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Hurricanes' Win A Labor Of Love

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By CRISTINA LEDRA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 25, 2008

The most important thing in Nick Rodriguez's life on Friday was the challenge of his Bishop McLaughlin baseball team traveling to play heavily favored Berkeley Prep later that day.

Or at least it was until his wife, Melanie, woke him up around 4 a.m. to let him know she had just gone into labor.

That tap on the shoulder triggered a wild Friday for the Rodriguez family and the Hurricanes that ended with a new addition to the family and a monumental win for Bishop McLaughlin's baseball program.

"They all took care of everything," Nick Rodriguez said. "We pulled off the biggest win the program has ever had and I wasn't even there."

Soon after Rodriguez and his wife left for the hospital, word spread at school that the Hurricanes would have to go to Berkeley Prep without their coach.

Players were text messaging their parents with the news and Rodriguez called one of his assistants, Paul Francis, to tell him that he would have to hold the fort that night.

The only problem was that Francis, who was Rodriguez's baseball coach when he was 8 years old, was in Fort Myers for work.

Francis was able to arrange to get back into town by 5:30 p.m. for the 7 p.m. game in Tampa.

The next call went to Rodriguez's former teammate at Tampa Prep and assistant coach Ryan Quigley. Rodriguez asked if Quigley and another former teammate, Bryan Muller, could help out on the bench that night.

"I said, 'Is this your subtle way of telling me Melanie went into labor?" Quigley said.

Quigley called Muller, who agreed to work the game, then called Hurricanes assistant Tim Cassidy to get them team T-shirts and hats to wear in the dugout.

Neither had seen the Hurricanes all season and was concerned about having to make decisions not knowing what any of the players could do.

A few hours later, Melanie Rodriguez gave birth to their first child, Xavier Champion Rodriguez, around 1 p.m.

Nick Rodriguez said that aside from the labor being a bit stressful, everything went great.

Back on the baseball field, the Hurricanes were preparing for their toughest opponent in the program's three-year history, Class 3A Berkeley Prep.

With Francis at the helm with assistants Cassidy, Anthony Tedesco, Chris Wagner, Quigley and Muller, the Hurricanes played a close game and fought through giving up a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to get Berkeley Prep within one run, but Bishop McLaughlin pulled off the 5-4 upset to improve its record to 3-0 on the season.

"It was just a good wild game," Francis said. "It's not a fluke. These kids can play and we're limited on what we have; we only start two seniors, but they want to win and they want to compete."

Even though Rodriguez was taking care of his wife and baby in a hospital room, he was never out of the loop as to what was happening at the game.

Every half inning Crigley was calling him to give him updates.

"It was just one of those days," Nick Rodriguez said.

After the game, Muller put him on speaker phone so he could address the players.

On Saturday, the Hurricanes were hoping to extend their undefeated season in Orlando against Lake Mary, the team that eliminated them from the postseason last year. But the game was called due to rain when Bishop McLaughlin was en route to Orlando. No makeup date has been set.

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