The difference between a good season and a great season is often the offseason.

Marian baseball coach Tony Radocha preached that to his team.Marian pitcher Joe Nahas proved that to his teammates.A year ago, Nahas was a good pitcher, on a good high school team, heading to a good Division 3 college to play baseball.But Nahas wasn't satisfied with good. He wanted more - and he got it.The 2016 season produced greatness for both Nahas and the Colts. It also paved the way to possible future success as his performance earned him a Division 1 scholarship to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County."Joe had a tremendous season," said Radocha. "But it wasn't an accident. It was well earned."His physical and mental preparation before the season and before each game were second to none. He worked hard to make himself better and the improvement was obvious."Nahas's numbers speak for themselves. He had a 6-1 pitching record, allowed just three earned runs all season (0.40 ERA), and struck out 82 batters in 53 innings. His dominant pitching allowed the Colts to pile up 20 victories and capture both Schuylkill League and District 11 championships.The numbers also helped Nahas capture the 2016 Times News Baseball Player of the Year award."I'm really thankful for the individual awards I received this season," said Nahas. "But that wasn't my goal coming in to the season We knew that we had the potential to do something really special as a team."I'm really proud of what we accomplished and how hard everyone worked to accomplish it. When you're on a team that enjoys as much success as we did, individual awards usually follow. I was fortunate to be surrounded by great teammates who made it possible for me to get this type of individual honor."But Nahas obviously had a lot to do with it himself."I've always been the type of player who worked to improve my game in the offseason," Nahas said. "But I think this past season, I might have seen the most improvement from that work. I think it was a case of a lot of little things adding up."Running, lifting conditioning ... I tried to push myself, especially since I was coming up on my senior year."Coming off a "good" 2015 season - Nahas compiled a 3-3 record on the mound and had a very solid 1.29 ERA - some players might have been satisfied.But Nahas wasn't satisfied and he made sure his teammates weren't either.The Colts had a "good" season, winning 17 games a year ago. But they came up empty in the postseason, falling in both the Schuylkill League and District 11 playoffs."As a senior and a captain, I felt that my teammates looked up to me," Nahas said. "I knew there was a lot of responsibility with that role and I did my best to live up to that."According to Radocha, Nahas did just that."Joe was a leader on and off the field," Radocha said. "When your best players are your hardest workers, it sets a great example for everyone else and that was the case with this year's team."It's also important that your best players deliver in the biggest games.Once again, that was an area where Nahas excelled. Because as good as he was during the regular season, he took that to another level during the playoffs."Joe was an incredible big-game pitcher," said Radocha. "He was great all season, but in the postseason he was almost unhittable."During the playoffs, Nahas tossed complete-game shutouts against Tamaqua and Tri-Valley in the league and district championship games respectively. He also pitched a scoreless stint of relief in the league semifinals against North Schuylkill and added a complete-game two-hitter in the opening round of the state playoffs against Christopher Dock. All totaled, In 23 2/3 innings of postseason pitching, he allowed just one run and struck out 35 batters.Offseason, regular season and postseason, there was one common theme for Nahas and the Colts - greatness.