Even without a final state run, Coral Reef seniors left a legacy ‘that will last forever’
Shawn Perez still gets goosebumps when the memories from last season resurface.
The late rallies. The upset victories. Making history with each postseason win.
Proving doubters wrong as the Miami Coral Reef baseball team made its unexpected march to the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 9A state championship game.
“It feels great to be part of something that will last forever,” Perez said.
That was the goal all along.
Three years earlier, before they took their first swings or threw their first pitch at the high school level, Perez and the rest of the Class of 2020 knew the mission they were about to undertake. They were set to become the first freshman class under new coach Chris Leon.
Leon’s goal was simple yet ambitious: Turn a Coral Reef baseball program with little track record of success into a contender. This first group of freshmen would be paramount to that success. Twelve players who were there from the first practice the summer before the 2016-17 academic year remained by the time their senior year came around.
After two years of trials and tribulations, two years of setting the course right, Coral Reef reached its highest point in 2019: A 19-11 record, the school’s first district and regional baseball championships, a state runner-up finish.
It was a turning point for the program, a moment of validation.
“Last year was something that you can say is very special,” Leon said. “It’s a history kind of movement, but they were very, very determined on going back to state.”
They never got that final opportunity.
The Coral Reef baseball team’s season, just like the seasons of every other spring sport in Florida, came to an abrupt, inconclusive end due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Barracudas were 6-2 and a perfect 4-0 against district opponents when the season stopped.
Their final game was a 7-2 road win against Ferguson on March 13.
“We went into that game thinking it was our last game because of everything,” said catcher Sebastian Jimenez, one of Coral Reef’s captains each of the past three years. “They didn’t announce it at the time, but some of us were assuming it already. We were prepared for the news that was going to come. When it came in, it wasn’t a surprise, but we were still disappointed because we thought we had a good shot at doing what we intended to do and finish what we started at Coral Reef.”
‘It was a family’
Leon recognizes how his dozen seniors formed the backbone of this team over the past four years. Each took a different path to get to where he is now, but they shared a common bond of doing what was needed to help the team succeed.
“They’ve been the ones who bought in since they were the young freshmen who were just eager to get involved in high school baseball and then eager to impress their first-year coach,” Leon said. “They knew we were changing the culture here. Everybody’s fighting and competing for jobs so they were very excited.”
There were the instant “ballers” like Jimenez, who quickly became a highly touted recruit because of his offensive pop and stellar defense. The 6-4 catcher, who led Coral Reef with a .338 batting average and five home runs in 2019 and was hitting .370 in the shortened 2020 season, is heading to Florida State in the fall where he has a chance to see early playing time for the Seminoles.
There was the one-two punch on the mound in Patrick Roth and Sammy Cheng. The two had combined to throw 36 of the Barracudas’ 53 innings this season, held sub-2.00 ERAs (Roth 1.52, Cheng 1.62) and were on the mound for most of Reef’s big moments during their 2019 playoff run. Roth is going to play at Miami-Dade College, Cheng at Penn State Dubois.
There were the steady producers in Perez, shortstop Michael Ogden and outfielder Vinny Becking. Like Jimenez, all three carved out roles on the team as freshmen and held onto them for all four years. Perez, an outfielder and pitcher, will continue his career at FIU. Becking will play at King University. Ogden, who was hitting a team-best .400 this season, is still looking for a college.
Infielder Rudy Rodriguez and pitcher Michael Bonet will play collegiately at St. Thomas University.
And then there are the guys like Matthew Schull, Matthew Tabanero, Peter Larzabal and Anthony Masso who had to work their way through the system and adjust their roles to crack the roster.
Tabanero, a second baseman the first three years of his career, moved to the bullpen to get playing time. He threw two scoreless innings during the team’s February trip to Georgia as part of the Battle of the Borders tournament. Larzabal, previously a catcher, also moved to the mound to get playing time. He threw four scoreless innings this season and earned the win in their district semifinal against Southridge last season that started the playoff push.
“I appreciate the players buying in when they did,” Leon said, “finding ways to accommodate to help the team. They knew that holes needed to be filled in different ways in this program to help us where we were lacking.”
But the senior class’ chemistry extended beyond their time on the diamond. They ate lunch together practically every day for four years. They spent who knows how much money after practice at the Chicken Kitchen a couple blocks from the high school. They went on fishing trips together.
“It wasn’t just wake up, go to practice and never see each other again,” Perez said. “It was a family. That’s what we were. That’s what we are.”
‘The goal was clear’
It didn’t take long for players to buy into what Leon was selling. He had a decent pedigree for success, winning state titles as a high school catcher for Florida Christian in 2004 and 2005 and being a four-year stater at Barry University from 2008-2011.
He was direct with his players. He made it known from the start that the best players, regardless of experience, would get the most playing time. That meant veterans could lose their jobs if they didn’t perform.
“He immediately changed the culture,” said Roth, whose older brother Matt also played at Reef. “So much more intense. The goal was clear. Everyone just wanted to go after it and prove people wrong.”
Year 1 was the adjustment period. The Barracudas didn’t qualify for regionals but played more competitive than they had in previous years.
Year 2 showed improvement. Reef advanced to the district finals and had a berth in the regional tournament for the first time since 2003. The postseason was short-lived, though, with the Barracudas’ season ending with a 3-1 loss to Columbus in the regional quarterfinals.
Year 3 was when everything began to pay dividends. They had a veteran roster and a knack for the impressive. After an up-and-down season overall, the Barracudas won their first district title in school history and came from behind in four consecutive games to reach the Class 9A state championship where they ultimately fell 1-0 to Sanford Seminole High School on a home run that barely cleared the fence at Fort Myers’ Hammond Stadium.
“It’s awesome to know that the long days, the four- and five-hour practices, the Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 or 3 in the afternoon paid off,” Roth said. “Just glad that everyone bought in and made it happen. I can’t imagine that if one person pulled us in an opposite direction that we could do even half of what we did last year.”
Year 4 will go down as incomplete, especially for the seniors who were part of the process since Day 1. Instead of celebrating their senior day at the field they played at for four years, the team met on a Zoom call. Instead of one final chase at a state title, they wondered about what could have been.
“It’s disappointing,” Jimenez said. “It’s high school baseball. Everyone wants to win a state championship ring. I think it would have been amazing to do it with the group of brothers that I have with everything we’ve been through together, with the history of Coral Reef, us always being the laughingstock of our district. It would have been amazing. Now, it’s out of our control.”
‘We’ve got a squad’
In the moment, as the playoff run unfolded last year, Coral Reef took the cliched game-by-game approach.
“Coach always told us to never look at the bigger picture,” Perez said. “Just move on to the next game. It wasn’t ‘when we get to state.’ It was ‘when we get to the next game.’”
But looking back, different people around the program referenced different moments as to when it clicked that they were really about to pull off the impossible.
Jimenez pointed to a loss at Southridge during the regular season, one that pushed them into fifth place in their district. After the game, Jimenez recalled, Leon looked at his dejected players and held up a roll of toilet paper, telling them they can use it to wipe away their tears.
“That sparked a fire,” Jimenez said. “Let’s do this for us. That’s when we all came together.”
Roth cites their 13-12 walk-off against Killian five games later. Reef scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to clinch the win.
“Once we started rolling,” Roth said, “we weren’t going to stop.”
For Leon, the moment came right before the district tournament in a conversation with the late Angel Herrera as they waiting to find out if they made the GMAC baseball tournament.
“Hey, don’t write off Coral Reef,” Leon remembers Herrera saying. “Coach Leon’s got those guys playing well. They’ve got some good boys over there.”
Leon had heard feedback from around the county throughout the first three years at Coral Reef. Palmetto’s Danny Smith and Columbus’ Joe Weber quipped about the Barracudas’ newfound competitive edge. Westminster Christian and Florida Christian became interested in scheduling regular games against Coral Reef.
But the message from Herrera, one of Miami-Dade’s most well-respected high school coaches who spent time leading the Miami Christian, Killian and Ferguson baseball programs, took Leon aback.
“I was very humbled,” Leon said. “I told him ‘Thanks, I appreciate it.’ But in my head I thought ‘Damn right. We’ve got a squad.’”
That squad left a legacy and set the foundation for the future of Coral Reef baseball.
“I don’t know who else will make it to state, but now they have something to strive for,” Perez said. “Instead of just making it to state, the goal is going to be to win state now. That’s the new tradition here at Coral Reef.”
More senior standouts
▪ Plantation American Heritage was the top-ranked team in the state and started the season with a perfect 10-0 record. Seniors Gio Ferraro (.586 average, 17 RBI, seven doubles, four home runs), Gavin Casas (.500 average, five RBI, nine runs scored) and Enrique Bradfield (.367 average, 10 RBI) paced the Patriots’ offense. Bradfield, a Vanderbilt commit, is ranked as the No. 104 prospect in the 2020 MLB Draft, according to MLBPipeline.
▪ The Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons Chiefs, led by seniors Timmy Manning, Ryan Lansdale, Gabe Rodriguez and Mike Sarakinis, were 9-1 this season and ranked No. 13 in the state. Manning, a left-handed pitcher and University of Florida commit, is the No. 144-ranked prospect in the 2020 MLB Draft.
▪ The Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders were 9-2 and ranked 24th in the state. Senior Mikel Cuvet, an Emory-Riddle signee, paced the Raiders offense with a .514 batting average, 13 RBI and four home runs.
▪ Miami Christian, the defending Class 2A state champions and the only South Florida team to win a state baseball title last year, had 10 seniors on its roster this year. Pitcher Alejandro Rosario, a University of Miami commit ranked as the No. 72 overall prospect for the 2020 MLB Draft, headlines the group.
▪ Five others are listed among MLBPipeline’s top-200 draft prospects: Miami Westminster Christian pitcher Victor Mederos (a Miami Hurricanes signee), Braddock third baseman Yohandy Morales (UM signee), Parkland Stoneman Douglas third baseman Coby Mayo (UF signee) and Miami Monsignor Pace shortstop Sammy Infante (UM signee).
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 11:45 AM.
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