North Broward Prep’s Casey Kopec Shuts Down University School

Brian Campbell had no doubt who was going to be on the mound in the seventh inning.

The North Broward Prep coach had watched his pitcher Casey Kopec shut out the high-powered University School offense through the game’s first six innings and was going to let the southpaw finish what he started.

The senior answered the call and tossed a scoreless final frame to lead the Eagles to a 2-0 win over their undefeated District 4A-13 rivals on Wednesday night. He finished with five strikeouts and allowed just six hits for the complete game shutout.

“I knew he was going to be able to go [one last inning] and I wanted to give him the ball right there, he earned it,” Campbell said. “I love having him on the mound because I know he’s going to go after people. He’s going to challenge everyone. He did what he always does and we were able to play a little defense behind him tonight, so that helps.”

The Eagles offense helped Kopec out early when Kevin Fagan and Anthony Valeo opened the game with back-to-back singles. Fagan, who went 1-for-2 with two walks, scored on a wild pitch in the first to give his starter a 1-0 lead. All night long, North Broward’s defense made sure that lead would hold.

With two outs in the second, Eagles center fielder A.J. Fidalic tracked down a towering fly ball in deep center to leave the tying run stranded at first. In the sixth, with North Broward (3-3, 2-1) still clinging to a 1-0 lead, Kopec’s defense stepped up big again. Valeo made a diving stop at third to throw out Sebastian Diaz for the first out of the inning. On the next play, junior left-fielder Chris Husocki tracked down a long fly ball in the gap in left-center for the second out.

“The errors on the scoreboard say zero, which is everything a pitcher can ask for,” Kopec said. “Knowing I have the defense behind me makes me feel like I don’t have to strike every batter out. I can mix and match my pitches and I don’t have to pinpoint the spots for my fastball every time because I know my defense can make the plays.”

The Eagles also picked off several Suns runners, including one in the fifth inning at second base to erase a two-on-with-nobody-out scenario.

“The game’s we’ve lost this year we were committing three or four errors a game, but tonight we played error-free baseball and we were able to win,” Campbell said. “In the new BBCOR world, that’s what you need to do. You need to be able to pitch and play defense, and if you can do that, you get a good chance to win games.”

The Eagles added an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Valeo ripped a two-out RBI single to plate Husocki. Kopec retired the first two batters in the seventh, and after a Laurenz Reyes single, he struck out Daniel Epstein to end the game.

“We didn’t do anything right tonight, and their pitcher did a very good job and they deserved to win, so I tip my hat to them,” Suns coach Rich Hofman said. “This is a very tough district, and it’s not embarrassing to lose to a team that went to state last year. They’re a quality team.”

Shane Wise went six and a third strong innings for the Suns (5-1, 3-1), giving up just two runs, while Jon Jon Cormier went 2-for-3 and Michael White had a double.

“We really wanted to slow them down, because we want to be better than everybody else,” Kopec said. “It was very important to set a tone with this win tonight. We wanted to send a message that we’re here to be the number one seed in the district.”

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