Félix Nova (Olympics)

Félix Manuel Nova

• Throws Right

• Born June 4, 1964

Biographical Information

Félix Nova pitched for the Dominican national team.

In the 1991 Pan American Games, he went 3-0 with a 1.86 ERA in the round-robin phase, striking out 23 in 19 innings; he had more wins than the rest of the Dominican staff combined (they were 2-3). He was 9th in ERA, between Clem Wernet and Javier Polanco while leading in both wins and whiffs. He was named the tournament's All-Star right-handed pitcher, one of only two non-Cubans to win All-Star honors (Chris Roberts of the US was the other one).

Nova had a rough time in the 1992 Olympics but he faced three top opponents - Gold Medal winner Cuba and Osvaldo Fernandez (4 R in 3 2/3 IP; Fabio Aquino took over), Silver Medal winner Taiwan and Chao-Huang Lin (5 H, 4 R in 1/3 IP before Roberto Casey entered) and the 4th-place finisher USA and Jeff Alkire (8 R, 6 ER in 5 IP before Eugenio Valdez closed it out). He got no run support in any of the games. He finished 0-3 with a 14.00 ERA, leading the Olympics in losses that year. The next Olympic hurler to drop three decisions would be Hitoki Iwase 16 years later.

In the 1998 Baseball World Cup, he was the old man on the Dominican staff, a year ahead of Pedro Ruiz. He struggled, going 0-1 with a 10.13 ERA and .410 opponent average, tying Mario Linares for the worst ERA on the team. He also played for the Dominicans in the 1998 Central American and Caribbean Games.

Sources include old IBAF website, 1992 Baseball Almanac, Olympedia page