Pepicelli’s rise a reminder that good deeds are rewarded

Do you believe in karma?

That all good deeds are eventually rewarded?

If not, perhaps you should pay attention to Dan Pepicelli’s story.

Pepicelli just finished his first weekend as No. 15 Clemson’s pitching coach — the Tigers started the season 3-0 . It’s a far cry from where he was two years ago — head coach at tiny Division III St. John’s Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y.

Pepicelli earned his new position after building a rapport with Clemson head coach Jack Leggett. But learn his story, and it’s hard not to believe that his new job is, in part, a karmic payback.

Two years ago, Pepicelli did the right thing — conceding a postseason tournament game after a line drive felled the opposing team’s coach.

St. John’s ended the 2008 season in a funk, and was battling SUNY-Oswego for a spot in the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament. Oswego had taken a 9-5 lead with a seven-run eighth, and was batting in the top of the ninth.

Then, Oswego’s Dan Pecora smacked a line drive down the third base line, drilling coach Frank Paino — who was coaching third base — in the side of the head.

It dropped Paino to the ground; by the time Pepicelli got to his side, his eyes were rolled back in his head with the spot where the ball hit his skull swelling.

“It was a pretty violent thing, as you can imagine,” Pepiceli said. “A line drive that close off someone’s head is very graphic, very violent. It really took on a whole new feel. Baseball wasn’t that important when you saw him go down.”

St. John’s needed to win the game to get into the ECAC tournament and have any shot at repeating its 2007 NCAA tournament bid, the first in school history.

Paramedics were on their way. Oswego was in shock; Paino was their only coach. Pepicelli gathered his team, walked over to Oswego’s dugout and conceded the win.

There was no hope of suspending the game; the tournament was beginning the next day.

This had to happen.

“I made it very clear to them that they had earned the win,” Pepicelli said. “We weren’t giving them anything. I felt they had earned the win, and this had happened. I truly believed someone’s life was in jeopardy.”

Paino suffered a cracked skull, but survived. With backup sophomore outfielder Brian Stark coaching as he recovered, Oswego won the league title.

Pepicelli and St. John were rewarded with an NCAA sportsmanship award, but Pepicelli downplays his actions.

“I think anyone that was a human being and was there, took that in,” he said, “realized what happened and what had to happen.”

Two years later, Pepicelli is setting into his new job at Division I power Clemson, lauded for his skills as a communicator and a molder of pitchers.

His career has taken a huge step forward .

It’s a nice reminder that, indeed, good things do happen to good people.

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