Unless you happen to follow high school sports, especially over the past decade, you cannot fully understand how tough it’s getting to even qualify for the state championships - in any sport.
Just when some schools had taken a different approach to fulfilling their goals at the end of each season, it has become harder to do.
With teams switching classes every two years, not having the same opponents have required much more out of coaches who have a news set of teams to worry about.
Nowadays there is simply no predicting if a team will get tripped by a hotter team on the way to state. Take the two teams who made it out of the BCAA to Port St. Lucie for this week’s State Baseball Championships.
When the season began, those who follow high school baseball closely, deemed the Flanagan and St. Thomas Aquinas had the talent, but perhaps there were other schools in the area who would get the pre-season hype in 6A and 5A.
For Flanagan and coach Ray Evans, the state appearance should come as no real surprise. Evans and the Falcons have been down this road before, and for that reason, this should have been a team that fellow coaches should have chosen early on.
Great coaching, players who compete at the highest level and nothing is larger than what this team has faced in the past, being a national power.
The Falcons have Geoffrey Jimenez (SR.-CF), Kyle Schmidt (JR.-C), David Gonzalez (SR.-3B), Collin Martindale ( SR.-2B), Gabby Aurrecoechea (SO.-OF), Justin Machado (SR.-RHP), Adam Quiles (SR.-RHP), David Thompson (SO.-RHP), Keil Conway (1B/RHP), Matthew Figueroa (JR.-INF), Alfredo Lozada (JR.-OF), Matthew Beauchemin (JR.-DH), Carlos Lopez (SO.-1B/LHP), Robert Collin (JR.-OF), Ricky Santiago (JR.-SS), Pichi Torres (SR.-OF/RHP), Corey Janson (SR.-C), and junior first baseman/left handed pitcher).
RAIDERS GET IDENTITY
For the past three years, this St. Thomas Aquinas baseball program, under veteran coach Robert Lawson, has been searching its own identity. This year, everyone knew this team!
After a slow start, the Raiders used power, speed, great pitching and superb catching to unseat rival Nova, beating the Titans twice during the season.
St. Thomas, which has had plenty of success over the years, felt that this could be the year that they made a serious run - at least getting out of South Florida and making it to the state final 4.
Among the players making a difference this year for the Raiders include Dillon Rose, Edmund Mussa, Vinnie Mauro, Charlie Cormier, Luke Guarnaccia, Keith Collins, Carlos Asuaje, Brandon Barnes, James White, Brandon Barnes and Chris Rogers to mention a few that has made the success possible this.
You can reach Larry Blustein via e-mail at FloridaKids1@hotmail.com. He can also be heard every Thursday night (9-10) on the Miami Dolphins High School Gridiron Report on WQAM (560 AM). |
