Caravel 2017 Season Summary
By Tyler Hansen
After the dust had settled, the lights had gone out, and the tears had dried up from a
heartbreaking loss in the 2016 state championship game 5-4 to St. Marks, the Caravel Academy
baseball team was hungry. Hungry to get better and stronger in the offseason. Hungry to
replace the seven seniors they lost to graduation. Hungry to dominate the state of Delaware.
Hungry to get back to the championship game. Hungry to win it all. But it wouldn’t be that easy.
As the chilly air of March 1st filled the lungs of Caravel Head Coach, Paul Niggebrugge, the
aspirations of winning a championship were evident from the very beginning. His opening
remarks to the team were of goals unmet last season, of work to do, and of seniors stepping up
and leading the team to state title glory. But again, it wouldn’t be that easy.
The season began with a bang, literally, as the offense exploded for 10+ runs in the first three
games, led by seniors Nick Jones, Alex Barker, and Colin Adams. The Bucs won all three games
despite pitching and defensive struggles, giving up 20 runs in the first three games. However, if
you score 10+ runs in a game, you should never lose, and the team hoped that trend of scoring
and winning would continue. But again, it wouldn’t be that easy.
Five games into the season, the Bucs found themselves at 3-2, ranked in the top of 5 in
Delaware again, but having just dropped two consecutive games to Roman Catholic and
Salesianum by one run each. Despite the record, there were problems with how things were
going and the ship had to be righted quickly, or dreams of a championship could have turned
into a nightmare. After the loss to Sallies, the players and coaches stayed on the field after the
game for an hour and a half, talking and working out what was going on with the team. Players
let go of their frustrations towards each other and the poor attitudes they all showed; coaches
lamented at the team’s lack of killer instinct and the entitlement they displayed on the field.
The meeting lasted so long that the Sallies coach left because we took too long to go home. It
was on that day, April 5th, that the boys knew for sure that it wouldn’t be that easy.
Despite a setback to top 25 nationally ranked William Penn Charter the next game, the boys
then rattled off nine straight wins, putting them in a great position heading towards the
playoffs. With wins over St Mark’s. Hodgson, Polytech, Smyrna, Buena, West Deptford, Newark,
Episcopal, and Sussex Central, the growing confidence of the team was almost palpable in the
dugout. Despite being down in the seventh on several occasions, no player got down, no player
gave up, no player said it was too difficult, and the seniors dug their heels in and pushed the
team forward. The senior leadership of Nick Jones, Tyler Juhl, Colin Adams, and Alex Barker was
critical to the team’s success at the end, helping to reveal the Bucs’ killer instinct as five of
those nine wins were by one run.
The offense was starting to click, and the pitching staff, led by the electric arm of junior Joey
Silan, was beginning to show its dominance once more. The emergence of Tyler Juhl in the two
spot was invaluable as the ball began to find the sweet spot of his bat later in the year, adding
an extra dimension of power to the Bucs’ batting order. The most remarkable player, and
perhaps the unsung hero of the team, was junior second baseman Tyler Longinotti, who played
most of the season with a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. The kid never complained
once, never took a day off, and seemingly never missed a ball at second. It was players like
Longinotti that catalyzed the Bucs through their winning streak, and through the season
towards the postseason.
After a tough loss to top 10 nationally ranked Riverdale Baptist, the Bucs ended the regular
season with a 7-0 beating of Newark Charter behind the pitching of freshman Wyatt Nelson.
The playoff push was on in full-force as the Bucs finished the season 10-1 after their setback to
Sallies back in April, a game that remained the only in-state loss for Caravel at that point. After
a few days off, the boys were ready for the challenge that lay ahead: having to defeat the 19
other best teams in Delaware in a frantic race to the finish.
The Bucs’ first performance of the tournament was a dominant one, defeating St Elizabeth’s by
a score of 8-0. Joey Silan would not be denied as he held the Vikings to one hit over five innings
as junior Aaron Holiday and Wyatt Nelson slammed the door. The win meant advancing to the
quarterfinals at Frawley Stadium in Wilmington against a familiar opponent, Newark Charter,
one that the Bucs had defeated only 10 days prior. Again, freshmen Wyatt Nelson took the hill
and tossed an absolute gem, pitching a complete game shutout in a 1-0 win over the Patriots.
For a freshmen to come in on the biggest stage, in the playoffs, at Frawley stadium, and deliver
a performance for the ages was incredible to watch. Nelson wriggled out of bases-loaded, no
out jams twice in the game, as well as throwing a three pitch inning in the fifth. Beating the
Patriots meant one thing however: a semi-final match-up vs St Mark’s in a rematch of the 2016
state title game.
The Spartans sent first-team all state pitcher Billy Sullivan to the mound in hopes of avenging
their 1-0 loss to the Bucs during the regular season, but Coach Paul Niggebrugge countered
with a first-team all-stater of his own in Joey Silan. Silan gave up one run in the first, giving the
Spartans hope, but it was short lived as the Bucs dropped three in the bottom of the first,
including a straight steal of home by Tyler Juhl. Silan limited St Mark’s to one hit after the first
inning and the Caravel bats helped him out, adding three more for a final score of 6-1. The great
game rewarded the Bucs with another opportunity for a state championship, this time against
#1 seeded Conrad, who was 19-2 heading into the final. This game, the Bucs knew, would not
be easy.
The title game began with a roar as the largest crowd in state championship game history
watched Caravel jump out to a 3-0 lead after the top of the first. Alex Barker’s 2 run single gave
Junior Tyler Croce some breathing room as he headed to the mound. Despite difficulty finding
the strike zone, Croce was effectively wild, allowing one run over five innings against the usually
crafty Red Wolves offense. The Bucs’ offense continued to help their pitcher out, scoring two
runs in the second, third, and fourth innings, led by Junior Bradley Kaden and Nick Jones who
had two triples and three hits respectively. Joey Silan, Colin Adams, and Alex Barker also added
two hits each for the Bucs offense that score a season high, and state championship game
record, 14 runs in the game. As the Bucs took the field in the bottom of the fifth with a
commanding 14-1 lead, they knew they were three outs away from a title. The players looked
at the scoreboard and thought, “could it really be this easy?” For once, it was that easy, as
Conrad went 1-2-3 in the fifth with Tyler Juhl throwing to Alex Barker at first for the final out,
sending the players into euphoria and a dogpile out on the mound. As the coaches embraced in
the dugout, they couldn’t help but feel a sense of extreme pride as their boys overcame so
much adversity at the beginning of the season to end up as state champions. The senior class of
Juhl, Jones, and Adams began their Caravel career with a state championship as freshmen, and
left the program as champions as well, capping off an incredible four-year run with the Bucs.
As the dust settled, the lights went out, and the tears had dried up at Frawley, the team
couldn’t help but remember their feeling at the same time last year; devastated, defeated,
heartbroken, runners-up. It only made this year that much sweeter as they walked down the
exit ramps of the stadium with their heads held high; elated, victorious, delighted, champions.