By Kyle LoJacono
Four years ago the Wesley Chapel baseball program had zero appearances in the regional tournament. A stark contrast from the squad that can make it four trips in four years if it makes it back this spring.
Chuck Yingling became the Wildcats coach for the 2008 season. Wesley Chapel was the district runner-up that year and the champion the last two.
“My goal when I interviewed for the job was to have people respect this place for baseball,” Yingling said. “I’ve lived out in this area for 15 years, even when I was coaching in Tampa. The sad thing was they had a beautiful complex, but people didn’t worry about playing here. Even if they were up, this school somehow found a way to give up the game. Our goal was build a system where they did the right things to win.”
That first year the team went 10-15, but that record improved to 24-4 last year, the first winning season in program history. The Wildcats (6-0) got all the way to the Class 4A regional semifinals for the first time as well.
“We knew we had some good freshmen who are seniors this year,” Yingling said. “We came in and put in our system. The kids who were here bought in and we’ve had other good kids join since then. They were ready to have something stable and to be more competitive.”
One of the keys to that recent success is a very deep pitching staff. The rotation this year consists of senior righties Matt Wynne and Marcus Crescentini and the No. 1 pitcher Brandon Mumaw. Sophomores Chase Ingram and Hunter Robinson will be the main guys out of the bullpen.
“There’s definitely a competitive rivalry between the pitchers,” Crescentini said. “When I see Brandon or Matt do well, I want to go out and do even better.”
Crescentini went 3-0 with one save, a 2.24 earned run average (ERA) and 43 strikeouts in 2010, but was mostly in the bullpen. He has worked on his slider to give hitters a third pitch to focus one. It seems to be working, as he is currently 2-0 with 14 strikeouts and has yet to give up an earned run.
Wynne was 3-0 with two saves, 1.56 ERA and 27 strikeouts as the closer last year, and has picked up one win with a 0.78 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 2011. Mumaw, a senior lefty, was a perfect 6-0 with one save in 2010 with a 0.50 ERA and 47 Ks.
“I just hope it continues this year,” said Mumaw of not having a loss last season. “We have a really good team. We have good pitchers, but it helps when we score a lot of runs and have great defense behind us.”
Through his first three starts, Mumaw is 3-0 with a 1.70 ERA and a team-high 19 strikeouts. Mumaw was a big part of Wesley Chapel’s success last year, but a broken finger late in the season sidelined him for regionals.
“It was really bad sitting on the sidelines and watching us play,” Mumaw said. “I wanted to be out on the field, but I couldn’t. I’m really determined to help us go even further than we did last year.”
The rotation has remained one of Wesley Chapel’s strengths in part because Yingling does not wear them out.
“Our pitching philosophy is we’re pitching for outs,” said Yingling, who was a pitcher and outfielder. “In Brandon’s first game he had 11 strikeouts, but had to use a lot of pitches and we took him out after five innings. That’s not what we’re looking for. We don’t want them to abuse their arms. You won’t see our kids throw 120, 130 pitches. We want to keep them healthy for themselves and also come district tournament time.”
Yingling describes himself as a coach who focuses on winning with pitching and defense instead of scoring a lot of runs. One of those who will be a big part of that run prevention is senior shortstop Geoff DeGroot.
“We’ve all been working really hard in the weight room during the offseason,” said DeGroot, a four year varsity player. “That’s where it all starts. Then it takes a lot of good work on the field and batting practice. We have our goals set high. We’re not settling for second best.”
The work in the weight room seems to have paid off for DeGroot, who put on about 20 pounds since last year. He is also batting .462 with seven RBI and five steals on the young season.
Junior third baseman Keegan Tanner is leading the Wildcats with 10 RBI while batting .353.
Wesley Chapel next plays on Tuesday, March 8 at 7 p.m. at Ridgewood.
-All stats as recorded to Maxpreps.com by coaches.
