 |
 Western Carolina head baseball coach Bobby Moranda has hired Nick Mingione and David Haverstick to coach the Catamounts next season. |
 |
Aug. 10, 2007
Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina first-year head baseball coach, Bobby Moranda, has completed his staff with the addition of former Kentucky volunteer assistant, Nick Mingione, and pitching coach, David Haverstick, who has spent the past five seasons at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
"With the addition of both Nick (Mingione) and David (Haverstick), we have a coaching staff that has a wealth of championship experience and a solid grasp of baseball knowledge," said Moranda, who was introduced as WCU's head coach back on July 19. "When filling this staff, I wanted young, innovative and creative coaches who like to `think outside the box,' but equally as important are dedicated to establishing lifelong relationships with our student-athletes. Both of my assistants know what it takes to win and are dedicated to that charge. This staff will be one that our players will enjoy playing for and one that will make the Catamount family proud."
Mingione (pronounced MEN-gee-own), a former standout player and coach for Embry-Riddle, spent the past two seasons as volunteer assistant coach at Kentucky where he duties included working with the Wildcat outfielders, as well as assisting in overall offensive instruction. In addition to his coaching duties, Mingione also coordinated UK baseball camps. Over the past two seasons, UK won 78 games, tied for the most wins in a two-year period in school history.
In his first year with the Wildcats, Mingione helped direct one of the greatest seasons in the history of Southeastern Conference baseball as the 2006 Kentucky baseball team completed a historic worst place-to-first place turnaround en route to claiming the school's first-ever SEC championship. En route to the title, the `Cats won a school-record 44 games and set UK records in runs scored (500), walks drawn (337), HBP (80), sacrifice bunts (67) and sacrifice flies (34)
 Nick Mingione while at Kentucky. |
|
Last season in Lexington, the record-setting trend continued as the Mingione helped the Wildcats put together 19-straight wins at the start of the season to set the school benchmark for consecutive wins and best start (19-0) in 103 years of collegiate baseball. UK also finished atop the NCAA rankings for on-base percentage in '07.
All told, Kentucky set or reestablished 12 team school records and garnered 11 SEC weekly honors in Mingione's two seasons.
Born in Tarrytown, N.Y., the Cape Coral, Fla., native spent two years as an assistant coach at Embry Riddle. Prior to his return to his alma mater, he served as a volunteer assistant at Florida Gulf Coast University for six months.
During his five years as an assistant coach, Mingione helped direct four conference championships with an average of 46 wins per season, while compiling an impressive 232-72 record. He has also made three trips to the NAIA World Series as a coach. His teams finished fifth in 2003, third in 2004, and second in 2005. In addition, Mingione has helped coach 18 players to All-America honors, six of which garnered first-team recognition.
"Nick (Mingione) is a solid baseball coach who has been a part of winning traditions," Moranda said. "He is great with people; that, with his energy and enthusiasm for the game made him an obvious choice to come to Cullowhee and to also be our recruiting coordinator."
An outfielder at Embry-Riddle for four years, Mingione lead the team to three runner-up finishes in the Florida Sun Conference and one conference championship. He played an integral part in the successes of the 1999 team, which was the first team in program history to make a national championship appearance.
As a freshman, he appeared in 45 of the Eagles' 47 games and posted a .324 batting average. After equally successful sophomore and junior campaigns, Mingione capped off his career with a .392 batting average, including 18 doubles and 32 stolen bases during his senior year. Mingione made a place for himself in the Embry-Riddle record books, finishing his career among the Eagles' top ten all-time in games played, runs scored, at-bats, doubles, hits and runs batted in.
In 1997, Mingione was the first recipient of the Kenneth J. Sliwa Memorial Scholarship, which recognized his accomplishments of academic commitment, tenacity, work ethic, enthusiasm, selflessness and hustle. He co-founded the Eagle-Legacy council, an organization comprised of former Embry-Riddle baseball players who seek to enhance the future of the Eagle baseball program.
Mingione graduated from Embry-Riddle in 2000 with a degree in Aerospace Studies and three minors in Business, Psychology, and Humanities. Mingione then returned to his alma mater, Mariner High School, where he served as the Assistant Dean of Students for two years. In addition, he took on the role of Assistant Coach to the football and baseball teams.
Haverstick (pronounced HAVE-er-stick) comes to Cullowhee after having spent the past five seasons as an assistant coach at the Savannah College of Art and Design where he worked with the Bees' pitching staff.
 David Haverstick from Savannah College of Art and Design |
|
"Having a pitching background, I became aware of and impressed with David about five years ago. He is a hard-working individual who pitched with three different Major League organizations. I, along with many highly respected peers in the business, feel he is one of the top young pitching coaches whose instruction is on the cutting edge," said Moranda. "Kevin O'Sullivan (current Florida head coach, former Clemson pitching coach) and Derek Johnson (pitching coach at Vanderbilt), among several others, highly recommended David. With every phone call I made, his name kept coming to the top while trying to fill the position."
Under Haverstick's direction, the Bees had the college's first-ever NAIA National Player of the Week honor in 2006 when Eddie Anderson was named National Pitcher of the Week. Haverstick has coached three All-Florida Sun Conference performers, as well as two NAIA All-Region XIV standouts. The Bees' pitching corps finished the season with the second-best ERA (2.58) in the NAIA as well as the fifth-best opponents batting average (.224).
Last season, SCAD had three pitchers with ERAs below 2.37, with five different pitchers striking out 43-or-more batters. Haverstick worked with Ryan Pope, who led the Bees with a 1.15 ERA in 102.0 innings pitched and was drafted in the third round by the New York Yankees in June's MLB Draft. Pope, who was SCAD's first-ever NAIA All-American, holds the distinction as being the highest player drafted out of the Florida Sun Conference.
Prior to moving to Savannah, Haverstick spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Dallas Baptist University. While at DBU, Haverstick guided the 2001 pitching staff to the lowest team ERA in over nine years. He helped lead the Patriots to NAIA Southwestern Regional and Mid-South Super Regional championships as well as a berth in the 2001 NAIA World Series. While at Dallas Baptist, he earned his Master's degree in organizational management.
Haverstick, who was a 16th-round draft selection by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1997 and was in the system with the D'backs, Florida Marlins (1999) and Washington Nationals (2005), coached three players drafted by major league baseball teams as well as six All-Americans at DBU. The Patriots posted a 78-35 record in the two seasons Haverstick was on staff.
"Haverstick has coached a at couple of institutions with limited resources, but has always managed to produce talented players," concluded Moranda.
Haverstick, a graduate of Bethel (Ind.) College, earned his bachelor's degree in psychology while playing both basketball and baseball for the Pilots. He was an All-Mid-Central Conference selection in baseball as he helped the Pilots to the MCC baseball championship twice (1995,1997) and a berth in the NAIA Great Lakes Regional Tournament in 1997.On the hardwood, he was an NAIA All-American selection, highlighted by a NAIA Division II National Championship in 1997.
|
|
 |
