Nick Townley inspired by long line of Plant baseball legends

TAMPA, Fla. — Wade Boggs Field, the baseball stadium at Plant High School, has the footsteps of legends on it.

“We’ve always had some pretty good players and there’s kind of a long line of tradition to that,” Plant baseball head coach Dennis Braun said.

The program boasts an impressive list of alums on the outfield wall, which has numbers retired from left field all the way down to right field.

“We’re one of the few schools that has a Hall of Famer in Wade Boggs and we might have a future couple more if they keep doing the things they’re doing,” Braun said.

Braun is referring to 5-time MLB All-Star Pete Alonso and 4-time All-Star Kyle Tucker, both former Panthers who are two of the best hitters in baseball.

The latest pro to get his number retired is Jac Caglianone, a 2021 Plant alum who was a two-way star for the Florida Gators and is already in the bigs with the Kansas City Royals. The current team was able to meet Cagnianone at the ceremony earlier this month, seeing a guy who sat in the same dugout they do move on to accomplish what he has accomplished.

“Yeah, I think that’s what the motivation is, I think everyone wants to be them not all of them are going to be 6 foot 5 250 pounds and that’s a big part of getting to the level that they get to but I think that motivation is a big deal for them and I think it’s what makes the program grow,” Braun said.

“It was really nice to see. Obviously, he’s one of the greats of high school baseball, and it was really nice to be able to see the impact he’s made here,” Plant senior pitcher Nick Townley said.

Townley hopes to one day be the next guy in line.

“Yeah it really does help my focus. It just helps me stay concentrated on my main goal here which is competing as a team and winning and focusing on getting better,” Townley said.

Townley is the ace of the staff, a senior right-hander who doesn’t light up the radar gun with a ton of velocity but makes up for it with an impressive command on the mound.

“Throughout the fall and early spring I’ve just been working on my pitch location and delivery, getting better at sequencing and finding out where hitters are weak against me so I can get them out in the best way,” Townley said.

He got some preseason recognition from 813 Preps, a Hillsborough County high school baseball publication, ranking him as the 23rd best player in the area.

“I thought it was pretty cool but the rankings don’t mean anything until we start playing games so I try not to focus on it much, yeah it for sure adds some pressure but I gotta go into games knowing that I still have a job to throw good pitches and compete with the hitters so that just helps me stay focused,” Townley said.

“Being ranked means you’ve done something you’ve earned that and every year you’ve gotta earn it. Baseball is a tough game so I think it’s important for him to come back down a little bit and not get too caught up in that throw strikes rely on his defense and if he does those things I think he will have another great year,” Braun said.

Of course, Townley dreams of making it to “The Show.” Every baseball player does. No program around here has sent more players to the pros than Plant lately, so he’s in a great spot to try and get that dream started here.

“Even though you may not make it, you may not be them let’s do everything we can so if that day comes that we don’t you can hang your cleats up and say I did everything I could to be the best player I could and that’s what we’re trying to do every day,” Braun said.

For now, Townley is focused on this season and getting his team to state.