Don Bosco’s Caden Dana now out making name for himself, following in familiar footsteps
Mike Rooney remembers years ago “wondering what type of mischief” a young Caden Dana was getting into while hanging around the Don Bosco Prep program.
It was all innocent in nature, but now it’s the Ironmen’s rising junior getting Rooney and his team out of trouble.
For the second straight day Wednesday, Rooney put his faith in Dana, calling the Class of 2022’s number to the mound in the seventh inning to slam the door shut in a tight Last Dance World Series contest at Yogi Berra Stadium.
And for the second straight day, Dana delivered – punching the Diamondbacks’ (Don Bosco) ticket to the Last Dance North Final Four following a 3-1 victory over Jefferson, with the University of Kentucky commit recording the final two outs – two up, two down – after coming on in relief with the tying runs on base.
Another day, another save, another Don Bosco win.
“It’s not blind faith, I’ll tell you that,” Rooney said. “It’s easy to put him out there in those situations when you’ve known him and known the family for so long… and with a kid who’s throwing 92-93 miles per hour.”
Dana K for second out of inning in 7th pic.twitter.com/bsn1bnrIHK
— JJ Conrad (@JJ_Conrad) July 22, 2020
If the name sounds familiar, it should – Caden is the third talented Dana brother to come through the Don Bosco baseball program in recent years and was expected to be the team’s third baseman and closer in the spring of 2020 before Covid-19 forced the cancellation of the season.
Cullen, a 2015 graduate, was selected by the San Diego Padres in the 2018 MLB Draft, while Casey, a 2017 graduate, is the starting third baseman at Seton Hall University. Their sister, Kyleigh, was a freshman on Seton Hall’s women’s volleyball team in 2019, too.
Now, it’s Caden’s turn in line to leave his mark – even if he was robbed of a much-anticipated sophomore high school season.
Caden Dan’s upbringing – being the youngest of four high-level, competitive athletes, along with two parents, Amanda and Fred, who also competed in college athletics (track & field at Binghamton and baseball at Fairfield, respectively) – make him an ideal candidate to be thrown in such high-pressure situations.
So far, so good through the first two weeks of the Last Dance World Series.
“Living through it back then was a little rough at times,” said Dana, who also served as Don Bosco’s punter in 2019 on the Ironmen’s Non-Public Group 4 finalist team. “But I love the outcome of it. Being bullied around and competing with them, it got myself prepared for tough situations.”
His coach agreed, moments after the 6-foot-4, 205-pound flamethrower earned his second pressurized save in as many days.
“There’s a group of alpha males in that family,” Rooney said with a laugh. “So if you can survive in that house, you’re going to survive on that mound. … Make sure all the credit goes to their mom, too, as far as the genetic gift of athletics goes. Don’t let Fred take the credit for that stuff.”
Wherever the credit goes, there’s no doubt Don Bosco – one of eight teams throughout the state still dancing – features one of the top arms left in the tournament. And the deeper Don Bosco goes, the greater the pressure becomes.
Dana says, bring it on.
He’s built for this – and has some added motivation under the unique set of circumstances this summer has presented.
“When I’m on that [bullpen] mound getting my mindset ready to come in, I’m doing this for all the seniors on this team who lost their last high school season. That’s all the motivation I need. I love that feeling coming in, knowing my team and these guys are relying on me and to come in and close the game out and finish off a win.”
GAME NOTES: Don Bosco Prep took an early 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI single from Nick Carr to bring home Johnny Pilla, who reached with a one-out walk. … Jefferson tied the game at 1 in the top of the third when Jason Taylor walked with the bases loaded to score Justin Cece, who reached by error to leadoff the inning. … Don Bosco Prep, which needed a 6-run rally in the sixth Tuesday for a comeback 7-6 win over Gov. Livingston, put together a two-run rally – all starting with two outs and no one on – in the bottom of the fourth. Noah Rodriguez got things going with a deep double to right and came around to score on an RBI double from Michael Dreznin. Kevin Stefanski then followed with an RBI single. … Don Bosco Prep starter Kevin Jaxel went 4 ⅔ innings, allowing one run on three hits with eight strikeouts. He was removed after an infield error with two outs in the fifth. … Don Bosco reliever Clayton Poliey recorded five big outs, allowing just one hit and a walk, before Dana came in for the save. … Don Bosco will meet Cranford, an 8-2 winner over Ridgewood on Wednesday, on Tuesday in next week’s Last Dance World Series North Final Four.
JJ Conrad may be reached at jjconrad8@gmail.com