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Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge has added meaning for Coach Novak, Sayreville

Greg Tufaro
@GregTufaro
Sayreville baseball team poses for photo prior to 2016 Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge game

Long before Sayreville High School baseball coach Mike Novak’s son was diagnosed with autism, the veteran mentor was part of an annual event that enabled him, through the sport he loves, to better understand the country’s fastest growing developmental disorder.

Since the Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge’s inception a decade ago, Novak always has been among the event’s biggest supporters, heightening awareness and spearheading fundraising efforts for the cause.

“Sayreville is one of the teams who really get it in Middlesex County,” said Mike Garlatti, a Colorado Rockies scout and former Highland Park star who founded the event after his son was diagnosed with autism.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the identified prevalence of autism spectrum disorders nationally has increased from 1 in 110 to 1 in 68 since the Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge began. One in 45 children in New Jersey – 62 percent of whom are boys – are on the autism spectrum. Autism is a lifelong neurological disorder that impairs a person's ability to communicate and relate to others. It's broad spectrum of characteristics range from severe detached and isolated behavior to extreme verbal and hypersensitive behavior.

The challenge, which has grown to 40 teams and will feature 20 games involving more than 600 players over a three-day span at North Brunswick’s Community Park this weekend, took on added meaning for Novak and his wife, Jamie, when their 7-year-old son, Tyler, was diagnosed four years ago with autism.

“We are very fortunate,” Novak said. “Even though he was diagnosed with it, it was not on the severe end. He’s on the middle of the spectrum. It could be a wide variety of symptoms. He is verbal. It’s just certain social skills and motor skills that are lacking. He’s an awesome kid who is ridiculously smart. His reading level is off the charts. We are very lucky. Kids with autism have strengths and learn in different ways. I believe he’s going to be very successful.”

Novak said his participation in the Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge “helped me become more aware of autism and helped me come to grips better with my son’s diagnosis and better understand it.”

The Novak family: Front (L to R): Tyler (7) and Michael (12). Back (L to R): Chloe (6), Jamie and Mike.

A ceremonial first pitch – thrown by a special needs child or someone who works with special needs children – will continue to take place before the start of each Autism Awareness game this weekend.

Tyler threw out the first pitch prior to Sayreville’s game each of the last two years, and Novak has arranged for another elementary school student from the district to have that honor before this weekend’s game against Hudson Catholic.

“The general message,” Novak said he will send to his players before participating in the challenge, “is to convey to them that not everybody gets this opportunity. Not everyone (including those with special needs) can play the game. Consider how lucky you are and know we are playing something bigger than just a baseball game. We’re playing to raise awareness about this special cause.”

A young Sayreville team, outscored 18-1 in a season-opening series loss to South Plainfield, has rebounded to outscore opponents 25-10 in its three victories. The Bombers (3-3) on Monday snapped red-hot Piscataway’s winning streak at five games.

Sayreville has received offensive contributions throughout the lineup, but four players have inflicted the most damage. Jayson DeMild is batting .438 with two doubles and four RBI. Bryan Fernandez is hitting .389. Drew Zimmerman has clubbed a grand slam, doubled twice and plated seven runs. Kyle Richards is batting .381 with a homer, two doubles and five RBI.

Kyle Lewis (2-1, 1.37 with 15 strikeouts in 15 innings) has been the most reliable pitcher with DeMild taking a no-hitter into the sixth during his only start of the year, a 3-2 victory over North Brunswick against which he fanned 10 batters.

DeMild, the Home News Tribune’s 2016 Offensive Football Player of the Year, who led the Bombers to a sectional championship, is a Division I scholarship quarterback headed to North Carolina’s Campbell College. After breaking his leg during a 2015 football game, DeMild struggled at the plate and did not regain his team-leading RBI form on the diamond last season.

With his bat going in the middle of the order and with his ability to dominate opponents on the mound, DeMild makes Sayreville a difficult foe whenever he pitches.

“I just want to keep getting better and be a dangerous team come county tournament time,” said Novak, owner of a 195-168-2 career record with the Bombers. “I think our lineup is definitely going to get better. Jayson’s a wild card. He could be as good as anybody. Being a three-sport athlete (DeMild also starred on Sayreville’s league tournament finalist basketball team), he picks up a baseball for the first time in March. Being a scholarship quarterback kid, it (throwing him often) is something I’ve got to be careful with. He competes as well as anybody and has the ability to shut anybody down.”

Garlatti said the willingness of Novak – who has not previously discussed with the media Tyler’s diagnosis – to share his personal story “helps put a face on what we are trying to do.”

“It’s extremely important,” Garlatti said, “when we can get people in sports to back what we are doing.”

The Teamwork Unlimited Foundation, an Edison-based nonprofit whose mission is to help those in need, sponsors the Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge.

Players will forgo their school colors to wear specially designed Autism Awareness jerseys with numbers on the back during games. Players will wear those jerseys to school in the days leading up to the event to stimulate conversation about autism among classmates and faculty.

Tyler Novak fires ceremonial first pitch before a 2016 Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge game

Last month, players participating in the challenge convened at a reception at Edison High School to continue the annual Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge tradition of exchanging "autographed" colored puzzle pieces. The players previously asked relatives, friends, teachers and classmates to sign the puzzle pieces in exchange for a donation to The Teamwork Unlimited Foundation. The colored puzzle pieces are symbolic of autism. Those diagnosed with the disorder – puzzling for it has no known cause – are as varied as the colors of a rainbow, reflecting the multi-colored puzzle piece symbol that has universally been adopted to promote autism awareness.

Participating teams have traditionally put their own spin on the event’s fundraising component. For the second consecutive year, Sayreville players collected donations at home varsity basketball games, raising approximately $1,000 for the cause.

During the state tournament, Sayreville hosted a doubleheader featuring its boys and girls basketball teams, during which the Bomber baseball players collected donations at the gate and spread the word about autism awareness.

“The parents (of players) come out and help out with the kids,” Novak said. “We talk about autism with people that come in and collected donations. It was a big day.”

10th Annual Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge Schedule

(all games at North Brunswick’s Community Park)

Friday, April 21

East Brunswick Tech vs. Perth Amboy Tech, 4 p.m.

Jackson vs. East Brunswick, 4 p.m.

Pope John vs. St. Joseph (Metuchen), 7 p.m.

North Brunswick vs. Bernards, 7 p.m.

Saturday, April 22

Middlesex vs. South Hunterdon, 10 a.m.

Sayreville vs. Hudson Catholic, 10 a.m.

South Plainfield vs. Millburn, 1 p.m.

South River vs. Verona, 1 p.m.

Holy Spirit vs. St. Joseph (Montvale), 4 p.m.

Metuchen vs. Weehawken, 4 p.m.

Red Bank Catholic vs. Delbarton, 7 p.m.

Steinert vs. Barnegat, 7 p.m.

Sunday, April 23

Dunellen vs. Rahway, 10 a.m.

Spotswood vs. Robbinsville, 10 a.m.

Colonia vs. Governor Livingston, 1 p.m.

Edison vs. North Hunterdon, 1 p.m.

Christian Brothers Academy vs. Westfield, 4 p.m.

Somerville vs. J.P. Stevens, 4 p.m.

Old Bridge vs. St. Peter’s Prep, 7 p.m.

Hillsborough vs. Elizabeth, 7 p.m.