University School Evolving Into A Baseball School
The Suns have had a full offseason under Manager Dan Rovetto, and they are right on track heading into the season.
The baseball program at University School is evolving.
This was the plan from the beginning for Manager Dan Rovetto. Rovetto is now in his second season at the helm, and all of his assistant coaches also return this year. Coaches Josh Snyder, Mike Redmond and Mike Ryan are all also teachers at the school, and this helps to put faces to the program. The players have been in a full offseason conditioning program, there are travel plans for road-trip games and there are fund-raising programs in place. Everything is becoming constant and people are taking notice that it is a baseball school.
Next year the team will even unveil a new state-of-the-art stadium on campus. The complex resembles the same field at nearby Nova Southeastern University, where the Suns currently play their home games. The field will belong solely to the school and the team, featuring a resemblance of the Sharks field scaled to high school depths. Once this happens the team expects to see the program reach the next level.
Coach Rovetto also knows that a big step forward for this club will be to shake the monkey from their backs and return to the regional playoffs. The program has not played in regionals in 24 years, and even despite a very challenging district the team has its sights set on ending that drought.
“The kids want to be that team to get over that hump,” Rovetto said. “It’s the same conversation we had last year, this team has not won a district since 1991. This is not a state contender, and we all dream for that, but this team needs to get a playoff game. If we can accomplish that goal, we will have a nice season and a positive experience for ourselves.”
The Suns pride themselves on pitching and defense, trusting those staples to lead to their best chance for success. The team struggled on offense last year and continues to evolve in that area, but as long as they pride themselves on their bread-and-butter they will be able to hold the fort while the offense comes along.
“We’ve got to just play fundamental baseball. What usually hurt us a lot last year were we didn’t get the big hits or we made errors,” junior Evan McKendry said. “It’s going to be tough in this district, but it’s been like that for my freshman and sophomore year too. Anyone can beat anyone, and on any given day anyone can win. Coach Ro and his staff are great coaches and I have no doubt that they will get us ready for the season.” 
Although only a junior, McKendry has already committed to play baseball at the University of Miami. Last year the team sent four of its five seniors on to play college baseball, and already several seniors have committed this year. Evan Klugerman will head to Bucknell University, Julian Cabrera to Grinnell College, Jesse Crosno to Ave Maria and Cameron Chafetz will head to Clark University.
“That is not only hard work here on the baseball field, but they are also high-end academic kids,” Rovetto said. “This gives us an opportunity to get them to the next level. For me the ultimate goal is helping get kids to college, after they helped themselves in the classroom. That’s really what our school is about.”
Traditionally the Suns baseball team has always been about pitching. The team will employ the same pitching approach that worked so well last year for former ace Freddie Sultan. Pitchers are encouraged to try and get contact early in the count so the starters can go deeper into ball games. The coaches will talk up the defense and get them excited to see the ball put in play.
With a long line of notable arms that have passed through in recent years, that torch has now been passed on to McKendry to be the workhorse this season. Rovetto notes that McKendry is capable of pitching a ton of innings and getting a lot of strikeouts. He is at the front of their rotation and he will pitch the big district games.
“I’m taking the same role that Freddie Sultan took last year to be the number one man,” McKendry said. “Seeing what Freddie did through the games, and even when we didn’t give him run support he always threw well. If I can do the same thing, that would be great. When he threw he never got too rattled; whatever happened he always stayed even keel. I would love to do that. Its nice having been in big games already, so this is not the first time I am thrown into it. The games I threw last year will help me to deal with intense situations.”
Fellow senior Jesse Crosno is another guy with varsity experience, and the right-hander figures to see plenty of action as their number two arm. Crosno only pitched in one district contest last season, but he figures to be vital to the team’s success this year. With the team basically playing two district games a week, Crosno will typically be the other guy to start on the bump for the Suns.
The pitching staff and the overall roster are both thin with depth. This adds more emphasis on Rovetto to manage how much his guys throw throughout the week, and other areas of general maintenance and management to ensure health through the season. Other guys who figure to see action on the mound include veterans Nick Mannicho and Jake Kabilliun, as well as Northeast transfer D’Angelo Fulford, and Rovetto admits the team will rely on those guys to throw quality innings for them. 
The team understands that the offense is still evolving. Guys have a full year under the system now and are hoping that will translate into better at bats. At the same time, the coaches have adapted the system to better suit the personnel. They ended the season on a strong run last year thanks in large part to their improved plate discipline.
“It was a tale of two teams last year, and we got real quality at bats at the end of the year,” Rovetto said. “We were competing in at bats, elevating the breaking ball and doing everything it takes to win games. Then we went on a run to finish 15-11 and that was a high accomplishment for the team we had last year.”
The goal is always to compete at the highest level in district games, and to use that to mold them into a team that is playing its best baseball at the end of the season. That formula worked well last year, and the Suns expect to be in good shape at the end of this season if they can do that again.
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