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 J.D.
MARTINEZ & MICHAEL FIERS- nova southeastern
sharks
PING!BASEBALL DIVISION II SPOTLIGHT
A great white shark has to keep constantly
moving in order to stay alive. The forward swimming motion
allows them to ram water into their mouth and flow out through
their gills to receive oxygen. If they don’t swim, they
don’t breathe and despite their nautical upbringing,
they “drown”. There must be something similar
going on with Nova Southeastern’s J.D. Martinez and
Michael Fiers. Since the beginning of the season Martinez,
the Sharks junior outfielder, has been perpetually circling
the basepaths, laying waste to opposing pitchers ERA’s
and scorching horsehide. Meanwhile Fiers, a senior pitcher,
has been feasting on batters, constantly attacking opposition
with the same deadly precision and killer results to keep
NSU moving up the DII rankings.
 Last
week Martinez led the Sharks to a perfect 4-0 record to earn
his second Sunshine State Conference Baseball Player of the
Week honor. He had at least three hits in three of the four
games (one for three in the other, with his hit being a homerun).
Furthermore, he went deep in three of the four games to tally
eight RBI. His final numbers were Roy Hobbsesque, batting
.733 with a 1.867 slugging percentage. On March 3rd, playing
against the nationally ranked West Chester Golden Rams, Martinez
went 3-5 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBI's
to lead Nova to a convincing 9-1 win.
Not only is the 6’4”, 200 pound
hitter handy with the bat, he has a soft touch with the mitt
as well. He has a strong arm and respectable speed and the
ability to change a game with a catch or rifling throw just
as easy as he can in the batter’s box.
Martinez was a Minnesota Twins draft selection
out of a high school, but put a professional career on hold
to join the Sharks. A well calculated move by the poker aficionado
who was named a top ten DII prospect for the 2009 amateur
draft by Baseball America prior to the season. A quick look
at his stats shows why. This season Martinez is devouring
opposition, batting .564 (35-62) with 8 HR’s and 27
RBI to lead the 15-2 Sharks. He has scored 29 runs and legged
out eight doubles and a pair of two triples to amass a slugging
percentage well over 1.000.
Following a monstrous freshman campaign in
which he hit .379 with five homeruns and 29 RBI, Martinez
kept swinging as a sophomore, hitting .370 with 12 home runs
and 56 RBI. For his effort he was named to the All-SSC first
team as well as earned inclusion to the DAKTRONICS All-South
Region baseball second team and NCWBA All-South Region first
team. Over the summer Martinez was a NYCBL All Star and All-League
First Teamer, hitting .392 for the Saratoga Phillies and tied
for the league lead with seven homeruns.
However Martinez’s greatest honor to
date may be the praise of his coach, Sharks lead skipper and
NSU Athletic Director Michael Mominey, who has seen more than
his fair share of players advance to the next level.
“J.D. has worked hard to become the
player he has become. He came from a tremendous high school
program and understood what it was like to compete at a high
level. We knew he had the tools to become an All American
type of player at the college level.” Coach Mominey
stated of his latest acclaimed protégé, “J.D.
has improved on his strengths and weaknesses over the past
three years and has become one of the better overall players
in the Sunshine State Conference and maybe in the country.”
Although Martinez deserves a lot of credit
for Nova’s rapid rise up the rankings, another Shark
has preying on foes from a pitching standpoint and deserves
just as many accoldates. Senior pitcher Michael Fiers joined
Nova after spending his underclass seasons at Cumberland and
Broward Community College. His impact at NSU has been immediate
and substantial.
 He
is 5-0 on the season with 53 strikeouts in 33.2 innings pitched.
He has only allowed 20 hits to hold opposing batters to a
diminutive.164 batting average against him. After one-hitting
Saint Leo to open the season, Fiers was named the SSC Pitcher
of the Week. In his last outing against Flagler he was just
as dominant, setting a season high mark with 14 strikeouts
in just six innings - meaning all but four of the outs when
he pitched were by way of strikeout.
As Martinez’s teammate on Saratoga
last summer, Fiers was named to the NYCBL All-League Second
Team as he had a 3.10 ERA and struck out a league high 76
batters in only 52.1 innings of work. He also issued a scant
12 walks for the summer. In 2007 he was the NYCBL Pitcher
of the Year after he went 5-1 with a 1.60 ERA and 68 strikeouts.
In one remarkable contest he hurled a complete game no-hitter
and fanned 16 batters.
Just as with Martinez, Coach Mominey heaps
on his approval of the pitcher who is making his job easy.
“Mike is the ultimate competitor that
makes everyone around him better.” Mominey commended,
“He is a mature pitcher that throws four pitches for
strikes and has tremendous pitchability. He is obviously an
impact player on the field to this point of the season but
better than that, Mike is a leader and a great teammate. We
look forward to Mike having a great year for us.”
Like a shark smelling blood, Martinez and
Fiers are devouring on opposition. For opponents to stop these
two players, I have some words of advice, you’re gonna
need a bigger boat.
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