As we start to ramp up to our opening day on April 29th we are happy to announce 4 winter skills clinics for our players ages 6 through 12. These 4 clinics will be held Friday March 10th & 17th 7 to 8:30pm and then Sunday March 12th& 19th 1 to 2:30pm. All sessions will be at Nyack High School either on the field on in the gym depending on weather.
The NVCCLL is committed to getting our players exposure and training from the best possible resources available. This is why we worked with the General’s baseball organization for our fall clinics; then with St. Thomas Aquinas for our catchers clinic. These winter clinics are another excellent partnership with our the new coach of Nyack High School baseball! Coach Scott Muscat agreed to join the Nyack Redhawks after months of searching for a leader to help restore Nyack baseball back to the success it had been.
At our winter clinics Coach Muscat and some of his HS team (many of them NVCCLL alum) will bring the players through a series of stations to work on hitting and fielding skills. These clinics are a excellent chance to sharpen your players skills while giving them a glimpse into the high school program that many of them will play for in the future. Registration is $25 per session so sign up for one; or maximize your players off season practice with all four! Sign up now on our website at www.nvccll.org.
Scott Muscat comes to Nyack after 20 years as the head coach at St. Thomas Aquinas where he took over a struggling NAIA program and helped to reclassify as an NCAA DII member. Under his leadership the Spartans won 485 games (2002-2018) while qualifying for the conference tournament in 14 of 17 NCAA seasons. From 2012 to 2018 STAC notched 7 consecutive 30+ win seasons and won 7 consecutive East Coast Conference tournament or regular season championships. From 2013 to 2018 Muscat led STAC to 6 consecutive NCAA East Region appearances, winning two regional championships (2014 & 2017) and finishing runner-up twice (2015 & 2018). In 2014 STAC made their first appearance at the DII National Championship at USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C. Muscat guided the Spartans through 8 postseason elimination games in order to get there. In 2017 he led the Spartans to their second DII National Championship appearance in Texas. That team went 44-17 and finished #3 in the nation.
He has been honored as the 2003 NYCAC Coach of the Year, 4x ECC Coach of the Year, 2x East Region Coach of the Year (NCBWA) and the 2014 & 2017 ABCA East Region Coach of the Year. During Muscat’s tenure several players have been honored as the ECC Rookie of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Player of the Year. In addition 8 STAC players have been named All-American and 25 Spartans have gone on to play professionally (affiliate and independent). In 2011 he played an active role in helping to secure Provident Bank Park (newly named Palisades Credit Union Park) as the Spartan’s new home field. Under his leadership STAC players have played an active role in the community, serving in the Touching Bases baseball league for adults with disabilities, the Hope Academy in Nyack (for disadvantaged kids), Rockland BOCES Family Resource Center, Soup Angels and offering coaches clinics to the local Little League affiliates. In 2015 STAC Baseball was selected as one of twenty-two national finalists for the NCAA DII Award of Excellence for community service. In 2016 the team was honored as the recipient of the East Coast Conference Community Engagement Award of Excellence. The baseball team has been instrumental in helping the STAC Athletic Department win eight consecutive East Coast Conference Community Cups for the highest number of community service hours
Before assuming his coaching duties Muscat had a stellar playing career. As a prep star pitcher in North Carolina, he amassed over 300 strikeouts, a 25-3 win/loss slate, 9-0 post-season mark, and two post-season no-hitters while leading Western Guilford H.S. to a 44-8 record (12-0 post-season) and two consecutive North Carolina State Championships. As a team captain and two-way player at UNC Charlotte, he set the single game strikeout record of 16 Ks and hit .298 with 298 at-bats as an outfielder. Selected in the 18th round of the 1989 draft, he pitched two seasons in the Milwaukee Brewers minor league system until a second shoulder surgery ended his professional career.