Jacob Quiles was playing at a tournament in Connecticut when Mitchell College’s assistant baseball coach Shawn Giblair approached him.

Quiles was trying to get colleges to notice him and his abilities on the pitcher’s mound. That’s when Giblair gave Quiles his phone number and asked him to take a look at the campus.

That was in August.

Now, Quiles is committed, having signed his National Letter of Intent to play for Mitchell’s Division III baseball program.

“I could see myself growing there,” Quiles said. “It was compact, and it doesn’t feel like you’re on your own.”
While his first contact was with Giblair, Quiles will play for Travis Beausoleil, who will enter his 11th season as Mitchell’s head coach.

Beausoleil has turned Mitchell into one of the top programs in New England and boasts the highest winning percentage in the region over the past seven years. They have won New England Collegiate Conference championships and NCAA berths in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2021.

They finished the pandemic-ridden 2021 season with a 26-9 overall record and the program’s seventh NECC championship.

“They win a lot,” Quiles said. “They’re a great, but strict team and they focus a lot on baseball.”

Quiles also plays third base, but he will pitch for the Mariners. He said he will be willing to play whatever position was asked of him, but he prefers pitching.

“I bring a lot of athleticism to the mound,” Quiles said. “I feel like I am competitive and look to keep winning. I like being mentally focused on everything that’s going on around me.”

Quiles was part of a group of about three or four freshmen that Wallkill baseball coach T.D. Mills brought up to the varsity team in 2019 to rebuild the program.

He excelled immediately.

“He was pretty much one of our top pitchers and had a breakout season, which put him on the map for myself, but also some colleges, too,” Mills said.

Quiles stands at about 6-foot-3, has good mechanics and Mills said he has good stuff on the mound. Quiles isn’t going to blow away hitters with a 90+ fastball but he’s developed into a smart pitcher that knows how to get hitters out.

“He’s started to understand games better,” Mills said. “He’s developed his secondary pitches like his changeup and his curveball. He’s learned more about the game and how to approach hitters. He doesn’t have that 90-mph fastball, but he locates, hits corners and is successful with what he has.”

Quiles also was struck by how close the players on the team were, similar to his dynamic with his teammates on the Panthers.

The Mariners have a large roster, but all the players work out together and everything they do, they do as a team.

“It’s really team organized and they’re all in it together,” Quiles said.

He met a few players when he took his visit and he said he was welcomed immediately, and the conversations weren’t just about baseball. Quiles also discussed his classes and how successful he could be there academically.

With the signing comes relief.

“Many of my games before the signing, and even before I was looking at colleges, I was very anxious to have people come out and look at me,” Quiles said. “It’s definitely a relief. Now I can work out more and be more prepared for going further.”

The signing also presented a new opportunity for all. He signed his letter surrounded by his parents, who he called his two biggest fans. It was also the first time Mills – in nearly 20 years of coaching high school baseball – ever got to sit in on a signing.

“It was pretty cool,” Mills said. “That was the first time and something new for me.”

And it will all be new for Quiles after he graduates from Wallkill next June and then takes the mound for Mitchell the following year.

“He’s generally a great kid that will give you everything he has,” Mills said. “He’s very soft-spoken. It’s always “yes coach” and there’s no talk back. He’ll do what you ask of him the best he can.”