Digging In: Quaker Valley's Tommaso Floro taps into power potential

LEETSDALE — Five games into his senior season for the Quaker Valley Quakers, Tommaso Floro did something he'd never done on a baseball diamond at the varsity level.

Floro, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound third baseman for the Quakers, found his power stroke against Central Valley on April 13, hitting a solo home run against the Warriors, in a 6-2 Quakers' win. Little did he know, that one swing would soon spark him to become one of the better hitters in WPIAL Class 4A.

Following his first career home run at the varsity level, Floro then hit home runs in his next two games — a 14-12 loss to Moon and a 15-1 win over New Castle — quickly putting himself atop the leaderboard in the WPIAL for long balls.

Though he's always had quick, strong hands and a good bat overall, Floro's new-found power can be attributed to the work he put in off the field in the weight room as a member of the Quakers' football team. Quaker Valley baseball coach Dean Owrey sure is glad that's paid off this season.

"He's always been a good hitter, and he's a confident guy. He has really good hand-eye coordination, really fast hands," Owrey said. "He's always been a good contact hitter. But we told our guys after last season that we had to get stronger. If you're not strong, it's a weakness as a group.

"Montour is strong, Blackhawk is strong, Beaver is strong. They're just naturally strong kids. Quaker Valley just ins't that way," Owrey added. "He's a football player, so I think he put some strength on for football, and some of his power has come from that; he got stronger as a person."

Not only has the power come in waves for Floro on the year, but so too has the average and the production for the Quakers. After hitting just .239 last season as a junior with 12 runs batted in and just 16 hits overall on the year, Floro has taken a massive step forward in his final season of varsity baseball.

With two games remaining on the year, Floro holds a .465 average at the plate with 14 RBIs and a team-high 20 hits on the season, hitting out of the cleanup spot. The breakout season for Floro can be boiled down to one thing and one thing only, according to the senior: hunting fastballs.

"My hitting approach up there is only swinging at fastballs," Floro said. "If I don't get fastballs, I'm not swinging. I'm not going to waste a strike in my count if it's not a fastball I can crush."

"I think he's going up there and has the bat ready, as simple as that sounds," Owrey added. "He's a guy that will jump on a first-pitch strike. We're not pioneers out here; we tell our guys to have it ready and hunt fastballs. He's having it ready and he's hunting fastballs.

"He'll hit a curveball, but he's pretty good at not getting fooled by curveballs. When he's looking for a fastball he tends to hit it," Owrey added.

So far, that simplified approached has worked out for Floro. As the Quakers gear up for a postseason run, their senior third basemen will be one of the ones leading the way.

"He means everything to our lineup," Owrey said. "He takes a little bit of pressure off of our three-hitter in Zeke [Hendricks]. That means that Tommaso is coming up and free swinging a little bit because he's got guys in front of him that can hit the baseball, and guys behind that can hit the baseball as well. It's created a stress free environment for him up there."

With the success at the plate in the four-hole, Floro has noticed teams are starting to pitch to him a bit differently, hoping to avoid the one big swing that puts runs on the board. Lately, Floro says he's seen an increase in curveballs and a decrease in fastballs, making it harder for him to hunt fastballs overall.

Still, the approach remains the same, even if it's tested his patience down the stretch while adjusting to a new style of pitching from opponents.

"It's been a tough adjustment; I have noticed guys are pitching to me a bit differently," Floro said. "I've had to stay patient in there though. One of the assistant coaches said something to me a few weeks ago about knowing that if I couldn't hit it hard, don't swing, and that's really helped me stay patient and selective, so that when I do swing I'm making hard contact."

Seeing all his hard work pay off away from the playing field has been the true rewards for Floro above all the stats and individual accomplishments in his final season as a Quaker.

"Honestly, it's been great to see the fruits of the labor," Floro said. "I've put in a lot of work with the Pittsburgh Diamond Dawgs in the offseason. I took a ton of swings throughout the summer before football, and even in the winter just trying to improve, so to see all that work pay off in this fashion has been great."

Quaker Valley has two games remaining on the season, starting with North Hills Thursday at 4 p.m. Sitting at 7-9 (6-6 in Section 2-4A), the Quakers look to close out the season on a high note before entering a tough 4A playoff bracket, having already clinched one of 12 playoff spots in the classification.

Contact Joshua Carney at jcarney@gannett.com or 724-681-9136. Follow Joshua on Twitter: @ByJoshCarney.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Digging In: Quaker Valley's Tommaso Floro taps into power potential