Sinton defeated Taft 8-0 today in a matinee baseball game. It was the first win of a new era for Sinton baseball as today the field was officially named after former baseball coach, Gene Kasprzyk.
“It’s an honor,” Coach Kasprzyk said.
The former Sinton coach was an icon in the community on and off the field and led the program to the peak of Texas high school baseball. He coached at Sinton for 30 years, won 777 games all time and won three state titles.
Former players and coaches from the area gathered at the baseball complex today as Kasprzyk was enshrined forever. In attendance was former Texas Rangers pitcher, Mike Adams, who spoke about the impact coach had on his life in the MLB.
“He taught us discipline and one big thing was to shine our shoes,” the former big league pitcher said. “If I had a bad night on the mound it was because I didn’t shine my shoes.”
Sinton had tremendous baseball success during Kasprzyk’s tenure as skipper for the Pirates. Outside of the three state titles, which included back to back championships in 1988 and ’89, the Pirates reached the playoffs in 26 of the 30 years under the Kasprzyk regime. The Pirates also won ten straight district titles from 2000-2009. It was a decision that turned out to be a success for Sinton 30 years ago and Kasprzyk is grateful.
“These guys opened up their arms to me 30 plus years ago and said here are our athletes here are our baseball players and they said take them coach them.”
Kasprzyk handed the keys to the program to former Texas Longhorn pitcher Adrian Alaniz who is now looking to follow in his foot steps. It will be large shoes to fill for the national champion but with consistent talent Sinton has, everything should go smoothly.
