McArthur Confident It Can Succeed This Season

After a lackluster 2012 season in which leadership among the players was nonexistent, the McArthur Mustangs are working hard this fall to right the ship.

Longtime St. Thomas assistant coach Brian Clark began a new chapter in his professional career when he took over as McArthur’s manager last year.

As is often the case when new managers take over, there’s an adjustment period. Clark thinks the team is past that stage now and is ready to compete under his system.

“Last year, they were looking to feel me out and I was going to feel them out,” Clark said. “We had some growing pains, me as the head coach and them trying to get used to my system. We’ve both have changed and adapted to each other. The fall has started pretty well. We’re 5-0 so far. Even though it doesn’t count, it’s good for confidence. Being in the district we’re in, we need all the confidence we can get, so hopefully it’ll turn out to be a better year.”

Senior infielder Kevin Rosario said the players know Clark’s intentions are in their best interest.

“Last year, he was getting to know us, but this year, he’s serious about it,” Rosario said. “He’s here to make us better and here to make us win the district for our senior year.”

The team returns 10 seniors and Clark has finally seen some leaders emerge with Rosario, Javier Aguliar and Michael Bosco stepping up to guide the younger players.

“We didn’t have senior leaders last year,” Clark said. “The juniors, most of them didn’t really want to step up because they didn’t think that was their place. Now with 10 returning seniors that got playing time last year, we’re having senior leaders step up, and they understand this is their last chance in high school and they understand they have a chance to be good. And I think it’s more of a sense of urgency as far as not getting another chance, and they know that. It’s a different enthusiasm than last year.”

Rosario will be the team’s leadoff hitter this year after an inconsistent 2012 season in which he struggled at the beginning of the year. Rosario started the year batting third and ended up in his current leadoff spot. Rosario batted .500 in the second half of the season as a result. He was batting under .100 the first half and ended the second half batting .297. He had a team-leading 13 runs.

“He’ll play ball at the next level, either college or if he gets drafted,” Clark said. “He’s probably going to be a Division I late-round draft pick.

Javier Aguilar, who made the BrowardHighSchoolBaseball.com All-District Team two years in a row, is making the move from third base to first this year. Aguilar is drawing interest from Barry and Broward College. Aguilar, the team’s main power guy, led the team in walks with 15 and had the highest batting average at .328.

Michael Bosco, a center fielder/pitcher who runs a 6.6/6.7 60, will be counted on to better his .255 average last year.

“He’s going to get a lot of guys on base in front of him and will have a lot of opportunities to drive in runs,” Clark said.

Pitching is a concern for the Mustangs, who finished last year 6-14. Two of the team’s top pitchers from last year, Dylan Segula and Jose Ortiz, have graduated, leaving Jorge Alvarez, a junior who throws in the mid-80s, and Michael Velez as the only players from last year who pitched a significant amount of innings.

Alvarez pitched 22 innings and had 18 strikeouts and 1.59 ERA. Clark said he expects him to be a pitcher coming out of the bullpen for relief.

Velez, who threw 17.1 innings last year and went 1-1 with eight strikeouts and a 2.42 ERA, is “a good three-pitch hurler who throws three pitches for strikes,” Clark said. “If he throws like he’s been throwing in the fall, he should have a good year.”

Kevin Lopez also can be good for the Mustangs this year if he can throw his offspeed pitches for strikes, Clark said.

“The main thing now is throwing strikes,” Clark said. “Last year, we walked more than we struck out, so we are working hard on throwing strikes. We’ve had a couple of games where we haven’t given up any hits and haven’t walked any. Also, we’re working on situational hitting as far as hitting behind the runner. We didn’t do a good job with that last year, we left a lot of runners on. They know we have to score runs to win, and they know we have to score runs to win and they know that they’re going to have to hit the ball the other way to move the runner over. They know getting that run can mean something. Runs are at a premium with the pitching in this district, so they understand runs.”

McArthur learned last year just how competitive its district is, and more often than not, the Mustangs had trouble getting through it, going just 2-8.

“Nothing’s going to be given to us,” Clark said. “We’re in a district with Nova and St. Thomas, and South Broward should be pretty good this year. I know Cooper City has a new coach, Plantation has a new coach. Last year, we learned a lot, we learned how intense this district is. I coached at St. Thomas 17 years, so I know what them and Nova are going to bring every game. [Our players] know they have to bring their game every day to have a chance, and they honestly believe they have a chance at one of the top two seeds in the district this year.”

Aguilar said he’s expecting a better year from his teammates against their district competition. There are lessons the team learned through last year’s struggles.

“We’ve learned to be a lot more solid throughout the game against the good teams because if you make one mistake against a good team, that’s it, our shot’s over,” Aguilar said. “So I feel other teams have lost players like us, and I feel we are going to perform a lot better this year.”

Rosario agreed and said the “team’s a little solid, just a little iffy behind the plate, but we got this this year. We’ve minimized the errors and are looking pretty solid. This year, we’re very serious. We’re in it to win it.”

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