Wildcats pitcher and coach receive conference awards
By Kyle LoJacono
The Wesley Chapel High baseball team did many things in 2010 no other Wildcats squad had done before – and Sunshine Athletic Conference (SAC) coaches took notice.
Conference coaches, from all public schools in Pasco County, recently selected senior pitcher Cole Miraglia the east player of the year and coach Chuck Yingling as east coach of the year. No other Wildcats’ player had ever received the honor before.
“I couldn’t be prouder of Cole, but I’m very proud of the whole baseball program,” said Wesley Chapel athletic director and pitching coach Steve Mumaw. “They may be individual awards, but it’s a team honor. He had a great year all around. He’s a great leader.
“Coach Yingling has done great things with the team,” Mumaw continued. “The most wins we’d had before he got here was 12 and he doubled that to 24 this season. It shows how much he knows about the game.”
Wesley Chapel finished the year 24-4, the first winning season in program history. The Wildcats were also district champions for the second straight year and won the first regional tournament game against Nature Coast Tech.
Miraglia, who transferred from Zephyrhills for his senior season, led Wildcat pitchers. The left-handed starter had problems in the fall season recovering from an arm injury, but he finished the year with a 9-1 record, a 1.49 earned run average and struck out 95 batters.
Miraglia also played first base for the Wildcats. He had a .468 batting average and 21 runs scored while also leading Wesley Chapel with 37 hits, 27 RBI and two homeruns.
Yingling became the Wildcats coach for the 2008 season. He previously won two state championships as the Tampa Catholic coach and Wesley Chapel has made the regional tournament each year during his tenure.
“The season has gone extremely well,” Yingling said. “I think it’s really special to have the kind of season we’ve had … Cole was the leader of our pitchers and did great things, but we also had great defense and hitting when we needed it.”
One of Wesley Chapel’s leading offensive players last year was shortstop Geoff DeGroot, who was named to the all-SAC first team with Miraglia. DeGroot had a .397 batting average with 31 hits, 10 RBI, five steals and a team-high 24 runs scored.
Miraglia credited his pitching success to the Wildcats defense, which he said was led by DeGroot on the infield.
“We wanted to surprise a lot of people this year,” DeGroot said at the end of the season. “We worked hard all offseason to get better.”
Pitcher Brandon Mumaw, Steve Mumaw’s son, and center fielder Drew Mitchell were named to the conferences second team.
“It goes to show when a team has a good season the other coaches take notice,” Steve Mumaw said. “It’s great for the whole team because they all have a part in making Wesley Chapel baseball a success.”
-All stats as recorded to Maxpreps.com by coaches as of June 21.
