Staff file photo / Joe Simon Poland players celebrate their Divsion II district semifinal win over Niles last season at Cene Park.

Editor’s note: Despite the fact the high school spring sports season in Ohio has been canceled before it got started, the Vindicator and Tribune Chronicle will continue to profile area teams and athletes. Readers can approach the stories with the attitude of “What might have been.”

Not many teams know better what it’s like to have their season end and then restart than Poland’s baseball team.

The Bulldogs lost a sectional matchup with Hubbard in last year’s Division II Struthers district, but the Eagles were later forced to forfeit the victory because of an OHSAA rules violation. Poland regrouped and won the next two games to claim the district championship.

Unfortunately, the Bulldogs will not get a chance to defend it with the spring sports season canceled before it got started because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regardless, Poland was again one of the team’s to beat in the Northeast-8 Conference. Led by hard-hitting first baseman Zachary Yaskulka and pitcher Mike Kushner, the Bulldogs were positioned for another run in the conference and the postseason.

“It was going to take a lot of guys to step up, but we had a good group,” longtime Poland coach Rich Murray said. “We were coming along real well, kind of getting close to that mode where we could start playing and stuff like that, then everything stopped. It’s been tough.”

The stoppage was toughest for the seniors, especially Yaskulka.

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound lefty hit .396 last year and led the team in home runs (3). He was even bigger and stronger this season, and he would have powered a young-but-talented lineup for the Bulldogs.

“Probably one of the best power hitters that I’ve had at Poland,” Murray said. “When he’s in the cage, and he’s swinging, the sound that he makes when he’s hitting the ball is a lot different than a lot of kids. I was really looking forward to him having a great year and hitting the crap out of the ball.”

Joining him as one of the many senior leaders was Kushner, a right-hander who earned a 2.78 ERA and a 4-2 record last year as one of the staff aces. Mason McCurdy was another proven hitter and infielder for the Bulldogs and will continue his academic and athletic career at John Carroll University.

They were the core part of a group Yaskulka said could have created a special season.

“We’re definitely a close group,” he said. “We’ve been playing together since seventh grade. This year, we had 10 seniors, and all but one of the seniors, we’ve gone to school together our whole lives, played together our whole lives, even if it was back in Little League when we weren’t always on the same team.

“We were all looking forward to baseball,” he added. “As soon as it ended, we were upset each year and we were always ready to just go back to work and get ready for next season. That’s how it’s always been. I’m definitely missing them right now, that’s for sure.”

It wasn’t going to be all fun and games for Poland.

They lost several key pieces from 2019, and there were numerous new faces stepping into major roles, especially on the mound. Kushner was really the only proven starting pitcher returning, but Murray said there were at least eight players he saw as viable replacements.

“It seemed like everyone on the roster was a pitcher,” Murray said. “… We were definitely going to count on some kids who didn’t pitch a lot in the past to step up and pitch for us this year, but we had good potential.”

The chance to see where the season could go never materialized.

Yaskulka’s baseball career could be over. He said he made a verbal commitment to play at Slippery Rock, but the scholarship never came to fruition, so he’s considering walking on at Youngstown State.

A longtime baseball player, Yaskulka returned to the football field earlier this year after not playing since seventh grade. Now that the coronavirus outbreak ruined the baseball season, he is glad he at least had a chance to be part of the Bulldogs regional finalist team.

“Two weeks (of football practice) already went by, and the third week, I went out, talked to the coach,” he recalled. “I said, ‘I miss it. I don’t want to regret my senior year. Is it too late to join?’ He said no. I practiced for two weeks and started getting in games. Hubbard week was my first game that I started. Then after that I started every game, even the state semifinal game.

“I’m really glad that I went back out and played. At least I had a sport to play as a senior.”