2016 NHSI: Even Missing Veliz, North Broward Prep Wins

CARY, N.C.—North Broward Prep came into the National High School Invitational at the USA Baseball National Training Complex with one of the strongest rotations in the country.

Before a game was even played at the NHSI on Wednesday, they were down their best man.

Greg Veliz, No. 90 on the High School Top 100 before the season, has a lat muscle strain and won’t play in this tournament.

“It’s more precaution than anything else,” North Broward coach Brian Campbell said. “There’s nothing structurally (wrong). He’ll be back soon.”

Veliz, a Miami commit, is a righthanded pitcher and an infielder. On the mound, his fastball can bump 98 mph and he has shown the ability to spin a quality breaking ball.

With Veliz out, North Broward Prep turned to Anthony Masiello, his fellow Hurricanes pledge. Masiello needed 56 pitches to get through three innings but combined with 2017 righthander Raul Canard to beat Colorado’s Rocky Mountain High 7-3.

Campbell said he went to Canard to finish out the game once North Broward grabbed a 7-1 lead.

“We’re playing it by ear with the pitcher rules,” he said. “Once we got the lead, we were hoping to piece it together. The score of the game dictated where we were going to go.”

As for Masiello, he struggled early to find his curveball, which was too firm. He got into a groove in the third, his final inning.

“I wasn’t feeling my pitches in the first,” the 6-foot-2, 175-pound lefthander said. “Then I got adjusted to the mound and figured it out.”

Campbell said he removed Masiello after three innings so that he could use him again in the tournament, but also for the player’s benefit.

“We’re a player-first program,” he said. “I’ll protect kids before winning anytime. We’re cautious with him all the time.

“We’re always cautious (with the pitchers). In doing that, hopefully, with a little help from the bats, we can still win the tournament.”

Righthander Muhammed Eid will pitch Thursday’s quarterfinals game for North Broward while another 2016 Miami commit, Evan McKendry, will start on Friday, Campbell said.