Howell Makes History With Cardinal Newman

Sam Howell celebrates his 300th career win with friends and family.

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Once upon a time, Sam Howell played baseball as a student at Cardinal Newman High School. Since those days, he has gone on to become a respected and successful Manager at the high school level, kicking it all off with a win against his former school nearly 30 years ago.

This season, his journey has come full circle. During the off-season his alma matar was in need of a new skipper and they turned to their former student to take the reigns. It was an opportunity that Howell had waited many years for and his patience payed off when his team earned him his 300th career victory on Wednesday night. Adding a bit of dramatic flair to the milestone victory was the fact that the 10-2 win came against the team that Howell had managed over the past two seasons, the Olympic Heights Lions.

“It’s nice to get his 300th win here at his old school,” said starting pitcher Robbie Hoyt. “I know that means a lot to him, so I’m happy about that.”

The milestone game brought an added crowd for a big night for the host Lions, as Olympic Heights also paid tribute in recognition of Cancer Awareness.

“It’s great,” said Howell. “It’s sweet to be at Newman and get my 300th for Newman.”

Doing most of their damage in a six-run third inning and backed by a solid mound performance by Hoyt, the visiting Crusaders cruised past the Lions. Luis Besteiro got the Crusaders rolling in the first inning with an RBI double that knocked in Rudy Viton’s courtesy runner, Joe Barbusio, for a 1-0 lead. Carson Powell was hit by a pitch to start the second inning and later came home on a sacrifice fly by Luke Simpson to give Newman a two run lead.

In the third inning, Howell’s team started to run away with it. After Viton singled and Barbusio stole second for him, Besteiro struck again, crushing a 0-1 pitch over the center fielders head, where it rolled through a gap in the fence for an RBI, ground-rule double.

Kevin Cruz drove a two-run homer over the left field fence in the third inning.

“I was just making sure to get something over the plate that I could drive up the middle,” said Besteiro. “I was really focused on going up the middle or the other way today and thankfully I was able to get something I was able to handle and drive it over the center fielder’s head.”

Hoyt helped his cause in the next at-bat by walloping a ball over the left field fence for a two-run homer, his second long-ball of the season, extending the lead to 5-0.

Newman went on to bring 11 batters to the plate in the inning. It benefited from another RBI by Simpson, this one driving in Chris Cammarata, as well as a single by Christian Vazquez that drove home Andrew Morgan, who had reached via a base on balls. The Crusaders also took advantage of a balk and a passed ball to bring Powell around, giving them a total of six runs in the inning and a healthy 8-0 lead.

Not to be outdone, the Lions popped off some fireworks of their own in the home half of the inning. With two outs, Ivan Ortiz beat out an infield single to bring Kevin Cruz to the plate. Cruz, who took to the mound in a relief role in the top half and would eventually finish out the game, then became the second pitcher of the night to go yard. Ahead in the count 2-1, he teed off and sent a ball sailing over the left field fence for a two-run home run.

They were the first and only runs Hoyt allowed for the Crusaders. He went on to strike out six Lions in the final three innings, after fanning just two through the first four. To highlight his night, he caught a batter looking to end the fourth then struck out the side swinging in the fifth. When asked if his homer and the big lead played a part in his improved performance, the pitcher claimed that it was the other way around.

“If anything, it was giving up that home run,” said Hoyt. “That got me fired up a little bit. I just started getting my curveball over for strikes and throwing it harder so it would spin tighter.”

Newman added two more unearned runs in the fifth inning to finalize the score at 10-2 and guarantee a Gatorade bath for their skipper.

Robbie Hoyt trots around third after a two-run blast in the third inning.

Besteiro, a senior, is playing his first and last season under Howell. He is thankful for what the Manager has brought to the team.

“It’s been awesome,” said the left fielder. “He’s really strict on discipline so we always get to practice early and really work hard. It’s what he’s all about; as long as you work hard and be smart about everything you’re doing, something’s going to come out of it eventually.”

The Manager’s milestone win seems to be a perfect example of that theory. Just a few years back, 300 wins seemed to be nothing more than an eventuality for Howell. When he took over at Olympic Heights, ending a long hiatus that he spent coaching his daughter’s softball team, he had already racked up 274. But since then, they have been a little harder to come by.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Howell of the final stretch. “Getting to 300 is special. It’s sweet. It’s taken three years to get the 26 wins.”

While it was the 300th of his career, it is number nine of the season for the Crusaders, compared to 11 losses. Many of those 11 were tight games against good opponents, so the manager remains optimistic about the upcoming district playoffs.

“We’ve had some ups and downs,” Howell said. “We lost six or seven one-run ballgames early in the year. So, we learned early in the year what it takes to win those tight ballgames. Maybe in the playoffs it’ll help us.”

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