Covington Catholic coach Bill Krumpelbeck knows he’s living a coach’s dream — but not because of personal accolades.
It’s because of what those accolades represent.
On senior night in Park Hills, the Colonels defeated Newport Central Catholic 9–2, giving Krumpelbeck his 1,145th career victory and moving him past Pleasure Ridge Park’s Bill Miller for second all-time in KHSAA baseball history. It adds to “Krump’s” list of accolades that includes nine region championships and a state championship in 2002.
Despite the milestone, Krumpelbeck didn’t want the night to be about him. Instead, he credited the people who made it all possible.
“It’s the whole community more than anything else,” Krumpelbeck said. “I was raised in Catholic schools my whole life. Went to Xavier. Got hired here as a biology teacher and taught for 46 years. The players are a joy to coach, and the parents are so supportive. That’s pretty unusual — a lot of my coaching friends don’t get that. It makes my job easy.”
Having coached through 48 senior nights, you’d think they might start to run together — but this group stood out, in part because of how their journey began.
“Well, this group, a lot of them started as freshmen, which is very unusual in our program. We don’t really have freshmen ever start,” Krumpelbeck said. “We had injuries back then, and I kept pulling these guys up and put them right in the lineup. I mean, Reardon being our stud, I pulled him out of class because I was teaching all these guys at the time. So I just call him to the side in class and say, ‘Hey, Reardon, I need you to be my shortstop today,’. And that’s where it started. He was the first one. But the rest of them all came up pretty much at different times as freshmen, which is highly unusual. So they’ve had to put up with me, which is not easy, for four years.”
Reardon, a University of Cincinnati commit, remembers that first moment — sort of.
“I remember very vaguely,” Reardon said. “It was pretty surreal because I watched my brother come through who’s four years older than me, so he graduated that same year. Knowing Krumps as a coach and to get that opportunity as a freshman is pretty incredible. He’s something special. I can’t thank him enough.”
Marcus Suwinski, another senior who was called up as a freshman, recalled his own unforgettable debut.
“My freshman year, I got called up and he squeezed me,” Suwinski said. “I pulled back and it was actually on TV. That’s my favorite memory because he absolutely laid into me and that was my first varsity experience.”
Suwinski made this senior night count. He had a hit, two runs, an RBI and a stolen base to help secure the milestone win.
Cole Krumpelman got the win on the mound with seven strikeouts, allowing just five hits and two runs without walking a single Thoroughbred. The Colonels had eight hits in total — each by a different player.
Henry Brooks started the game for NewCath, pitching four innings and giving up three hits and two runs, while walking two and striking out three. He also led the Thoroughbreds at the plate with two of the team’s five hits, along with a run and an RBI.
It doesn’t get much easier for Newport Central Catholic (13–11), who will travel to face Ryle on Wednesday night in Union at 5 p.m.
Covington Catholic (18–11) stays home Wednesday to take on Holy Cross at 5 p.m. in the continuation of a suspended game from last week with the Colonels leading 3-2 in the fourth inning.
COLONELS 9, THOROUGHBREDS 2
NEWPORT CENTRAL CATHOLIC — 001-001-0 — 2-5-1
COVINGTON CATHOLIC — 120-051-x — 9-8-1
RBI — (CC) Carnes, Ernst, Kremer, Landwehr, Payne, Suwinski, Unkraut, Yuskewich (NCC) Brooks, Colwell
2B — (CC) McEvoy
WP — Krumpelman . LP — Brooks.
Records: Newport Central Catholic 13-11, Covington Catholic 18-11