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Matt Koperniak plays with the North Adams SteepleCats in 2018.

Sprechen Sie 'Baseball'? Koperniak Joins British Team in Germany

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
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Hoosac Valley graduate and London, England, native Matt Koperniak this week was assigned to Great Britain's team in the qualifier for the World Baseball Classic.
 
Koperniak, who is coming off a strong summer with the St. Louis Cardinals' Double A affiliate in Springfield, Mo., was assigned to Great Britain on Tuesday, one day after the Springfield Cardinals placed him on the "temporarily inactive list" with six games left in the regular season.
 
Great Britain's national team is in Germany this week to play in a six-team tournament that gets underway on Friday.
 
The British team's opener against France is at 10 a.m. 1 p.m. EDT and is available on MLB.TV  or worldbaseballclassic.com and the World Baseball Classic YouTube page.
 
Two teams from the double-elimination tournament in Regensburg, Germany, will advance to the 20-team draw in March's World Baseball Classic, the first since 2017.
 
The Classic, which will be played in the U.S., Taiwan and Japan, is waiting on four qualifiers -- two from Germany's Pool A and two from another six-team pool that plays in Panama at the end of the month.
 
Pool A, which is set to conclude on Wednesday, includes the Czech Republic, Spain, France, South Africa and host Germany.
 
A three-sport star for the Hurricanes in high school, Koperniak went on to Trinity College before signing with the Cardinals as a free agent in June 2020.
 
His amateur days included two seasons, 2018 and '19, with the North Adams SteepleCats.
 
In 106 games in the outfield this summer with Springfield, Koperniak hit .288 with 14 home runs, 13 doubles, 59 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in 15 attempts.
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Adams Prudential Committee Evaluating Truck Replacement

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — The Fire Department's Engine 2 is suffering from rust and the Prudential Committee needs to decide if it should be fixed or run until it can be replaced. 
 
Fire Chief David Lennon told the Prudential Committee on Monday about the condition of the 20-year-old truck and acknowledged it's going to be an costly endeavor. 
 
"If we choose to do this, it's going to be so expensive that it would have to be put out for multiple people to look at and possibly bid on, but moreover, we have to look at what the long-term plans are to decide if we want to spend that money on that truck," he said. "If we're going to replace it on its usual schedule, which would be in under 10 years now, so we have to decide."
 
Lennon said his thought was that it was similar to getting a medical diagnosis: since they've got one opinion, "it'd behoove us to get a second opinion to see.
 
"We see that it's rusting, but is that rust going to be completely detrimental to running that for the period that we want to run it for, and have somebody else look at it now," he said. "As far as who that would be, I don't know, but I think that's what we should discuss and see moving forward."
 
The committee set a workshop for Friday, Sept. 11, at 4 p.m.
 
Superintendent John C. Barrett said he plans to install a new system and water main for the Adams Housing Authority's 64 one-bedroom units in the Columbia Valley facility, which will mean a new suppression system for all of the buildings.
 
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