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Fabulous five ready to contend - finally

After three years of embarrassing losses, Gulf has reason for hope because of five seniors who understand preservance and hard work.

By FRANK PASTOR
Published February 27, 2005

NEW PORT RICHEY - For three years, Gulf pitcher Kevin Fagan and his four senior teammates have looked forward to this season.

No longer will they be inexperienced, overwhelmed or outmanned. Gone are the 10-run losses, winless district seasons and last-place conference showings.

"As sophomores and juniors, all five of us have been like, "Man, imagine our senior year. We're going to be good. Everything's going to come together. Everything's going to be fine, and we're going to have our year,"' Fagan said. "So hopefully we'll have our year."

For once, it's more than wishful thinking.

After going 13-59 the past three seasons, Gulf believes it has the pieces in place to finish above .500 and perhaps contend for a district title. The Bucs return seven starters from a 5-17 squad that lost nearly a dozen close games a year ago.

Gulf's five seniors - Fagan, Norberto Navarro, Willie Roger, Blaise Simon and Tony Gironda - are as many as it had in the three previous seasons combined.

"This group of seniors has definitely been the backbone of our program," coach Shaun Wiemer said. "They've supplied the leadership and the example to the rest of the players on our team that hard work and perseverance can get you better as a ballplayer and a person.

"We're finally not having to rebuild every year. We've got a good nucleus of kids hopefully following their lead and seeing it takes time to build things. They just don't happen overnight."

No one knows better than the seniors.

Roger, Simon, Fagan and Gironda were pressed into varsity roles as freshmen after six upperclassmen were dismissed for violating team rules.

Fagan and Simon have been Gulf's top pitchers the past three seasons. Fagan, a hard-throwing right-hander, has started more than 25 games during that span. Simon has played nearly every position on the field when he's not pitching.

Rogers was identified as Gulf's shortstop at the end of his freshman season and has improved his range and arm strength in the years since. A natural leader, he is Wiemer's "right-hand man" in the dugout.

Gironda's role is plain: He hits. He practices off a pitching machine his father set up in the back yard and went 3-for-5 with a walk and two RBIs in Gulf's first two games, including 3-for-3 against Springstead ace Eric Nickolaison.

After transferring from Ridgewood as a sophomore, Navarro was pegged as one of Gulf's top catchers and quickly moved up to varsity. He won the team's most improved player award during his first season and was named MVP last year. In addition to his role behind the plate, he is one of the Bucs' top three pitchers.

When players their age at other schools were gaining a year or two of seasoning on the junior varsity level, the young Bucs were taking their lumps against players three and four years older.

"Missing out on two years of junior varsity, that was a big disadvantage," Simon said. "Those guys got two years to develop while we were playing varsity and struggling."

The Bucs were playing catch-up - literally and figuratively.

"The speed of the pitching, the speed of the game was the big difference," Fagan said. "Plays happening, balls getting hit quicker. You have to have a quicker reaction time to the plays and everything."

Though it moved more slowly than its opponents, Gulf kept its sights fixed on the promise of a better future, one it believes finally has arrived.

In previous years, only the top four or five hitters were true threats, and only three or four pitchers were capable of throwing strikes for three or four innings. Now the Bucs' batting order is strong from top to bottom and the pitching staff runs seven deep.

After making as many as six or seven errors in a game in previous seasons, Gulf committed one in its first two contests this year.

The biggest test came last week, when a Ridgewood team that regularly beat Gulf by 10 or more runs eked out a 6-5 victory.

"Before, we would just walk on the field expecting to lose," Simon said. "Now we feel that we're going to win. We're walking out there ready to win."

Gulf's seniors say those victories will be even sweeter considering the distance they traveled to achieve them.

"If we reach our goals, looking back, it'll be so much more fulfilling from where we were to where we are now, all the progress we've made," Fagan said.

"I can't even imagine."

CLASS 5A, DISTRICT 5: Clermont East Ridge, Land O'Lakes, Mitchell, River Ridge.

CLASS 4A, DISTRICT 10: Gulf, Hudson, Ridgewood, Tarpon Springs, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills.

CLASS 3A, DISTRICT 6: Hernando, Nature Coast Tech, Pasco, Bushnell South Sumter, Wildwood.

POSTSEASON

DISTRICT TOURNAMENTS: May 2-6.

REGION QUARTERFINALS: May 10.

REGION SEMIFINALS: May 13.

REGION FINALS: May 17.

STATE TOURNAMENT: May 23-28 at Ed Smith Stadium, Sarasota.

[Last modified February 27, 2005, 00:12:17]