New Manager Andreoli Envisions Success At Plantation

With the loss of eight seniors to graduation and a new coach on board, change is in the air at Plantation.

Neil Andreoli has taken over as the new manager, replacing Albert Destrade and bringing experience working with college players and a desire to win and improve the image of Plantation baseball.

“He shows a new voice,” said Robert Henle, who is expected to be the team’s ace this spring. “Coach Destrade had his style of baseball, but [Andreoli] wants to play aggressive and play hard and I love that. I love playing hard and playing aggressive. He knows his stuff. It’s not like he’s coming in and doesn’t know anything.”

Andreoli moved down from New Jersey a few years ago and brought with him experience coaching college players in summer leagues. He coached with University School manager Rich Hofman two years ago and then with Pompano Beach manager Ryan Combs last year. When the Plantation job opened up, he saw a good opportunity.

“I just felt like it’s my third year here in the area. I know the layout of the land of the baseball a little bit,” he said. “I want to take over a program, develop a young team, which we have, get them up and get the kids into college. Plantation has never been a power. We want to develop and grow and make people want to come play here.”

In order to achieve success and build up the program, Andreoli is starting by getting his system in place this fall.

“The key is to get the kids used to a new coaching system and how we want to run things and what we’re going to do,” he said. “We’ll work with situations, get guys a lot of at-bats, get pitchers some innings, not too much, just enough that they can be ready for the spring and develop the young guys. We haven’t won a ton of games, but we see progress here. The fall has helped our growth and I think we’ll see the fruits of our labor in the spring.”

Henle said he and his teammates “have to buy into the system, and that takes discipline and hard work. If we’re willing to work hard, we can be a good team. We have a lot of talent and lot of people who can play. If we do that, I think we’ll be a force to be reckoned with. We just have to lead and show these kids the way.”

Henle said he sees promise in his younger teammates.

“There’s not that much experience, but there’s a lot of talent,” he said. “I want to be a friend to these guys. I want to show these guys I’m going to be their best friend, and that’s what baseball is all about, developing friendships.”

Andreoli is counting on Henle to do big things both in his leadership role and on the mound as the team’s ace.

“He’s got a real good curve ball and decent fastball, throws strikes, has a lot of leadership ability,” Andreoli said. “The kids look up to him. He gets on the young kids and tells them what they need to do. In terms of his ability, he throws strikes and he’ll be our one.”

Henle went 3-1 with 17 strikeouts and a 3.69 ERA in 30.1 innings last year.

Henle said he likes “to be smarter than everyone else on the field. I consider myself a student of the game. I think that’s what’s going to lead me to play in college. I have a lot of experience and I’m not afraid to be confident. I’m not going to back down from anybody and I’m going to show these kids that you can’t back down from anybody.”

In addition to Henle, three other players return who will also help to lead the younger players. Adam Mustafa will catch and pitch. He threw 12.1 innings last year and struck out 10.

“I think my main role, along with Robert Henle, is a captain of this young team,” Mustafa said. “I’m one of the only guys who’s been here all four years. This upcoming season will be my fourth year. I think my most important role is keeping everybody on a level head and making sure we put our work in and get some good results out of it.”

Outfielder Sam Reich and short stop/third baseman Oneil Mejia also will be top players this year. Mejia runs a 6.7 60, Andreoli noted.

Junior Matt Costa, who hit .281 last year, is the only other member of the team who isn’t a freshman or sophomore.

Promising underclassmen include sophomore Chris Montes, who will be a backup catcher; freshman Connor Jones, a pitcher/third baseman who swings the bat well; and Tyler Price, a speedy outfielder who runs a 6.9 60.

With the pieces in place, Andreoli has the team focused on ways it can be successful this year, both at its spacious field and on the road.

“We’re going to make contact and move runners and do the little things,” he said. “We have a big field here, so we have to be able to manufacture runs and get guys on and move them around and play aggressive baseball. Whether that means small ball or hit-and-run, we’ll do what we have to score runs. Are we going score 10, 11 runs a game? Probably not, but we’ll score enough to win. Our pitchers will throw strikes and get outs and we’ll play defense. Defense is always key to keep you in the game. You just got to hit enough to win.”

Mustafa said he expects the team to be where it needs to be by the time the spring season is here.

“Although we’re in a rebuilding stage, I don’t think we’re anywhere near helpless,” Mustafa said. “I think we have a pretty good group of guys and we’ll be able to produce. In the fall, we’ll get all our kinks out and I’m sure by the spring, we’ll be on our A game.”

The Colonels are going to strive to improve on their third-place finish in the district last year. The team finished 5-5 in the district and 11-11 overall. Andreoli said he doesn’t know a whole lot about his team’s district competitors, but he is familiar with the teams that finished on top last year.

“I wasn’t here last year and I saw Nova once,” Andreoli said. “I know they lost some guys, but I know Coach McQuaid and I respect him highly. He’s got a great program and they’re always going to be good. And Troy Cameron is over at St. Thomas as coach and I know he’s got a lot of young guys, but he’s got a lot of good players. They’re the perennial top two in the league and then the other guys, Cooper City I know just got a new coach, I think we’ll be able to play with everybody. We’ll just give it our best shot, develop our young guys and do the best we can in the district. It’s not going to be an easy district no doubt.”

Henle said he’s confident the team will improve its district mark this year.

“I really think we have a good chance with this team,” he said. “If we pitch well, play good defense and play hard on offense, we can really be a number one team in this district.”

Henle is proud of the team’s success in the classroom, noting some players are in the International Baccalaureate program. He said the team’s GPA was 3.5 last year.

Part of his leadership role will include getting his younger players to see how being successful in the classroom will help the team on the field.

“If we can get these kids to pay attention in the classroom, it will translate on the field, and if they don’t slack in school, I think they can do their work on the baseball field. Academics is first. The only way you can play baseball is if you take care of the academics.”

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