Doral Academy baseball coach wins 500th career game

It all started more than three decades ago for Ralph Suarez.

In between then and now there have been an awful lot of wins for the Doral Academy baseball coach and last week marked a significant milestone.

When the Firebirds defeated Westminster Christian on the road last week 4-1 it was certainly a nice quality regular season win but it also marked career win No. 500 for Suarez.

A two-run homer by Matthew Corpas in the fourth and a solid pitching effort by starter Adrian Figueroa and Corpas, who relieved him in the fifth proved to be the difference in the game for Doral which improved to 19-6.

Win number one came all the way back in February, 1988 when Suarez took over as the head coach at Brito Private where he would remain until 2003, winning 396 games while leading the Panthers to four state titles (‘96, ‘97, ’99, ’02) along the way.

After spending 10 years as an associate head coach under Lazor Collazo at Gulliver Prep (winning the program’s lone state title in 2004), Suarez was hired to head up the Doral program in the fall of 2014 where he now has 104 wins.

“I wouldn’t be able to do all of this without the support of my wife and family that has stood by me throughout my career,” said Suarez. “Also my assistant coaches that have been there the whole way as well as (Doral principal) Carlos Ferralls for having me the last five years and giving me the opportunity and support.”

Softball regional schedule

From this point on, it’s win or go home.

High school softball regional action begins this week, with the large schools (Classes 9A-5A) playing their regional quarterfinals on Wednesday and small schools (Classes 4A-1A) playing regional semifinals on Thursday.

Here’s the game-by-game breakdown, separated by class. As a quick note, four district finals have not been played yet due to weather and will be listed as “TBA”

Class 9A quarterfinals: Cypress Bay (district 12 runner-up) at Monarch (district 11 champion), 3:45 p.m.; Stoneman Douglas (district 11 runner-up) at West Broward (district 12 champion), 4 p.m.; Coral Park (district 14 runner-up) at TBA (district 13 champion), 7 p.m.; TBA (district 13 runner-up) at Coral Gables (district 14 champion), 4 p.m.; Palmetto (district 16 runner up) at Ferguson (district 15 champion), 4 p.m.; Braddock (district 15 runner-up) at Coral Reef (district 16 champion), 4 p.m.

Class 8A quarterfinals: South Plantation (district 14 runner-up) at TBA (district 13 champion), 7 p.m.; TBA (district 13 runner-up) at St. Thomas Aquinas (district 14 champion), 7 p.m.; TBA (district 16 runner-up) at Cooper City (district 15 champion); Nova (district 15 runner-up) at TBA (district 16 champion), 7 p.m.

Class 7A quarterfinals: TERRA (district 16 runner-up) at Pembroke Pines Charter (district 15 champion), 7 p.m.; South Broward (district 15 runner up) at Doral Academy (district 16 champion), 7 p.m.

Class 6A quarterfinals: Goleman (district 16 runner-up) at Plantation American Heritage (district 15 champion), 4 p.m.; Archbishop McCarthy (district 15 runner up) at Miami Springs (district 16 champion), 7 p.m.

Class 5A quarterfinals: Pompano Beach (district 14 runner-up) at Lincoln Park Academy (district 13 champion), 7 p.m.; LaBelle (district 13 runner-up) at Coral Springs Charter (district 14 champion), 6 p.m.; Gulliver Prep (district 16 runner-up) at Monsignor Pace (district 15 champion), 4 p.m.; Mater Lakes Academy (district 15 runner-up) at Key West (district 16 champion), 7 p.m.

Class 4A semifinals: Florida Christian (district 8 runner up) at Chaminade-Madonna (district 7 champion), 4 p.m.; Westminster Academy (district 7 runner-up) at Westminster Christian (district 8 champion), 7 p.m.

Class 3A semifinals: Greater Miami Academy (district 8 runner up) at TBA (district 7 champion), 4 p.m.; TBA (district 7 runner-up) at Marathon (district 8 champion), 4 p.m.

Class 2A semifinals: Westwood Christian (district 8 runner up) at Glades Day (district 7 champion), 4 p.m.; Lake Worth Christian (district 7 runner-up) at Colonial Christian (district 8 champion), 5 p.m.

This story was originally published May 7, 2019 at 10:03 AM.