After finally winning a state championship, North Broward Prep baseball team seeks encore
It was a state championship nearly two decades in the making.
Brian Campbell, a Kentucky native, came to South Florida in 2002, taking a job as a North Broward Prep assistant coach. After four years in that role, Campbell was promoted to head coach, and he led the Eagles to the state semifinals in 2011 and 2014.
Finally, in 2021, the Eagles earned the first state title in program history, winning six straight elimination games to take the Class 4A championship. The first five of those wins were by one run, including three of them in extra innings.
“We won because I had a dedicated group of guys who were tight-knit and came up through the program,” Campbell said. “Usually, when I arrived at practice, they had already been there 45 minutes, working in the cage and taking ground balls. They didn’t want to lose.”
This year, the Eagles are in Class 3A, which includes reigning champion Orlando First Academy as well as Westminster Christian, Monsignor Pace, Gulliver Prep and Calvary Christian.
The Eagles’ top talent this year is 6-7, 220-pound senior Yoel Tejada Jr., a Florida Gators recruit who stars in right field and on the mound.
Tejada, who has been committed to Florida since his freshman year, hit .379 with 16 extra-base hits and 28 RBIs in 30 games last season. As a right-handed pitcher, he went 6-0 with a 1.06 ERA.
“He’s a switch-hitter with power,” Campbell said. “As a pitcher, he’s up to 96 (mph) and consistently at 92 to 94.”
There’s a chance Tejada gets drafted in the top three rounds and never makes it to Gainesville. But Tejada – whose parents are both Cuban-educated doctors – is a 3.9 student and would seemingly have no trouble fitting into college life if that’s his choice.
Beyond Tejada, the Eagles have added Calvary Christian transfer Jonathan Xuereb, a senior shortstop and right-handed pitcher who has signed with Appalachian State.
“His (curve) is electric,” Campbell said. “He’s a very good defensive shortstop, and he’s up to 90 on his fastball.”
Junior second baseman Mauricio Bejarano, who transferred from Monarch, will bat at the top of the lineup and has a scholarship to Eastern Kentucky.
The Eagles have four switch-hitters in their lineup: Tejada, Bejarano, sophomore third baseman Gian De Castro and senior center fielder Clancy Marsh.
On the mound, there’s Tejada, Xuereb, sophomore Riley Luft, who got the win in the state final last year and also plays outfield; and sophomore Ryan McPherson, who can throw 93 mph and has committed to reigning national champion Mississippi State.
Beyond North Broward Prep, here’s a class-by-class look at baseball in the county:
CLASS 7A
▪ Douglas, the reigning state champs in 7A, are ranked third in the nation by MaxPreps. The Eagles lead the state with nine college signees among their senior class. And, among Eagles underclassmen, four of them have already committed to Division I colleges.
The Eagles have three players who could go fairly high in the 2022 MLB Draft: center fielder Roman Anthony, who has signed with Ole Miss; and pitchers Jake Clemente and Chris Arroyo, who both signed Florida. Anthony is the nation’s 29th-best prep prospect, according to Baseball America.
▪ West Broward, which went 20-5 last season, has a trio of D1 recruits, all of them seniors: third baseman Derek Bermudez (Florida State); first baseman/pitcher Sebastian Perez (Miami); and catcher/outfielder Dean Guzman (Stetson).
Bermudez hit .286 with one homer. Perez, a 6-4 and 220-pounder, went 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA. Guzman led his team in the triple-crown stats, batting .472 with three homers and 17 RBIs in just 13 games.
▪ Taravella (19-5) returns seven starters from a team that won its district and reached the regional finals. The Trojans have 16 seniors, including Hurricanes signee Chris Scinta (6-2, 0.95 ERA); pitcher/outfielder Jacob Smith, a transfer who signed with Pacific; third baseman Vincent Samuel (Indian River recruit); first baseman Aris Rivera; and catcher Matt Rubin (Indian River).
▪ Western, which went 18-10 and reached the. regional semifinals, is led by a trio of seniors: first baseman Sean Kaelber, catcher Kristian Noriega and pitcher/third baseman Enrique Sierra. Junior shortstop/pitcher Luis Lorenzo and sophomore outfielder Aiden Andreu are other players to watch.
CLASS 6A
▪ St. Thomas Aquinas, which went 21-4 and reached the regional semifinals last year, will be led by a pair of young pitchers: junior Noah Greenseid (1.96 ERA) and sophomore Anthony Ciscar (2.18 ERA). Senior outfielder Derek Rahim (.338) is a top hitter, and senior Vincent Mingarelli is a valuable infielder/pitcher.
CLASS 5A
▪ American Heritage, which finished 17-6 and reached the regional semifinals last year, made a coaching change. Bruce Aven, who led Heritage to a state title in 2012 and ran a highly successful program for the past decade, is now the school’s athletic director.
The new coach is his former assistant, Mike Macey, and the team is loaded.
Senior Brandon Barriera (2-0, 0.00 ERA in 16 innings) is the nation’s seventh-best prep prospect and a lock to be drafted in the first round, according to Baseball America. Barriera has a scholarship to Vanderbilt that he will likely never use due to the draft.
Heritage also has several other senior stars: outfielder Ray Bermudez (Hurricanes recruit); pitcher/outfielder Erik Blair (Florida); pitcher Evan Dobias (Virginia); and pitcher Brandon Gonsalves (UCF).
With four D1 recruits on the mound, Heritage will be tough to stop.
▪ Archbishop McCarthy went 21-9-2 and lost in the state final to Mosley, 9-2.
The McCarthy Mavericks lead Broward with. seven state titles – all of them from 2010 to 2017 – but they haven’t quite been able to add to that total since Austin Vorachek took over as coach.
Now in his fifth season as Mavericks coach, Vorachek has a team led by junior shortstop Antonio Jimenez, a Hurricanes recruit since his freshman year.
“I think Antonio is the best defensive shortstop in South Florida,” Vorachek said. “He hit .349, and it could’ve been higher had it not been for a hip injury.”
The Mavericks also have junior pitcher/infielder Andrew Ildefonso, the reigning Florida Player of the Year in Class 5A. He has offers from Rice and Dayton after a sophomore season in which he went 10-1 with a 2.40 ERA. He also hit .388 with 11 doubles.
Pines Charter transfer Justin Lebron, a junior who can play anywhere, has drawn scholarship interest from Nicholls State. He has grown four inches – from 5-10 to 6-2 – over the past year.
The Mavericks also have junior catcher Noah Alburquerque, who hit .438; senior outfielder Max Loyello, who is getting recruiting interest from Davidson; junior right-hander Nico Gutierrez-Villa, who had a 2.40 ERA; junior right-hander Connor McShane, who has an offer from FIU; junior outfielder Ryan Hunter, who has an offer from USF; and freshman second baseman Danny Machado, who has played for Team USA.
▪ Pembroke Pines Charter, which went 12-13 and reached the regional quarterfinals, will be powered by senior outfielder Yulian Gaston, junior right-hander Augusto Calienes and senior Riley Bambino, a pitcher/second baseman.
CLASS 4A
▪ Cardinal Gibbons is looking to bounce back from a 9-15-1 season. The Chiefs should be solid with seniors such as shortstop Aidan Hernandez and outfielders Preston James and Brice Montiel.
CLASS 3A
▪ Calvary Christian won state titles in 2016 and 2018 under coach Alan Kunkel. Since then, Kunkel has prospered in college coaching, currently as a UAB assistant. Gil Morales succeeded Kunkel, but 2022 brings a new coach, Wayne Rosenthal. As for the top players this year, junior catcher Kingsley Guthrie leads the way. Sophomore shortstop Alejandro Vazquez and senior second baseman Abraham Rosenbloom are other players to watch.
▪ Pine Crest, which struggled to a 2-19 season, returns left-hander/outfielder Antonio Correa, who signed with Lafayette College.
This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 10:03 AM.