Nova Returns Talented & Experienced In 2014

Nova manager Pat McQuaid is pushing his players to always accomplish something. To understand baseball is to grasp the many ways that one can be successful and work things to your advantage in every facet of your approach. When players can comprehend the domino affect of every maneuver that is made and use that to give them an edge, that is when a team is built. This year’s Titans team is buying into this game plan and learning how to make it work for their players.

Nova baseball has long prided itself by the deep understanding its guys have for the game. This heightened baseball awareness helps them develop strategies for every scenario and how to make sure every member of the roster realizes what their job is in every given situation. The philosophy is to be physically prepared, mentally aware and confident that you can execute.

A season ago the Titans rolled out a lineup that was much younger and less experienced than their traditional clubs. This was a byproduct of a team that graduated many seniors, and in its wake it allowed the club to develop lots of promising young athletes into able-bodied, capable leaders. Now the coaches are asking the players to trust the team approach, to develop an extraordinary work ethic and to have the confidence it takes to succeed.

“My dad used to tell me, nobody has to tell you that you are good. You have to believe in yourself,” said McQuaid. “Learn how to fail and how to get back up. If you want to be a good ballplayer, you have to work for it. That’s the hardest part. But everybody who is great at anything outworked everybody else to get there. God gave you talent, now it’s your job to make that talent special.”

The Nova program has earned a reputation for the success it has enjoyed both as a team and through special individual players excelling at the highest levels of the game. Players appreciate what a special baseball culture it is, and how it teaches them what it takes to achieve the things they want in life and baseball. It is a program that loves the game, one that makes its players learn the game as well as they possibly can.

“There is not a time of day that we are not thinking of baseball or practicing baseball,” said senior first baseman Brandon McCalla. “We even have baseball class. The best thing we have improved on is our connection. I know if I get a ball hit at first base, my pitcher is going to be over there. I know my shortstop is going to make the plays. We have connected better and we work on the defense everyday.”

Defense is a key component that leads to championship success, something that Nova knows about after capturing two state titles in their history. The Titans have always prided themselves on their defense, and they devote plenty of time practicing, scheming and fine-tuning their defensive units.

The other big factor to the championship formula is what happens on the mound. Coach McQuaid views pitching to be the most critical element to high school baseball, how it can help to set the tone for the offense and defense behind it.

“My philosophy is that pitching dictates the game,” said McQuaid. “The game cannot even be played until he throws the ball. I like to hand the guy the ball and let him finish the game.”

The approach that McQuaid asks his pitchers to bring focuses on getting the lead guy out each inning, and then by ending each frame with a strikeout. In between, pitchers should try to stay within a dozen or so pitches thrown to best ensure they can stay on the hill the whole way. Standard practices assume most high school hurlers will not throw more than 100 pitches in an outing. But that number does not always dictate the route that got to it, such as the level of competition, the situations that guy faced, and the support he got both on offense and defense. The best way to protect an arm is to avoid big innings where they throw a lot of pitches.

Even more important than learning what it takes to stay on the mound is for the pitchers to know how to show composure while out there. The Titans like to set the tone from atop the rubber; they like the pitchers to settle in quickly and establish their presence from the first throw.

“When Coach gives you the ball he wants you to be in control, to go out there and have the mentality that you are going to shut everyone down,” said senior pitcher Nick Martinez. “Just by having that mentality, when you set that tone the whole team gets confident and they believe they can win the game. It keeps the hopes up and gives everyone that boost to know we can win. Everyone gets talking in the dugout and that little bit of confidence becomes a huge thing. It turns into performing defensively too. The guys start making diving plays and everyone wants the ball to get hit to them. They want to make that last out so everyone can come in and hit to try and score more runs. It’s just that feeling that we can do it, and everyone wants to perform.”

The preparation that the lineup brings with them to every at bat adds the next piece to the Titans’ winning formula. Part of the focus in practice and baseball class is for guys to learn how to work a pitcher and make him throw a lot of pitches. With the assumption that 100 pitches is the magic number, the quicker the batters can reach that figure the sooner they can dig into their opponent’s bullpen. Many kids think they will never see a good pitch again, so they swing early in counts when they see what they like. So the Titans coaches focus on convincing their guys to go deep into counts.

McQuaid views the strikeout as the secret to winning baseball. He wants his pitchers to strike guys out and he wants his guys to put the ball in play and force the defense to make the plays. He loves baseball because it is the only sport not dominated by a clock, but rather one where teams have to get 21 outs to win a high school contest. Sometimes those final outs are the hardest ones, and kids are also capable of doing special things in big moments. But the key to winning this approach at the plate is to make the opposing pitcher work to get each out.

“You’ve got to get the mentality that you will see all the guy’s pitches,” said McQuaid. “Only be swinging early in the count if it’s something you know you can drive. Learn what the pitch is that you hit, and convince the kid that they know what it is. Then that is the only one they are looking for early in the count. Be confident to hit with two strikes, recognize the strike zone and make the pitcher work. Accomplish something.”

The Titans hit .304 last season, and the core of that offensive unit returns to lead the charge this year. At the front of the pack is McCalla, the hard-swinging senior who is coming off a junior campaign in which he hit .377 with 20 RBIs, 15 runs, 7 doubles and 3 home runs. The offense tends to go how he goes and they will rely heavily on McCalla to hit in the big moments.

This is nothing new to the hulky slugger, who has always possessed raw power and the ability to overpower pitchers. But even with his natural abilities, McCalla understand that it is his endless work that has helped him develop. He spends every weekend in the batting cages with his father, practicing every type of scenario he could see at the plate.

“The young guys see me hitting in the cages all the time, and I tell them that is how you do it,” said McCalla. “There is only one formula. I just try to stick to it the best that I can.”

At the end of every season the program hands out awards at their annual team banquet, and the one that is the most coveted of all is the Titan Award. This award is given to the guy who is the team leader, who sets the example and leads the guys both in actions and in words. Nova assistant coach Kyle Tabora notes that this year’s award may come down to either McCalla or senior shortstop Kyle Pangallo.

“Brandon is a kid that the other guys want to do what he can do, and Kyle is the kid that most guys try to model themselves after,” said Tabora. “Kyle is always looking out for other people. He helps prepare the pitchers mound and he’s not even a pitcher. We’re lucky to have leaders like that.”

Both players have also already committed to play college baseball, with Pangallo set to move on to Barry University and McCalla planning to play for Bethune-Cookman.

Pangallo represents the prototype of the team’s offensive approach, as a speedy hitter who used his .294 batting average to score 22 runs last season. McQuaid prefers to run-and-hit rather than hit-and-run, utilizing their team speed to steal bases and create more scoring chances. Another returner who has shown a nice knack for this is Cole Habig, who stole nine bases and scored 14 runs while hitting .375 in 2013.

Overall the Titans have confidence in all of their main guys. The core group of seniors that essentially round out the starting nine also includes guys like Shayne Fox, Nick Chin, Michael Majer, Louis Pugliese, Ben Torres and Frankie Graf. Freshman catcher Miguel Gonzalez, sophomore outfielder James Spatafora and junior infielder Edwin Rodriguez also have begun to emerge as guys worth giving some chances to. The program believes in having backup players in place to contend with injuries, while not making them a different team when such guys are integrated into the lineup.

Everything goes back to the pitching, which will likely determine how far the Titans can go this season. The team has decent depth and has come along well with its staff, but it is also a group that is still coming together.

“We have lots of guys who play other positions that we are trying to make into pitchers,” said Tabora. “They are pretty promising. Ben Torres has beautiful mechanics and a great arm, and we’re hoping he can fill some big innings for us. Kyle Pangallo may come on in a closer’s role, and we’re looking for those late-inning guys.”

The team has confidence in the lead guys who will eat up the bulk of the innings, which includes Nick Martinez, Louis Pugliese and Vince Coletti. Martinez emerged as the team’s ace in 2013, going 6-2 with 56 strikeouts in 52 innings pitched. Pugliese added a 2.10 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 26 innings, and Coletti has grown into a larger role after seeing limited action as a sophomore. The staff also gets a nice boost from Henry Silva, who was 7-0 on the jv team last season.

“Baseball is a sport dominated by pitching,” McQuaid said. “But beside that it is a game that the best team does not always win. You can have a team with two great hitters, but they only get up when nobody is on base. Then there are days guys are on base every time, or maybe you are at the bottom of the order with a guy who doesn’t have that great of a chance against a dominant pitcher. You never know what’s going to happen; when you look back and say ‘that was the moment that was the difference. Besides that we played really well’. That’s the beauty of baseball.”

After all the years and all the guys that he has seen go through his program, McQuaid still relishes those moments when he watches his young guys come into their own. Although the team was young and inexperienced last season, they came together well and finished strong by going 8-4 down the stretch. Now those same core players have returned to carve their names in the program’s history book. Watching these guys come along and realize their potential remains the most exhilarating aspect for McQuaid.

“You want the kid to represent himself when he has an opportunity,” McQuaid said. “To sit in the dugout and watch a kid be successful because he practiced hard is great. Baseball teaches a lot of lessons about life, because there is a lot of failure. You’ve got to learn how to get back up when you fail, and to have confidence in yourself. I want a kid to decide he’s going to be a great player and learn how to work for it. Nothing is gained without hard work.”

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