Hitting the books, then hitting home runs
Weehawken’s Veras realizes that good grades are more important than good pitching
A year ago, Wilson Veras was all set to have a great baseball season at Weehawken High School. He was a sophomore, coming off a breakthrough year as a freshman. He was going to play an integral part on a team that had a host of talented veterans. Everything seemed perfect.
However, there was only one problem. Veras was academically ineligible to play and had to sit out the entire season to get his grades in gear.
"It was a tough year, seeing my friends play and I couldn’t play," Veras said. "I was so sad and frustrated that I didn’t even want to go see the team play. It was tough for me to sit and watch."
It was even tougher when the Indians went on to capture the Bergen County Scholastic League National Division championship, the first-ever baseball championship in the school’s history.
"I just don’t think he was aware that he wasn’t going to be able to play," said veteran Weehawken coach Tony Colasurdo. "By the time he realized, it was too late."
However, the time off served as a gigantic lesson to Veras, a lesson that school work was indeed more important than any accomplishment on the baseball field or any play made on the basketball court.
"I had to make sure that my grades were in line," Veras said. "I had to give everything I had to make sure I could be able to play."
During that time, Veras called upon his older brother, Khendry, a former Weehawken High baseball standout who now plays for Felician College in Lodi.
"Khendry is a big influence on me," Veras said. "He got mad at me when I couldn’t play because of my grades. He was always a good student and I’ve always looked up to him. He’s on the Dean’s List in college. Coming into this year, I figured that if he could do well in school and play baseball, then I could do it."
Colasurdo said that he had a long discussion with Veras.
"We sat down and talked about the importance of him remaining eligible," Colasurdo said. "I told him that he was going to be an important cog in our machine, an important ingredient."
Veras was definitely motivated to remain eligible to play for the Indians this season, his junior year.
"He pulled himself up by the boot straps and applied himself to do better in the classroom," Colasurdo said. "He’s a great athlete in baseball and basketball, so that was never a problem. But Wilson knew what he had to do. He just matured and applied himself. He just came into the year with a new attitude."
Once the eligibility was taken care of, the baseball ability took care of itself. And Veras is making up for his lost time by having a brilliant campaign for the Indians.
Veras has become the team’s most versatile performer. He owns a 4-1 record on the mound, with an earned run average of 1.70. He has wins over tough teams like Lyndhurst, Dumont and St. Mary’s (Rutherford) and has a save in relief in another win over St. Mary’s. Veras’ pitching enabled the Indians to win their first 13 games of the season, before dropping a decision to Lyndhurst last week.
At the plate, Veras is batting .350 with nine RBI, including three RBI in a recent win last weekend against St. Mary’s. He plays second base and shortstop in the field when he’s not pitching, depending on which teammate is on the mound.
And for his efforts, Veras has been selected as The Hudson Reporter Athlete of the Week for the past week.
Colasurdo likes the flexibility that Veras has provided, especially on the mound.
"He throws effortlessly on the mound, with his style like (former Red Sox and Yankee star) Luis Tiant, turning his back to the batter," Colasurdo said. "He hides the ball well and comes from three different arm angles. He’s a little guy, but he throws the ball sneaky fast."
Veras said that he picked up the unique style three years ago, watching Dodger ace Kevin Brown pitch.
"I was playing for the 13-year-old Dale Murphy team in Hoboken and I just tried pitching that way," Veras said. "Kevin Brown does it, so I decided to stick with it. I felt confident and I felt I could throw it harder that way."
The quiet and unassuming Veras didn’t think he would have had such an impact on this year’s team, which lost its top pitcher (Anthony Rendine) and player (2001 Hudson Reporter Player of the Year Fernando Fuentes) when they graduated a year ago.
"After having a whole year off, I thought I might struggle," Veras said. "I wanted to stay in shape when I wasn’t playing, so that was one of the reasons why I kept going to batting cages. I guess I just stepped it up this year. I didn’t think I was that good of a player. I think we had question marks not knowing how well we’d do, losing some key people. I just tried to give everything I had."
Colasurdo has been impressed with the way Veras has performed this season.
"Wilson has pitched very well, coming up with some big games," Colasurdo said. "And he always seems to come up with the clutch hit. He’s a real, quick prototypical infielder, with quick feet and reflexes. He’s a big reason why we’ve had so much success so far."
Veras just wants it all to continue – the success on the field and in the classroom.
"Things have been going just fine," Veras said. "Thank God I’ve been doing well in both. I just want to keep going from here."
That’s because just as he had an older brother in Khendry, Wilson is the older brother of eighth grader Tito, another baseball star on the horizon.
"Hopefully, we’ll play together next year," Wilson Veras said of his younger brother. "I don’t know if he realizes how important school is. I’ll have to remind him."
Spoken like a true older brother. – Jim Hague