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By Ron P. Coderre
It’s like “déjà vu” all over again as the famous Yogi Berra would say. It was almost exactly one year ago that an announcement came out of Woodstock Academy naming Mike Scrapchansky as coach of the Centaurs baseball team. This year the announcement is being made by the administration of Killingly High School.
Principal Andrew Rockett recently announced the appointment of Scrapchansky as the new diamond mentor for the Redmen. He succeeds longtime coach Dan Vogt who stepped down in December 2012. In actuality, Scrapchansky succeeds Michael O”Keefe of Hamden, a former minor league player, who was hired on February 21. O’Keefe unexpectedly told the school recently that he had had a change of heart and resigned for personal reasons.
Scrapchansky comes home to Killingly High School, his alma mater, with a solid baseball background as a player. He’s a 1987 Killingly High School graduate, who earned four varsity baseball letters as a speedy, strong-armed center fielder and better than average hitter with the Redmen. He was honored by being named Class L All-State in his junior and senior seasons. He moved on from Killingly to have four solid seasons at the University of Hartford, where he graduated in 1991. While at UHart he served as the team captain in his senior season and was named a Div. I COSIDA Academic All American. During his tenure at Hartford one of his teammates was former Houston Astros all-star Jeff Bagwell.
While in high school, Scrapchansky also roamed center field for the Danielson American Legion baseball team. It was during a Legion game on the “old” Plainfield High School diamond that Scrapchansky incurred a serious eye injury when he ran head-on into the stone wall in the outfield while chasing down a fly ball at full speed. Although Scrapchansky was able to eventually return to the diamond, the injury most likely prevented him from furthering his career on the professional level.
The new Killingly baseball coach has had a “vagabond-type” high school coaching career. In 2012 Woodstock under Scrapchansky was a disappointing 4-16 overall and 2-8 in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division, playing all its games on the road due to the construction of the artificial turf football field which wreaked havoc with the baseball diamond. He also had a two-year stint as varsity coach at Hyde School – Woodstock. And prior to his Hyde experience served as an assistant at Tourtellotte Memorial High School under legendary Coach Tom Auclair. Scrapchansky has also witnessed the game from another perspective, serving as an umpire for 10 seasons on the Eastern CT Board of Approved Umpires.
The coaching “merry-go-round” continues to spin, not only at Killingly but at many of the other area high schools. Getting individuals who can devote long term tenures to coaching positions is akin to pitching a perfect game. It occurs infrequently. Only time will tell if Killingly has grabbed the “brass ring” in hiring one of its own, Mike Scrapchansky.
Serving as the team’s assistant is another Killingly grad, Jack Weaver.