Mikes’ Krause would like to make one special phone call
By John Sacco
For the Observer-Reporter
newsroom@observer-reporter.com
Richard Krause has chased a WPIAL baseball championship for 45 years, dating back to his sophomore year at Carmichaels High School.
As a player and coach, Krause, a baseball lifer, has been close to it, seemingly always all around it.
No need to ask him what it would mean to him if his Magical Mikes of 2025 would walk away from EQT Park today as WPIAL Class A champions would mean.
His postgame phone call to his father would be unlike any other ever placed.
Krause was a significant member of the 1980 Mikes, who defeated Washington and Neshannock on the way to a WPIAL Class AA championship appearance. Carmichaels was stopped short of the title, losing to Swissvale.
Krause, a highly successful coach in two stints at his alma mater, gets his latest shot against Serra Catholic.
He’s had more talented teams fail to reach the championship game, but baseball (at least high school) promises only 21 outs. Nothing more. Nothing less.
The Mikes returned only three starters. The inexperience was a worry. The tradition, the commitment and the culture are what makes Carmichaels baseball a constant threat to do special things. The Mikes have three WPIAL titles (2003, 2005 and 2008). They have multiple runner-up trophies and a bevy of section championships.
To win a fourth, Carmichaels will have to keep playing as they have throughout an improbable season and postseason run, which includes a semifinal win over favored Eden Christian.
“We started this year knowing that we lost six good kids from our baseball team last year,” Krause said. “We had six out of nine starters graduate. We kept getting better. Together, we found the right spots and we kept improving. We thought we could be a playoff team.”
In his deepest thoughts, Krause had to consider adjusting the yearly goals of winning the section and a WPIAL championship.
And yet, here he and the Magical Mikes are on the doorstep.
Where some seasons and those stated pursuits left him empty, especially in 1981 when the Mikes were considered a lock to return to the championship game and failed to make the playoffs (when only section champions qualified).
“We lost three section games,” Krause lamented. “We all thought we’d be back. Nothing is etched in stone. It doesn’t always end the way you think.”
That is exactly why the Mikes cannot be counted out.
Their coach could place a phone call that would be 45 years in the making.
“I want our guys to understand how special this is,” Krause said. “We’ve had a lot of great players and teams that never got to do this. You never know where your opportunities might come from.
“Win or lose. We’ll have a short meeting afterwards and I’ll go off and call my dad like every game.
“I’m so grateful for this opportunity. Thankful for my blessings. This has been extra special. I call my dad – something I’ve done 40-plus years. He gets nervous, maybe a little too much for his 83-year-old heart. Those talks mean a lot to me.”