University School Honors Waters, Then Defeats St. Thomas

The magic and beauty of high school baseball was on display at Nova Southeastern on Wednesday evening. The storylines were plenty, from the University Sharks winning their 20th game of the year, to the team honoring the legendary former St. Thomas Manager, and current assistant, Ed Waters before the game.

The game ended in a 4-1 Sharks win, but the pageantry was on display long before the game even began.

Let’s start at the beginning of this story.

University School is led by manager Dan Rovetto, who for years was on the Nova side of one of the most intense high school baseball rivalries between the Titans and St. Thomas Aquinas.

The Sharks athletic director, Paul Herfurth, is a former Raider, having coached for St. Thomas.

That backdrop led to Wednesday night, when Rovetto, Herfurth, and the University program honored Waters in a pregame ceremony.

“Tonight was a special night,” said Rovetto. “Great environment, as we were able to honor Coach Waters with a plaque for his service to the community here in South Florida. He has been a staple in the development of student-athletes down here, and we just wanted to show our appreciation for everything he has done.”

Once the game started, it was a match up of two of the top teams in Broward County this year. University School came in ranked 6th in the HSBN Broward Power Rankings, and St. Thomas 7th.

The night on the field belonged to Landon Petty. The Sharks junior threw a complete game, allowing only four hits, while striking out five.

“Competitor. That’s my word for Landon,” said Rovetto. “Efficient. Threw only 69 pitches, and went the whole way. he really put us in position to win the game tonight.”

Even with Petty throwing a gem, the Raiders had the lead 1-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth. St. Thomas ace Anthony Ciscar was matching Petty pitch for pitch. In the fourth, University’s Devin Mila gave the Sharks the lead with a two-run triple. Dylan Rex then put the Sharks up 3-1 with an RBI single.

In the fifth, the Sharks added another run, and then turned it over to Petty to finish out the 4-1 win.

The win improves the Sharks to 20-3, and its safe to say that their underdog role coming into the season, has now changed to a team that will be hunted down the stretch and into the playoffs.

“Quality win, and a major step in the right direction for us,” said Rovetto. “We have had some big wins this year, games that we may have lost last year, but we are showing a lot of growth, and seeing us get better as we head down the stretch is always a good sign.”

Both teams will have expectations of advancing to states when the playoffs start in just over 10 days.

Down the stretch, University school has Mater Lakes Academy, before finishing their season in a match up with Rovetto’s alma mater, Nova.

The Raiders have a busy week and a half, with a game against Coral Springs Charter Thursday, before ending the season with a three game week, highlighted by their annual match up with rival Nova.

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