Pence pops up in Poland: Former Lafayette pitcher has whirlwind trip to Prague to play for Polish national baseball team

Prague, Czechia Joey Pence, as a Lafayette senior in 2024, ended his baseball career or so he thought.

Then, this year, he pitched briefly in an adult league in his native New Jersey.

Around that time his mother whose parents have Polish roots saw something on social media about the Polish national baseball team.

I posted our Polish players team photo from our Ukraine versus Eastern Europe exhibition game for peace in a Polish Facebook group, according to John Dobkowski, president and co-founder of the Polish American Baseball & Softball Foundation and former pitcher at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

His mom replied and less than 12 hours later he was packed and ready to go to training camp in Katowice, Poland.

I didnt know anything about the Polish team, Pence said.

My mom, Danuta Kor, was on the phone with John, then I got a call from John.

He asked if I wanted to come to Poland and play baseball.

How could I say no? Paying his own way, he flew from John F.

Kennedy Airport in New York on June 19 to Frankfurt, Germany, to Katowice, a city of about 286,000 people in southwest Poland.

The story gets even better for Pence, who had to overcome Tommy John surgery that cut short his junior year at Lafayette.

Pence came on in the ninth inning Friday and recorded the final two outs to get the save as Poland held on to beat Slovakia 6-5 in its first game in Prague Baseball Week, an annual event held in Czechia.

It was a role I had in college, too.

It was like a flashback exactly what I missed, the adrenaline, said Pence, standing by home plate after the game.

Then on Saturday at FC Tempo Field south of downtown Prague, Pence got the last two outs as Poland beat Lithuania 11-1 in a seven-inning mercy rule game.

He is legit, said position player and new teammate Filip Sarota, who grew up in Warsaw and plays at Division I Lindenwood in Missouri.

He will fill the closer role for us, Polish pitching coach and Florida native Tim Holmes, 31, a former minor leaguer with Yankees, said of Pence.

He has a really good arm.

He has a fastball, cutter and slider.

He has a changeup if he needs it.

As a bonus, the head coach of the Polish national team in Prague was John McLaren, 73, a member of the Philadelphia Phillies coaching staff in 2016-17.

McLaren also managed Seattle and Washington in the majors, plus was a coach for other MLB teams.

Pence saw his first Major League game in person around the age of 8 in Philadelphia and recalled watching outfielder Hunter Pence.

So the product of Bishop Eustace in New Jersey was pinching himself that he was playing for McLaren.

He coached the Philadelphia Phillies in the USA! Honestly, we all realize who John McLaren is, Pence said.

I am super grateful.

We had enthusiasm from the first pitch all the way to the end, McLaren said of the victory over Slovakia.

Pence had never been to Europe until coming to Poland.

He has gotten a quick lesson on baseball in Europe; in recent rankings, Poland was ranked No.

72 in the world while the United States was No.

5.

It is kind of a different level.

It is the best competition in the United States, Pence said.

The first three, four or five batters in Europe are probably starters or Division I caliber in the United States.

In Europe, many starting pitchers throw a fastball in the low to mid-80s.

In the United States, even at the college level, many hurlers throw in the low 90s.

After playing Switzerland on Sunday and an opponent to be named Monday, many of the Polish players are headed back to Poland.

On Tuesday, Pence is slated to meet some relatives on his mothers side who live in Poland.

He is not sure if his baseball career will continue.

Holmes, a former volunteer assistant coach at Western Kentucky, feels the right-hander has more left in the tank.

He is one of the nicest kids in the world, Holmes said of Pence.

He is very coachable.

He had some injuries in college, which happens.

He came back and had a decent season to end up [his college career].

He decided he had a little bit more to prove.

He is a really good pitcher.

I would not be shocked at all if he had a chance to play pro ball.

Since graduating from Lafayette last year with a double major (economics and policy), Pence has focused on his DJ career (he is @korpenmusic on Instagram) with melodic house vibes.

He has played in some top club venues, such as one in Atlantic City.

With that in mind, he was happy to throw as much as possible during Prague Baseball Week.

I may be done, he said.

So, I want to give all that I can.

Prague notes: Another Pennsylvania and Major League connection to Prague Baseball Week was Italian manager Francisco Cervelli, who played for the Pirates, Yankees, Braves and Marlins.

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A coach for the Lithuanian team was Corey Lee, a native of North Carolina who pitched for the Rangers in 1999.

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The four teams in Group A were Italy, Germany, Austria and host Czechia.

Group B was made up of Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania and Switzerland.

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Former Orioles and Mets Triple-A catcher Martin Cervenka, 34, a native of Prague, hit four homers for Czechia in a win Friday over Italy.

He hit a solo homer, two-run and three-run shot and a grand slam for the homer cycle.

That has never been done in the Major Leagues, according to the tournament website.

Im glad I helped the team win, Cervenka said on the tourney website.

Cervenka, with Syracuse in 2021 in the Mets system, played at Coca-Cola Park against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

That was his last season in affiliated ball in North America.

Editors note: Virginia native David Driver has lived in Hungary and Poland and is the author of two books: Hoop Dreams in Europe, about American basketball players overseas, and From Tidewater to the Shenandoah: Snapshots from Virginias Rich Baseball History.

He is the former sports editor of papers in Baltimore and Harrisonburg, Virginia, and covered the Washington Nationals from 2013-22 for various publications.

He can be reached at daytondavid.com..

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