Flatonia’s Novak Went from No Scholarship Offers to Collegiate Star
Casen Novak has had a remarkable college baseball career.
And the Flatonia High School graduate might not be finished.
The recent Concordia University Texas graduate said he will have another year of eligibility--for the 2020-21 school year--after the pandemic cost athletes the spring season. The shortstop is weighing whether to return to the school as a graduate student beginning in the fall.
If he doesn’t return, he is happy with his career, for he quickly emerged as a standout for the Tornados. He was named to the all-American Southwest Conference honorable mention team as a freshman, the all-conference second team and D3Baseball.com all-West Region third team as a sophomore and the all-conference first team as a junior.
“I gave it everything I had,” Novak said. “I wasn’t even planning on college baseball.”
Out of high school, he didn’t have any offers but said then-Flatonia baseball coach Shawn Bruns shared a video of him with the Concordia coaches and spread the word that Novak was available. “They contacted me. I got four more years of baseball, and it was awesome,” he said.
The leadoff hitter batted .380, second on the team, in 47 games as a freshman; .367, second among the starters, in 47 games as a sophomore; and .337, which tied for second on the team, in 50 games as a junior.
He hit .444 with a career-high three home runs--more than the previous three years combined--before the spring shutdown. He had a hit in 11 games and had at least two hits in 10 of those. He had three or more hits in six games, with a season-best four hits in four at-bats against La Verne.
“It turned out really well,” he said. “I always was the person to try to put the ball in play. Make the other team get you out. Make a hard out.”
His power during the spring was a surprise. “The baseball just looked like a beach ball to me,” he said. “I was making good contact on it.”
He had 15 runs batted in through 15 games and was on pace to surpass his career-high of 25 RBIs set last year.
Novak performed well on the basepaths and on defense, too. He led the team in stolen bases his sophomore and junior years. Defensively, he had a .933 fielding percentage through three seasons and had a .959 fielding percentage in 49 fielding chances during the spring.
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Another from the Bulldogs, pitcher Easton Migl had a 1-1 record and 6.28 earned run average in five appearances for Hill College.
Send updates about area athletes to Barbara Boxleitner atjdanddoc@gmail.com.