Standard of Excellence: Brother Martin’s Cole Navarro becomes school’s winningest pitcher
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Brother Martin baseball coach Jeff Lupo found himself in a tough spot four years ago. His Crusaders were trying to hold onto a lead in a midweek game with Newman which had the go-ahead run at third base and none out.
Then freshman Cole Navarro heeded Lupo’s call to head to the bullpen, stepping into the first tense moment of his career, recording three straight outs and holding the Greenies scoreless.
Navarro earned the win in his relief performance and earned the team’s closer role for the rest of the year, starting what’s evolved into a memorable career for the Crusaders.
“It kind of caught me off guard,” Navarro said of Lupo’s directive to begin warming up. “I didn’t think they were going to go to a young guy.”
Navarro’s given Brother Martin that kind of maturity on the mound that’s helped the team to the Division I select state semifinals this week.
No. 3 Brother Martin (29-5) visits Catholic League counterpart No. 2 Holy Cross (31-4) for the start of the best-of-three series at 6 p.m. Thursday at Tiger Park.
“He’s able to throw three to four pitches in any count,” Lupo said of Navarro, a University of New Orleans signee. “He’s around the strike zone with all of them. What makes it difficult for hitters to know is which pitch he’s throwing and in what count.
“It’s very difficult to get a pitch pattern on him,” Lupo said. “He doesn’t have to throw a fastball if he’s behind in the count. His velocity’s hard enough and he can run it up to 86-87 (miles per hour). Over the summer he was as high as 89. If you see off-speed or you’re jumping over the plate, he’s not hesitant to throw in and get under your hands and freeze you.”
Navarro became the school’s career leader in victories in last week’s 8-2 win over Ponchatoula in the first game of their state quarterfinal series. The Crusaders completed a two-game sweep with a 2-0 victory on Saturday.
“It feels great to break the record,” Navarro said. “It puts me up there with the great pitchers that came through here. It feels great.”
Navarro’s complete-game effort resulted in his 25th career win, surpassing former standout Corey Gaconi who pitched at Southeastern Louisiana. Had it not been for an injury two years ago that cost him three to four weeks, Navarro could have been quicker to reach the milestone.
“The last freshman to have a major impact as a freshman was Corey Gaconi,” Lupo said. “That was another kid that could command the strike zone, didn’t necessarily throw as hard as a lot of people thought he should. He could control his pitches and could control the run game and field his position.”
Navarro, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound right-hander, allowed seven hits – four of which were infield singles – and two runs in six innings in the record-setting outing. He walked three and struck out seven.
“I can control the run game and throw strikes,” Navarro said. “I can throw an inside fastball away; I can throw it high and then I have my off-speed and that keeps the hitters off balance.”
Lupo said there was another critical moment in Navarro’s development as a freshman that further sold him.
The Crusaders had split the first games of a state regional series with St. Augustine when Lupo turned to Navarro in the win-or-go-home game moment and the freshman produced 2.2 innings of scoreless relief to send the team to the quarterfinals against John Curtis.
“He throws strikes,” Lupo said. “He doesn’t walk or hit people. The hits he does give up are usually singles and he can mix his pitch selection in any count. You know when Cole takes the mound he’s going to be around the zone, it’s probably going to be a low-scoring affair, and it takes the pressure off of your defense.”
Navarro helped Brother Martin to the state regionals against Byrd last season and was a Class 5A honorable mention selection.
He was optimistic about making a college selection before the start of his final season.
Navarro was able to parlay strong relationships with UNO Head Coach Dax Norris and assistant Phillip Hurst into a commitment and signed with the Privateers in December.
“I wanted to get that out of the way so I could help my team win,” he said. “Just play the game. The coaches are always calling, checking up to see how I’m doing.”
One element of Navarro’s game that Lupo has become extremely fond of is his ability to not only throw complete games but have low pitch counts in doing so.
A prime example of that art was in a 4-0 victory over St. Paul’s on March 17 when Navarro recorded his first career no-hitter on 79 pitches. He struck out five and walked one.
“The one thing that gives him a chance to win a lot of games is he doesn’t manufacture innings,” Lupo said. “He doesn’t give away a lot of free passes. He’s not afraid to throw to contact, he gets a lot of soft contact. He doesn’t give up a lot of extra-base hits and he controls the run game very well. He’s always around the strike zone. His strike percentage is 70%. We feel very comfortable that he’s going to get the ball put in play and it’s usually soft.”
The St. Paul gem was one of four this season Navarro has thrown 80 or fewer pitches in complete-game efforts.
“Last year I threw complete games, and my pitch counts would be over 100 or in the 90s,” Navarro said. “This year, I have a lot of run production and I’m trying to let other teams put the ball in play and let my defense make plays behind me.”
Navarro, who plays third base when he’s not pitching, has been a key cog in the team’s offense with a .290 average and a team-high 33 RBIs.
“If there’s someone on second or third with less than two outs I’m going to try and get a ground ball to score the run and help this team out,” he said. “You never know the game may be a one-run game, that could be the game-winning run.”
Navarro has given Brother Martin one of the state’s top pitchers with his season-long performance, one he hopes continues through the weekend. He’s 10-1 overall with a 1.92 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 69 innings with 19 walks.
“We’re focusing on one game at a time,” Navarro said. “You can’t make it to the state championship unless you make it through Holy Cross. We’re going to get ready for that game and one game at a time and hopefully we can do it.”
Featured Image Courtesy Brother Martin High School