The Mavericks traveled to Hollywood Hills HS for the first time and came away with an 8-0 district game victory over the Spartans. The Mavericks pounded out 14 hits led by Nick Basto who had 2 hits with 3 RBIs and Jason Morozowski with three hits and 2 RBIs. Ryan Sinzenich also had three hits.

Sacrifice fly RBIs by Brandon Roberts, Nick Travieso and Adam Duarte brought in the other three runs. Eddie Silva added two hits in the rout.

Five Maverick pitchers combined for the 3-hit shut out with starter Andre Martinez notching his second win of the year. David Thompson threw 3 solid innings striking out 5 including the side in the 6th. Jason Stettner closed it out in the bottom of the 7th and was aided by a double play from Jonathan Quintana who caught a shallow fly ball to rightfield and threw a perfect strike to catcher Krystopher Gonzalez for the tag out at home to preserve the shut out.

The Mavericks (3-0) face their toughest test so far in the young season when they travel to Miami Friday night to face perennial power Christopher Columbus at 6:30 and will be back at AMHS Saturday night where they will host Sagemont at 7pm.

BY: Anthony Uttariello of browardhighschoolbaseball.com – Each Sunday, I will sit down with a coach from around the county with the intent on bringing some insight on his thoughts to the community. This week, in my first interview of the year, I sat down with Archbishop McCarthy Head Coach Rich Bielski. The Mavericks skipper has guided Archbishop to two straight state titles. Last season, the Mavericks won not only the state title, but a national championship as well. Enjoy!

Anthony: How rewarding was winning back-to-back state titles, along with a national title, with the group of kids you had last year?

Coach Bielski: It was very rewarding. We felt we had such a talented group in 2010. It was tough to lose such talent and repeat, so we are very excited and very proud of our boys. Our returners have stepped up and filled some pretty big shoes. And the national championship was just a dream. That wasn’t really, actually, it wasn’t even something we even dreamed of or focused on or even thought about. We never really ever thought about anything past you know, winning a state championship. And it just worked out so well. Our schedule is very tough and teams we have beaten did very well, and before we knew it, you know, we were in the top five and we just got really hot at the end and we played some great baseball and beat some good teams.

Anthony: So you are coming of the national championship and your summer is filled with rumors of Alex [Fernandez] leaving to coach UM, even some rumors of him going over to Heritage. Where do you think these rumors get started, and how do you deal with them as a program?

Coach Bielski: I think a lot of the rumors are wishful thinking. I think, when you have someone who is as high profile as Alex Fernandez, a former big-leaguer, former World Series champion, that’s always going to be the case. I’m sure there’s a lot of programs who would love to have Alex Fernandez as part of their school and part of their baseball program, including many colleges. So I think that’s probably always going to be the case, and I don’t know how else to explain it. I don’t know how the rumors get started, I don’t know how they come to be, but I just, I’ve learned to accept it. It’s pretty much going to be something that probably going to happen every year.

Anthony: The pressure is always high when you are in an elite program. What sort of things do you and the coaching staff do to lighten the mood when, in reality, you guys are dealing with a bunch of high school-age kids?

Coach Bielski: Well, we try to keep our practices pretty intense. We really try to work our kids super hard in practice and the weight room, and we use all that as motivation to get you know, bigger, better, stronger, smarter and keep the kids hungry. And then when we go in to playing games, that’s our fun time. That’s when all the hard work pays off. That’s when we just let the natural ability and the work we did in the weight room just take over and try to execute what we learned and worked hard to establish in practice.

Anthony: Your team has been known over the years for their offensive power. This fall brought a change to high school baseball with the BBCOR bats becoming mandatory. How have you coaches prepared for the change and how have your players adjusted to the new bats?

Coach Bielski: Well, it just so happens that this year in particular we’re not going to have the offensive power that we’ve had in the past two years. So our team has changed as well. And I think as a coach you have to evaluate your team, what kind of talent you have, where your strengths and weaknesses are gonna be, and coach accordingly. So whether the bats changed or not, we have a very different team this year. Our team is going to be, and our success is going to be, predicated on our pitching and defense. And so, I’m not saying we’re not going to be as offensive as in the past, but we are going to be offensive in a different way. There’s not going be a lot of three-run home runs, and we’re not going to set any records for hitting home runs like we have in the past two years. But we’ll be very offensive with more singles, doubles, bunts, hit and runs, making more things happen on the bases than we have in the past.

Anthony: How easy is it for you to change your coaching styles based around a specific group of players or how your team has changed from year to year?

Coach Bielski: You know, it’s going to be a challenge. I’m actually very much looking forward to it. It excites me, it’s different then the past two years. So as coaching staff we’re challenged by that, and, it’s going to be interesting. I’m very excited for this year, and I’m very excited for the different kind of team we have this year. I think coaching is going to play a lot more into winning and losing ball games then it has in the past because, the past two years with the powerful teams we’ve had, we could throw up 10 runs without a problem. A lot of the times this year, with the change in bats, I don’t think that’s going to be the case.

Anthony: How do you think the new bats will affect games in general? And more importantly, a lot of South Florida has become a hot bed for recruiting, how do you think the bats will affect the recruiting process for some of these kids?

Coach Bielski: Well since its nationwide, just like in the NCAA, you’re going to see a drop in power, you’re going to see a drop in batting average. I think the stats will project more closely with what the results will be with a wooden bat. We’ll have to wait and see, you know, we haven’t gotten there yet, so it’s kinda uncharted territory for everybody.

Anthony: How does the two-time state champion keep returning players hungry, and how do you prepare knowing that every team in the state is now gunning for you?

Coach Bielski: Well we thought that way after our first state championship. Our motivation last year was the only thing harder than winning a state championship was defending one. So, I think now this being the third year of having a state-contending team, I think the program as a whole expects that. We expect everybody’s ace. We expect everybody to play their best against us. We expect to be challenged every game, and every team that plays us is probably looking at us as, if they win, they are probably beating the state champion, or their beating the national champion. And so, that in itself is enough motivation and we’re blessed with kids that are very much self-motivated. They want to uphold the winning tradition of Maverick baseball, and they want to go on and play college baseball and get drafted and play minor league baseball. So, we’ve been very blessed with great kids who are self-motivated and as a coaching staff, we just do our best to guide them to reach their goals.

Anthony: How much of a challenge is it to convince these players to not rest on their laurels and to convince them that this is a new season and that everything starts new this year.

Coach Bielski: That hasn’t been a problem. I’m so excited how this team has taken the field from day one. Our practices, the first week of practices, I was so happy with them. They were focused. They were just so, I think they put it on themselves to live up to that tradition now of winning and there’s nobody resting on their laurels. I did question it, that that might be the case, but I’m very happy with the senior leadership we have this year, they’re not going to let that happen. And I think it’s great that they have seen the last two senior classes pile up on their very last game in high school. There is no greater way to go out then piling up after your last game, and they want that for themselves. I was looking at BrowardHighSchoolBaseball.com’s rankings last year at the end of the year, and we we’re ranked number one and it said ‘State Champion.’ Then, every other team after us in the ranking, it said, ‘Lost to so and so in the Regionals’, and, ‘Lost in Regional Semi-Finals’, ‘Lost in Regional Finals.’ That’s something we talk about often. There is only one team that finishes their season with a win and that’s the state champion. So we feel very fortunate for our past successes, and we’re striving to continue that winning tradition.

Anthony: What do you think your program does differently than other programs that allows you to have success in the playoffs, while so many other teams with equal talent fall short?

Coach Bielski: Well now you’re asking for some coaching secrets [laughing]. I don’t know if I want to tell you everything we have up our sleeve when it comes to that, but I will say that, we work very hard on the mental aspects of the game. And we have a way getting players to play well in the playoffs. Even back to my days coaching at Hialeah High, we always finished strong. We always had a lot of success in the playoffs and our players seem to play their best at that time of the year.

Anthony: What is the biggest misconception about Archbishop McCarthy Baseball?

Coach Bielski: I don’t know. I try not to worry about what anybody else says outside about our program. I really don’t concern myself with that. I don’t, really don’t ever think about it or worry about it. If you tell me what the misconceptions are, I could answer that. But I really, I’m trying to focus on baseball and stay between the lines because anything outside the lines really doesn’t matter to me.

Anthony: What’s something that people who aren’t around your program would be surprised to know about you players?

Coach Bielski: I think they’d be surprised about what great kids we have. Just great people. They come from good families, kind-hearted, they seem to turn the switch on when it comes to competitiveness. I think they have a way of turning it on when we get out on the field. We flip the switch and go into competitive mode and we go into battle and we stay very focused. And then, once that game is over, they are just good, kind-hearted kids. They’ll do anything for you, and I’m very proud of the young men that they are.

Anthony: Alright, last question. Finish this sentence: The Mavericks will end up in a pile in Port St. Lucie for the third straight year if …?

Coach Bielski: We win our last game. And you know, that’s going to be our goal every year.

The Mavericks opened district play on Thursday, pounded out 23 hits including four home runs and set a school record for runs scored with a 32-0 victory over the Stranahan Dragons. After a scoreless one-two-three first inning for both sides, Jason Morozowski drove in the first run of the game with the first of his four singles. Nick Travieso belted a pair of 2-run homers and Brandon Roberts and Bernie Garces hit 3-run blasts. Roberts also added two singles. Adam Duarte and Jonathan Quintana had 3 hits each. Nick Basto had a double and a single. Sophomores Ryan Sinzenich and Eddie Silva had 2 hits each and Richard Trotter added a single and was walked twice.

Starter and game-winner Ryan Castellanos struck out all 6 batters he faced. David Thompson struck out 4 of the 6 batters he faced. Jason Stettner pitched the final inning striking out 2 to finish out the combined one-hit shutout.

Archbishop McCarthy (2-0) will continue an early-season three-game road trip with a visit to Hollywood Hills on Tuesday next week and a top-five national ranking showdown at Christopher Columbus HS in Miami on Friday February 24th.

By Anthony Uttariello of browardhighschoolbaseball.com–

The Mavericks Nick Basto slides into third safely for a bases-clearing triple.

Perfection as defined by Merriam-Webster is “an unsurpassable degree of accuracy or excellence.” For two straight seasons, the Archbishop McCarthy baseball team has reached the perfection level. With the bar being set no lower than perfection, it is easy to see why Tuesday’s season opening 6-2 win over North Broward Prep had both coaches and players disappointed.

“I wasn’t happy with the way we played,” said head coach Rich Bielski. “We’ve got a long way to go, we’ve got a lot of things to fix, and I think we could have played much better.”

Senior shortstop Nick Basto helped the Mavericks erase a 1-0 third inning deficit when he drove a three-RBI triple into the left-center field gap. Basto’s blast was followed by a Nick Travieso RBI single. Later in the inning, sophomore Ryan Sinzenich drove in the last of five Archbishop runs in the inning with a single to right. The offensive explosion lasted for only one inning, but it was enough to secure victory. Basto spoke afterwards about his game-changing triple.

“I felt like our team was a little down at that time, and nobody was really hitting,” said Basto. “The pitcher we were facing was a great pitcher, had a great curve ball, good fastball. The first pitch was a curve ball, and I knew the next pitch he was going to throw me a fastball, and I was sitting on it.”

The Mavericks and Eagles battled for most of the night in both teams’ opener.

North Broward Prep knows a thing or two about the quest for perfection as well. The Eagles advanced to the state semi-finals last season, and this year with nine players graduating from that team, nobody, including coach Brian Campbell, knew what to expect.

What Campbell saw Monday was similar to what he has seen in the first two games of the preseason. The Eagles defense made four errors for the third straight game, and the offense had trouble getting runners across the plate once they were on base. Facing Archbishop ace Andre Martinez, NBP had the bases loaded in the first, and the first two batters on in the third, but came away with only two runs in those innings.

Although the offense sputtered, Campbell knew that was to be expected against a pitching staff like the Mavericks. What he wasn’t pleased with was the defensive laps.

“That’s a good team over there,” said Campbell. “Obviously we didn’t take advantage of opportunities, but they (Archbishop) had a lot to do with that. I was expecting a little more from my team after that big inning they had, looking for someone to stop the bleeding. That inning took the wind out of us, which bothers me….we’re going to leave our bats at home tomorrow, and work strictly on our defense. We can’t win making four errors a game.

One bright spot for the Eagles was lead-off hitter Kevin Fagan. The designated hitter on this night, Fagan was 3-for-4, while scoring both NBP runs. Fagan is one of the few returners from last season’s team, and he is being counted on by Campbell to lead the Eagles offense.

“He’s our motor that gets us going…..For us to win, he’s going to have to keep on doing that. He is a senior, been with us four years now. As he goes, sometimes we go, so I like having him up there at the top of the lineup to get us started.”

Despite the win, Archbishop managed just six hits on the night, five of which came in the third inning. Throughout the game, the Mavericks made little mistakes, but the type mistakes that the team has become accustomed to not making. Bielski held a twenty minute meeting with his team after the game, and the message was clear, they cannot win a third straight state title without cleaning up the little mistakes.

“We left the bases loaded twice, and two runners on in another inning. We had a ton of guys left on base. Can’t happen. We had two senior pitchers that I think, didn’t hold runners on very well. We got abused on the bases…They’re all little things, they’re not things that can’t be fixed. They’re little things that need to be fixed before we play big games, go home games, at the end of the year. Little things like that can beat you if you don’t fix them.”

Box Score

WP: #17 Andres Martinez-, LP: #24 Casey Kopec -, SV: -

#17 Andre Martinez: K’s -4

#21 Nick Travieso: K’s – 4

#3 Nick Basto triples in the third to clear loaded bases – 3 RBI’s

#16 Ryan Sinzenich singles in the third for an RBI

#8 Jason Morozowski doubles in the 5th

After a successful week of tryouts, we are proud to announce the 2012 Maverick Baseball Rosters ans schedules. Please note the following:

- Varsity team members should report to field at 3:00PM on Monday for practice.

- JV and Freshman team members should report on Tuesday at 2:45 and know their student ID# and baseball spike’s size.

- All team members and their parents should attend Parent & Player team “Welcome Dinner” at 6:30PM Tuesday evening in the Student Center

Please view team rosters and schedules below

2012 Varsity: Roster | Schedule

2012 Junior Varsity: Roster | Schedule

2012 Freshman Team: Roster | Schedule

Maverick Players of the 2011 squad showing off their National Championship Rings.

The newly-crowned national champion Archbishop McCarthy Mavericks baseball team celebrated and received their rings at Tuesday’s “Dinner-on-the-Diamond” at AMHS. The event was a sell-out event with over 250 Maverick family members and fans in attendance and the ceremonies were co-hosted by “The Voice of the Mavericks” Carlos Guzman and Head Coach Richard Bielski.

It was the second consecutive year that the Mavericks hosted a “Dinner-on-the-Diamond”, which has now become a new tradition at Archbishop McCarthy to celebrate championships.

USA Today HS Baseball Coach of the Year for 2011 Bielski addressed the huge and rare accomplishments of this team, and was quoted as saying, “To be a champion, you must work like a champion.  This 2011 team succeeded both on and off the baseball diamond. The Maverick players understood that their success stems from their hard work and determination.  Like any great program, Maverick Baseball stresses the importance of leadership, respect, togetherness, and the will to ‘never quit’ and ‘always finish strong.’  Strong academics and proper conduct are a must to play on this team and the players understand that at Archbishop McCarthy, school comes first.”

This National Championship team included 9 seniors, all of whom were leaders, played and starred all 4 years of their baseball career at Archbishop McCarthy High School. The developmental process led by the Maverick coaches has been a key part of the rise of the team.

Since the end of the season in May, Alexander Fernandez (San Diego Padres) and Jose Brizuela (Cinncinnati Reds) were selected in the June Major League baseball amateur draft.  Both have decided to go to college and pursue their degrees while playing college baseball, Fernandez to Miami and Brizuela to Florida State. The other seven seniors are also attending college as well, Chris Thompson, Eric White and Ivan Santos at Florida Gulf Coast, Christopher Guzman at Florida International, Garrett Kennedy also at Miami, Steve Martin at Broward College and Danny Muniz at Miami-Dade College.

There are also a number of returning varsity Players in the 2012 senior class who have committed to college baseball scholarships and signed letters of intent:  Andre Martinez to Florida State, Adam Duarte to St. Thomas University, Nick Travieso to Miami, Jason Morozowski and Nick Basto to Florida International and Ryan Castellanos to Illinois.

Bielski concluded, “Although their personal achievements were remarkable and commended, our Maverick baseball players’ main goal was to succeed as a team and succeed as a team they did, capturing yet another state championship title, and we couldn’t be more proud of them.  They say that there is only one thing harder than winning a championship and that is defending one.”

The Mavericks did just that in the greatest final game imaginable defeating another national powerhouse team  while facing the top-ranked 2012 player in the country in Lance McCullers dashing Tampa Jesuit’s state title hopes for the second straight year.