UMass Coach Honored at Fenway

Koch Tosses First Pitch Before Lester's No-Hitter

May 21, 2008

BOSTON, Mass. – Everything Sam Koch is involved in turns to gold these days.

The UMass men’s soccer coach, who led his overachieving Minutemen to the NCAA Final Four last fall, threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Monday night’s Red Sox game at Fenway Park, then sat back and watched as Sox pitcher Jon Lester no-hit the Kansas City Royals.

UMass coach Sam Koch threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park Monday. (Photo courtesy: UMass Athletics).

“It's amazing when you get out there,” Koch said. “You don't hear a thing; you don't see a thing except for the catcher's mitt in front of you. It was so surreal."

Koch, his family and assistant coach Jon Davy were given a private VIP tour prior to the game, collected a few autographs, and watched the game from the stands behind home plate as the game, and history, unfurled pitch-by-pitch.

When he took the mound, escorted by his daughter Katie, the PA announcer read off several of Koch's achievements as head coach at UMass and when he began reading about the Minutemen's historic run to the NCAA College Cup this past fall, cheers went up from those in attendance.

Koch's pitch was a strong one, a bit high, but was still memorable for the Concord, Mass., native and his family.

After the pitch, Koch and his family were escorted to their seats behind home plate - a perfect spot to see the 18th no-hitter in Sox history and first for a young Lester.

ADD TO YOUR SOCIAL BOOKMARKS: Blink Del.icio.us Digg
Furl Google Simpy Spurl Technorati Y! MyWeb