TAMAQUA
It's hard to tell watching Brett Kosciolek play baseball if he's excited, scared or disappointed.
The Tamaqua rising junior plays with a constant poker face, never showing his emotions. There's never any fist pumps after recording a strikeout, yelling or screaming at teammates during the game, or ridiculous gestures or arm waving after hitting a long home run.
"Regardless of the situation, there's always no emotion, no fear," Tamaqua coach Jeff Reading said of the 6-foot-7, 190-pound Kosciolek. "He doesn't show emotion on the mound. He doesn't get excited or scared. All season, he just gritted it up and did what he had to do on the mound or at the plate."
What Kosciolek did on the mound and at the plate in 2013 was plenty.
The Lake Hauto resident did all his talking on the field, pitching and hitting Tamaqua to the Schuylkill League championship and the Blue Raiders' first District 11 title in 10 years.
The hard-throwing right-hander went 7-2 with a 1.48 ERA and an area-best 81 strikeouts in 56.2 innings on the bump while ranking among the league leaders in batting average (.417), hits (35), runs (24), RBIs (27) and home runs (league-best 8).
For his performance, Kosciolek is the 2013 Republican-Herald All-Area Baseball Team Player of the Year, emerging from a crowded field that also included Minersville's James Brophy, Tri-Valley's Hunter Bordner and North Schuylkill's Matt Smarkanic.
Kosciolek's coach, Jeff Reading, is the Coach of the Year, after engineering the Blue Raiders' turnaround from a 5-15 mark in 2012 to an 18-8 record and the two titles in 2013.
Pottsville sophomore right-hander Eli Nabholz
is the Pitcher of the Year after compiling a 7-2 record with an area-best 0.70 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 60 innings.
North Schuylkill freshman center fielder Bobby Grigas, the sparkplug of the Spartans' potent offense, is the Rookie of the Year.
Confidence key for Kosciolek
Kosciolek has been a three-sport athlete since he arrived at Tamaqua, and was a starter on both the boys' basketball and baseball teams as a freshman last year.
That experience as a freshman paid off big-time this year. Kosciolek grew into his lanky frame, and played with a confidence that magnified his talent.
Kosciolek, who throws a fastball, curveball, cutter and change-up, was clocked as high as 88 mph. He pitched in all of Tamaqua's big games, notching regular-season wins over Pine Grove (twice) and Pottsville, getting an eight-inning victory over North Schuylkill in the Schuylkill League final, then recording a win over Lehighton in the District 11 Class AAA semifinals.
Kosciolek also came on in relief to earn saves against Williams Valley in the Schuylkill League semifinals and Southern Lehigh in the District 11 championship game.
His only losses were to Pottsville and Nabholz on April 15 and to Abington Heights in the PIAA Class AAA quarterfinals.
"Confidence was the key," said Kosciolek, the son of Caszy and Betteanne Kosciolek. "I knew I hit well last year, and that I could go out and hit well this year.
"I got bigger, grew a couple of inches. I didn't really change anything."
Reading said Kosciolek's talent is boosted by a great "Baseball IQ."
"He's one hell of a baseball player. Player, not just a pitcher," Reading said. "He's got the God-given attributes, the tools to play. Along with that, he has the agility, the athleticism. Someone of his size, doesn't normally have that.
"He's got IT. He's got the intangibles.
"He matured a lot from last year, when he showed he belonged as a freshman. His maturity has improved 10-fold to this year. You could see the difference this year."
Kosciolek's skills have gotten noticed.
The 16-year-old has been on a whirlwind tour over the past month, pitching and playing at professional stadiums Citizens Bank Park, FirstEnergy Stadium and Coca-Cola Park, and college fields at Bloomsburg and Lebanon Valley.
He tossed seven scoreless innings over three games to help Lehigh Valley reach the finals of the 28th annual Carpenter Cup Classic, participated in the Lehigh Valley vs. Schuylkill-Berks Legion All-Star Game at Reading, and earned a spot on the Pennsylvania roster for the 2nd annual Big 26 Baseball Classic to be played July 26-28 in Harrisburg.
Kosciolek has spent his summer playing Legion ball for North Parkland and attending various basketball camps.
"It was really fun to play at a Major League park," Kosciolek said of the Carpenter Cup experience. "We played a lot of good competition. It helped me pitching-wise, and it was a good experience.
"I just went out there and acted like it was a normal game. I threw my normal stuff."
The Carpenter Cup final and Legion All-Star Game were on the same day.
"I played at Citizens Bank Park and Reading on the same day," Kosciolek said. "That's kind of cool. Not too many people get to play there once, and I played at both on the same day."
Kosciolek still has two more years of high school baseball remaining, but is already getting plenty of attention from Division I college scouts. Throughout it all, he's kept the same, emotion-less approach.
"I just keep working," Kosciolek said. "I'd like to get a little bigger in the offseason, but I just play like I normally play.
"It's a sport, and it's meant to have fun. Go out and have fun and do your best."
Pieces fall into place for Raiders
Despite three straight losing seasons, Reading was optimistic heading into the 2013 campaign.
With Kosciolek, sophomore shortstop Bo Rottet, junior designated hitter Matt Roberts and a strong senior class returning, the 12th-year coach felt his Tamaqua club could compete in a balanced Division I race.
A 7-1 start to the regular season cemented those thoughts. The Blue Raiders finished 9-3 in Division I play, losing the division title on a tiebreaker to North Schuylkill.
"This year's team was quite honestly 2-3 years in the making," Reading said. "Trying to get these kids to believe in themselves was the big task we had. And the kids will tell you that.
"They became confident this year. We kept telling them we had the ability to play the game and win games, don't play with fear. Play with some swagger, a chip on your shoulder. Go play the game and have some fun.
"This senior group, there was some talented kids there who finally got it. Mix in some younger kids who contributed to that, and it turned into a nice team."
Reading made all the right calls during the postseason, digging into a talented bench and utilizing a deep pitching staff in key situations. Seniors Derek Rottet (4-1) and Josh Zehner (4-3) emerged as solid backups to Kosciolek in the rotation, and senior Dylan DeLay, junior Ian Nicholls and freshman Matt Minchhoff emerged as late-season starters in the field.
There was adversity along the way, however, as the Blue Raiders' depth often created tough decisions for playing time, and those decisions sometimes didn't sit well with players or their parents.
"It was nice to have the ability to rotate people. We had a lot more depth than we as coaches thought," Reading said. "It made for some hard decisions at times. That's coaching."
Nabholz, Grigas have bright futures
The future of Schuylkill League baseball is certainly bright.
The Schuylkill League is currently full of talented young players, as evidenced by the major award-winners and selections on this year's Republican-Herald All-Area Team. Including Kosciolek, Nabholz and Grigas, 19 of the league's top 29 players were underclassmen in 2013.
Nabholz and Grigas are two of the league's brightest.
Nabholz overcame an injury-shortened freshman season to become the Crimson Tide's ace and one of the area's most dominant pitchers. He shut out Tamaqua, no-hit Blue Mountain and tossed a two-hitter against Pine Grove.
The right-hander's only defeats were a 1-0 loss at Tamaqua and a 5-3 defeat to Southern Lehigh in the District 11 playoffs.
After strong football and basketball seasons, Grigas made an immediate impact for the Spartans.
North Schuylkill coach Nick Brayford, a Coach of the Year candidate, inserted Grigas in center field and in the leadoff position in the order from Day 1 and Grigas didn't disappoint.
Grigas finished with a .342 average (27-for-79) with 23 runs scored and seven RBIs. He shined defensively, making several big catches in center field, and also compiled a 4-0 pitching record with a 2.88 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 24.1 innings.Brett Kosciolek, soph., Tamaqua Eli Nabholz, soph., Pottsville Bobby Grigas, fr., North Schuylkill Jeff Reading, Tamaqua