Prep Baseball Report

Become a Member

More +

Q & A With Bishop Verot Head Coach David Nelson

September 12, 2014

PBR sat down with Bishop Verot Head Coach David Nelson to talk about his program, philosophies, and their experience at the National High School Invitational.

PBR: Please tell us a little about yourself and the Bishop Verot Baseball Program.

Nelson: This is my 3rd year as the head baseball coach at Bishop Verot.  I was an assistant at Verot for 5 years before becoming the head coach.  The Bishop Verot Baseball Program has a storied history.  1994 State Champions, 2011 State Champions, 2000 State runner up, 2012 State Runner up, 4 additional appearances in the State Final Four. 

PBR: Who are some players in your program that are moving on next year to play at the next level & who are some up and coming players you have that we will be getting to know soon?

Nelson: Evan Dougherty- Duke, Jeff Passantino- Lipscomb, Bobby Brennan- Maine, Jonah Owenby- USF,Dominick Stefanacci- Tusculum, Seth Dehaven- Tusculum, Danny Tufariello- Tusculum, Zack Chappell- Tallahassee Community College, Christian Hammond- Undecided

Our underclassmen that will lead us next year are: Thaddeus Ward-JR- UCF, CJ Alexander-JR-Undecided,Richie Nizza-JR- Undecided, Patrick Banick-JR-Undecided 

PBR: You recently competed in the National High School Invitational. Please tell us about the experience & how this event has helped your program.

Nelson:  This was a first class experience!  From the moment we stepped off the plane in NC, to the moment we departed for FL we were treated like professionals.  Every day was planned to the minute and the hotel was amazing!  We played 4 very good teams that allowed us to see what positive and negative things we do as a team.  By playing good competition, this allowed us to play in Championship mode!

PBR: Florida was well represented at the NHSI. Please tell us your thoughts on the quality of High School Baseball in the state of Florida.

Nelson:  In my opinion, Florida has the best high school baseball in the United States.  Florida has a ton of great players and a great deal of very good players.  Not to mention, Florida has some of the best coaches around.  Here in SWFL, we have an extremely talented group of coaches who are very dedicated to help our ball players become the best person and player possible!

PBR: You have your program in some very competitive events. As the Head of the program, what is your philosophy on scheduling?

Nelson: My philosophy is to put together a schedule that will challenge my team to become better every day.  Our goal at Bishop Verot is to be playing the best baseball possible heading into district play.  We try to play quality competition to put ourselves into situations that we may see in the playoffs.  If we can learn from the positives and negatives, we should be ready for anything come playoff time!
Related Articles