PITTSBURGH — Someone probably should have pinched Stan Boroski this week.

Actually, it was a dream script that — outside of winning the World Series — the 1981 Buckeye South graduate couldn’t have written better.

Here’s Boroski sitting in the bullpen at PNC Park as bullpen coach of the Tampa Bay Rays with many friends and family members in the stands for all of the three-game set, which wrapped up Thursday evening.

But, to hear Boroski tell it, though he loves baseball and working for the Rays, the best part of the trip into the Steel City may have come on Monday when the team was off. The Rays flew into Pittsburgh Sunday evening and he was met at the airport by his parents, who brought him back to the Ohio Valley to spend the night and his off day.

“This is the first year that we haven’t travelled on off days, so this worked out great for me,” Boroski said. “This is the first time since I’ve been with the Rays that we came to Pittsburgh. The last time we played the N.L. Central, Pittsburgh came to us.”

So what does an Ohio Valley native, who has been away for several years, do when he gets a chance to come home?

“My parents and I went over to Wheeling and had a Coleman’s Fish Sandwich,” Boroski said. “I got to catch up with my family. I saw my sisters, several aunts and uncles and just relaxed. It was an enjoyable day.”

His parents — Stan and Mary Lee — took him back to Pittsburgh Tuesday morning. After a quick stop by the team hotel, Boroski was off to the ballpark to get back to work, which is much more than the three-hour game that was on ROOT.

“Pittsburgh had been one of the few ballparks I hadn’t been to yet, so I was really looking forward to getting here,” Boroski said. “It’s a beautiful park and being so close to home, it really works out well.”

Boroski’s work day actually commences shortly after noon when he does computer and video work. He and his pitchers are on the field by 3 p.m., normally, so they’re able to get their work in before the position players come out for batting practice.

“It’s a long day, but it beats busting concrete with a sledge all day,” Boroski joked. “It’s everything I thought it would be and then some.”

That time crunch didn’t allow much time for Boroski to socialize with many friends during his trip back “home.”

“I wanted to spend as much of the down time with my family and just really relax,” Boroski said. ”

Boroski is in his eighth season with the Rays after spending 18 seasons in the Astros organization as either a scout or coach. Not bad for a guy who really never considered coaching.

“I don’t think too much about the future,” Boroski said when asked if he had aspirations to one day serve as a pitching coach or even a manager at the big-league level. “This is just an opportunity that presented itself. I never had a goal of being a coach in the major leagues. I just wanted to be the best coach I could be. Some opportunities presented themselves and I guess I was in the right place at the right time.”

Boroski’s Rays dropped two out of three during the series, winning the opening game by a 4-2 count in 10 innings. All told, Tampa entered a weekend series in Baltimore with a 41-40 record and were four games behind the Red Sox and a game out of the second wild card spot.

“Like a lot of teams, we wish we were doing better,” Boroski said. “We’re in a pretty good spot though. If you told a lot of teams they’ve be (just a few games) out in early July, they’d take that. We’re happy with how things are going. Though, like all teams, we’re always looking (for players and at the waiver wire), our club is pretty close to how it’s going to look. The group we have is really good and getting a few guys back from injury is almost like adding a piece or two after the break.”

One of the Rays’ issues have been closing out games. The bullpen has surrendered some leads, which doesn’t sit well with Boroski. Obviously, the reliever fall somewhat under his umbrella.

“It’s been a strange season for the pitching staff so far,” Boroski said. “They get hot for a while and pitch really well, but then they struggle for a while. We need to be more consistent out of the pen for sure.”

SETH’S SCOOPS

BOROSKI ISN’T the only Ohio Valley native in the Tampa Bay travel party. Jeremy Sowers, who pitched for the Cleveland Indians after being drafted out of Vanderbilt, was born in the Ohio Valley, but moved to Louisville when he was young. His father, Jerry, still lives in St. Clairsville.

Sowers works with the Rays in the replay department, so he’s in the clubhouse each game. He also aids the front office in analytics.

“Jeremy does a lot of stuff to help prepare for the next series that we’re going to play with the advanced metrics and things,” Boroski said. “He’s really taken on an expanded role this season and he’s really good at it. I like him a lot.”

IT WASgood to see that the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission voted to extend the track and field season by one week. The state meet will now be held on Memorial Day weekend, which had previously been a free weekend in West Virginia because the state softball tournament — for some bizarre reason — is held during the middle of the week in Vienna.

I thought it was interesting that the SSAC noted that “attendance would be monitored.” Does it think parents and families aren’t going to come watch their kids compete at the highest level because it’s Memorial Day weekend?

The state track meet, previously, had been held two weeks prior to Ohio’s state meet. For local SSAC members, the early state meet caused the OVAC Championship meet to precede the regionals. In essence it created a three-week postseason for the Mountain State schools. Yes, I realize Ohio has a three-week postseason, so that doesn’t seem like an issue in an Ohioan’s eyes. But, it is what it is.

Personally, I still think the West Virginia competition season opens far too early. It begins two weeks ahead of Ohio and last time I checked early to mid March weather in the north isn’t always the most condusive to track and field or being outside at all.

IN CASE you’re getting the itch. Fall sports practices in Ohio begin four weeks from Monday. Hard to believe, isn’t it?

Staskey can be reached via email at sstaskey@timesleaderonline.com or at twitter.com/TLSportsSeth