host Shelton’s 1-0 victory over Newtown in Matthews’ final high school baseball game.
Matthews headed off to Division III Johnson & Wales and recorded a .381 batting average in 71 career games. Kanios would become a contributor as a freshman on a Central Connecticut State team that played in the 2017 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.
“I played him in high school, they beat us in the states and still haven’t forgiven him for that,” Matthews said. “The kid is a great athlete, he competes every day on the field. There is not a kid on the field who wants it more than Chris.”
Clamoring to play at a higher level, the hard-hitting Matthews found himself reuniting with Kanios when he decided to transfer to Central Connecticut. Never did the duo have more of an impact as teammates than on Sunday when the Blue Devils found themselves one win away from another NCAA tournament appearance.
Kanios drove in the game’s first run against Bryant, the top seed in the Northeast Conference tournament. After Bryant took the lead with two runs in the sixth inning, Matthews hit his team-leading sixth homer in the seventh inning, setting the stage for Kanios to come up big again. He doubled in the bottom of the eighth inning and scored on Matt Bertochi’s RBI single for what proved to be the winning run in the 3-2 win.
“Was I due or not?” asked Kanios, who was 0 for 14 in his previous four games. “I struggled at the start of the tournament, I had guys on in almost every at bat and didn’t come through. It has been a rough couple of years, my freshman year was awesome, I had a really good year but sophomore and junior year hit some bruises. I think I am starting to figure it out and credit to these guys for keeping me in it every single game.”
Kanios is one of seven CCSU players who got onto the field when the Blue Devils lost to host TCU and Dallas Baptist in the 2017 NCAA tournament and it remains to be seen if that experience helps when Central Connecticut opens NCAA tournament play with a game at No. 5 national seed Arkansas on Friday at 2 p.m.
So what did Kanios and his veteran teammates learn from the 2017 NCAA tournament?
“That it is not as hard as you think it is,” Kanios said. “We were down, it was 1-0 in the seventh inning [against TCU]. We put up a good fight, got down 9-1 and rallied back to make it 9-6 to bring the tying run to the plate which was me at the time. These kids that we are going to play are the same age as us, anything can happen. It is baseball, it is not football and you still have to throw the ball in the strike zone, you still have to hit the ball, still to make the plays. It is not football, they are not going to run us over, it is baseball and anything can happen.”
Kanios knows a thing about football as he was a game-breaking receiver at Shelton High and certainly could be playing football at CCSU if he chose that sport
Player Mike Appel Ray Bartoli Colton Bender TT Bowens Mike Cowell Jay Devito Buddy Dewaine Anthony DiMeglio Chris Enns Brandon Fox Ben Fero Jared Gallagher Thomas Girard Paul Gozzo Karl Johnson Chris Kanios Sam Loda Dave Matthews Jake McKenzie Brian Moskey Liam Scafariello Jake Siracusa Enzo Stefanoni Chris Winkel Pat Winkel
Yr. SR SO SO SO JR SO JR SR GS JR FR SR SO JR FR JR SO JR SO SR SR SO SO JR FR RHP RHP OF-C
1B P IF
3B RHP LHP RHP RHP LHP RHP C RHP OF C OF SS OF OF OF RHP
1B C out of high school.
“I was exploring playing baseball after a really good senior season,” Kanios said. “I’ve been through a lot of injuries and there are 5,000 of me out there [playing college football]. Yeah, it would have been nice to play college football, but the odds of me making it big time to the NFL was pretty slim but baseball, I had skipped my sophomore year of football to play baseball because I thought I was that good and had a chance to do something with it. I had a chance to do it and said I am going to have an opportunity to have a longer career in baseball than in football, I love it and am just going to give it a shot.”
Kanios is in the stands for most of the CCSU home football games and does get
Pos. Hometown Orange Wolcott Lebanon Montville Shelton Stamford Uncasville Darien Canton Manchester Trumbull Berlin Simsbury Wallingford Fairfield Shelton East Haven Newtown Wallingford Higganum Southington S. Windsor Darien Orange Orange
College CCSU Army Quinnipiac CCSU Fordham CCSU CCSU Fordham Quinnipiac CCSU Stony Brook CCSU Duke UConn UConn CCSU CCSU CCSU Fordham CCSU Quinnipiac CCSU Harvard UConn UConn the itch to throw on a uniform, but getting the chance to play in the NCAA baseball tournament for the second time in the last three years leaves him with no regrets.
Kanios is hitting .233 and leads the Blue Devils (30-21) with seven stolen bases while earning rave reviews for his defensive work in center field.
Matthews, who is the No. 4 hitter in his first season at CCSU, leads the Blue Devils with 37 runs, 54 hits, 17 doubles, six homers and 38 RBIs. He had hits in 10 of his first 12 games but didn’t hit his first home run until game No. 17. The Blue Devils are 5-1 when he hits a homer with none more important or timely than his most recent HR.
“Definitely top three in my life,” Matthews said. “I don’t even care how it got done as long as we got it done.”
Now comes the chance for more memories against an Arkansas team with 14 wins over ranked opponents this season.
“I am just excited for the experience, it is going to be a great experience for everybody, it is going to be great for the younger guys too,” Matthews said. “It is going to be out of our comfort zone in terms of the surroundings and all the people. I think it is another step, another game for us, another opportunity to get better. We can learn from this.”
There will be three Connecticut teams playing in the NCAA Division I baseball tournament for the first time. However, Connecticut’s impact doesn’t end with the Central Connecticut, Quinnipiac and UConn. Here’s a look at 25 Connecticut players to watch in the tournament which starts on Friday.
Statistics
6-0, 2.31 ERA, 41 Ks
2-2, 2.63 ERA, 30 Ks
.313, 26 runs, 13 doubles, 32 RBIs
.386, 23 runs, 12 doubles, 21 RBIs
0-0, 3.33 ERA, 24 Ks
.253, .363 on-base percentage
.279, 31 runs, 27 RBIs
6-3, 2.61 ERA, 63 Ks
6-5, 3.67 ERA, 71 Ks
3-5, 3.84 ERA, 43 Ks
4-1, 2.22 ERA
3-0, 1.72 ERA, 37 Ks, 9 saves
1-5, 1.44 ERA, 59 Ks, 9 saves
.276, 9 doubles, 4 HR
2-1, 4.09 ERA, 27 Ks
.233, 15 runs, 7 SB
.277, 35 runs, 8 doubles, 25 RBIs
.297, 37 runs, 6 HR, 38 RBIs
.313, 48 runs, 15 doubles, 43 SB
.280, 42 runs, 13 doubles, 9 SB
.228 38 runs, 13 HR, 34 RBIs
.256, 31 runs, 4 HR, 24 RBIs
5-1, 2.95, 34 Ks
.256, 27 runs, 13 doubles, 39 RBIs
.300, 7 doubles, 6 HR, 33 RBIs