Tosa East gets new baseball coach

Published on: 11/4/2011

I am always happy when people receive an opportunity to fulfill a dream. I've been fortunate to have worked in sports all my life - with the Milwaukee Brewers for 19 years and with CNI/NOW Newspapers & Websites the past 9.5 years.

So when Brian Karas got the Tosa East head baseball coach position, I will absolutely thrilled for the young man.

Karas is a talented kid, who knows a lot about pitching. In fact, he olds a couple records at St. Francis High School. He has worked with the Red Raiders program the past three years and has been a pitching coach the last five years and has coached baseball the past 11.

Principal Nick Hughes and AD Linda Vitrano stayed inside the program because they felt Karas not only has the ability to make the Red Raiders competitive, but that having someone who knows the players and has their trust was also important in the transition.

This is a program that used to be a baseball power, but has struggled the last five seasons.

Karas, 29, replaced Matt Dahlstrom, whose career record was 38-90, a .297 winning percentage, which included going 21-62, a .253 winning mark, in the rugged Greater Metro Conference. Dahlstrom resigned to spend more time with his family.

The Red Raiders best season the past five years was 2010, when they finished 7-13 in league play and 15-19 overall. This past season they were 5-18 in league play and 9-21 overall.

I want to point out that Dahlstrom was not the reason this program has struggled, so don't think by switching coaches everything will be wonderful. Last time I checked, Vitrano won't be signing any free agents or making any trades with the other conference schools to bring in some more talent.

Karas and his staff must work on improvement from within. Over half of their games last year the Red Raiders lost by 7-or-more runs. That has to stop.

The key word here is competitive. If that happens, winning will follow.

I would like to see the Tosa East program improve. And one of the main reasons is the personable Karas.

His dream has come true. I don't want it to turn into a nightmare. Karas and Tosa East deserve more.