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Brute force, consistency take teams to the top
By JOHN C. COTEY, Times Staff Writer At a Clearwater Central Catholic game this season, Marauder coach Todd Vaughan was asked by an opposing coach what Dunedin was like. Vaughan pointed out the biggest kid on the field, who stood a thick 6 feet 3, and replied: "They have 15 of those." So it seems to opponents, who have been unable to dent the Dunedin Falcons, 32-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country by Baseball America. This week, Dunedin enters the Class 4A state baseball championships as the overwhelming favorite to win the school's first baseball title since 1964. Vaughan's Marauders, a near-perfect 30-1 (with the lone loss coming against Dunedin) and Class 2A contender, will join the Falcons at Legends Field. CCC, ranked No. 25 in the country, will play Monday at 8 p.m. in a semifinal against Gainesville P.K. Yonge; the championship game is Tuesday at 7 p.m.. Dunedin follows with an 8 p.m. semifinal against Ridgewood on Wednesday; the championship game is Thursday at 7 p.m. Both teams feature great pitching but are polar opposites otherwise. Dunedin is loaded with potential pro prospects including Ryan Harvey, Brian Dopirak and Steve Doetsch. They are, as Vaughan noted, a large, imposing, home run bashing team. CCC is a steady team, mixing great pitching with a vacuum cleaner defense and a knack for clutch hits. Dopirak is the face of the Falcons like Jerry West's image is the NBA logo. Dopirak has a menacing glare and an intimidating physique. He complements all this off the field with an easygoing, friendly manner. "It's nice that teams think we're this big (fearsome) team," said Dopirak. "And we have some big guys. But we have some little guys, too. I think the key to our success has really been just having fun and staying calm." Dopirak would like nothing more than to win a state championship before he graduates. His father, Allan, and uncles Dan and Dave all competed as Falcons in the 1960s, the school's athletic heyday. Dave played with the 1966 state basketball champs; the school also won titles in baseball (1964) and track (1968) while the Dopiraks were there. Since then, there have been no boys team titles, despite the perpetual promise of Dunedin's baseball teams since 1990. "There's been (expectations) because Dunedin has been at the top for so long," said Dave, 52, now a firefighter in Clearwater. "It was a disappointment. Every year they've had a really good chance to win and last year they probably should have. "It's a really, really big deal." The Falcons understand this -- and, for the first time, seem unfazed by it, "especially with most of the guys on this team experiencing those years past," said University of South Florida signee Jeremy Bellotti. "Not only do we want to win it for ourselves, but for all the past teams and past players. They deserve it as much as we do." At CCC it is much the same. The senior-laden Marauders haven't won a baseball title since 1979, and Vaughan has come up short in previous trips in 1991 (a 13-2 loss in the championship game) and 1994 (a loss in the semifinals). Although baseball is king at Dunedin, CCC has to ward off soccer for attention in the Marauder hallways. This week, thanks to the pitching of Shawn Williams and Justin O'Keeffe and the bats of catcher Brandon Diaz, second baseman Logan James and a cast of steady contributors, the school has been giving the team plenty of attention. "There's a buzz," said James. "It's still known as a soccer school, and we hate that. That just gives us more motivation. But we started with 20 fans and last game there were a couple of hundred. "It's awesome right now. This is the first time that people at school have actually paid attention to us. It's pretty cool."
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