Ocoee baseball wraps program best campaign with wins record

OCOEE — Things are looking up on the diamond at Ocoee High School.

A program that has struggled to gain a foothold in a loaded district with the likes of Olympia, West Orange and Apopka put together its best season to date in its second year under head coach Bobby Brewer.

Ocoee finished 18-9 this spring, setting a program record for wins in a season. Additionally, 2015 marks the first time the Knights have finished with single digits in the loss column, the first time Ocoee defeated West Orange, the second consecutive year the Knights have won a contest in district tournament play and the most wins for the program in a two-year span.

Three of the team’s seven seniors signed to play college baseball, with Brewer and assistant coach Sonny Wise optimistic they can find homes for a few more of their outgoing ballplayers.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad season for the Knights.

“There’s a lot of good things happening for us,” Brewer said. “We had some kids who had just phenomenal seasons for us. … Our pitching was good for us this year. We just struggled to get that big hit we needed to. We had nine losses this year, and five were one-run losses.”

One of the most profound changes that manifested itself as the season went on was a noticeable change in attitude toward the program, which in the past has been written off quickly by some of the area’s more established programs.

It’s the sort of thing that is apt to change when the Knights make strong showings — taking the top team in the nation, Olympia, into extra innings, for instance — and come to compete every day.

“That’s one of the biggest changes was from years past — I don’t think people threw those kind of guys at us,” Brewer said, noting that this season saw more teams throwing their best or second-best pitchers at the Knights. “The last two years, what these guys have been able to accomplish, it kind of sent a message. Just thinking your going to show up and beat us, I think that kind of went away.”

The team’s seven seniors, led by Bethune-Cookman signee Dylan Ivory, took a particular amount of pride in leading the way to the team’s best season yet.

“They grew up together playing Little League ball; they were a tight bunch,” Brewer said. “They were great kids — fantastic kids. They bought into what we were selling. … I really feel like they set a real good example for the younger kids in how to work at it. They took a lot of pride in the progress of the program the last two years.”

Collectively, they will be tasked with trying to build upon the program’s upward trend in 2016.

“Next year, we go to a different district,” Brewer said, noting the program’s move from Class 8A to Class 7A, where it plays in football. “I think that’ll be good for us because I think that we have an opportunity to step out and totally develop a new identity with different people. We have a bunch of kids, I think, that are proud to be from Ocoee and proud to say they’re Ocoee Knights.”

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].