Baseball: How Ocoee's seniors are changing the narrative surrounding the program

OCOEE There are several ways one might sum up the progress the baseball program at Ocoee High has made in recent years, progress that has been spurred in no small part by its current senior class.

Then again, Knights assistant coach Sonny Wise — who spent nearly three decades as the head coach at Apopka before taking up his role with Ocoee — might sum it up best with this simple observation: “They don’t throw their No. 3 guys at us no more.”

The “they” Wise refers to are the upper-tier programs in Central Florida, some of which Ocoee has defeated for the first time in the past three years. These programs, generally, are no longer content to start a No. 3 pitcher — or a pitcher who generally doesn’t throw as often or have as much experience — against the Knights. 

It is an unspoken compliment to the turnaround in the program’s ability to compete with upper-tier programs, and it has been ongoing for three seasons now.

The turnaround has included the program’s first wins against tradition-laden programs such as West Orange (last season) and Dr. Phillips (this season), a program-best 18 wins in 2015 and more notable firsts. 

It is the manifestation of the hard work of a senior class with the likes of Logan Cariglio, Noah Satterwhite, Matt Slaver, Garrett Butler, Andrew Bernstine, Jordan Brong and Trevor Daly — players who have been with the program all four years — as well as new-addition seniors such as Ryan Brewer. 

Their collective passion for the program melded well with the arrival of a new coaching staff for the spring 2014 season, led by former West Orange softball coach Bobby Brewer and Wise.

“They told us that we didn’t have to be this bad team that everybody thought we were,” Satterwhite said of Brewer and Wise. “They said, ‘You guys are going to be what you make yourselves to be.’”

The program took a big step toward that dream in 2015, finishing with an 18-9 record — a program-best in losses, also. During the Class of 2016’s junior season, there were glimpses of a vision players such as Cariglio had always had for the Knights.

“Those seven games (during a winning streak), the way we played and the way we interacted with each other, was the way I feel like we always should,” Cariglio explained.

The hope was that things would come together this spring, but things haven’t gone quite according to plan. Injuries have ravaged the Knights all spring, as has a flu bug that came at a particularly inconvenient time. Accordingly, Ocoee is just above .500 with a record of 12-11, though five of those losses have come in one-run ballgames.

Nevertheless, with the Class 8A, District 3 Tournament looming and to be played at home, the Knights’ seniors know they’re still one win away from the state playoffs.

“This year we’ve had our rough stretches and injuries and stuff like that, but I still think we’re in a good position to do what we want to do,” Cariglio said.

“They told us that we didn’t have to be this bad team that everybody thought we were."

— Noah Satterwhite

Such a playoff berth would be a first for the program, which never has advanced out of district play. 

“If you go back and look over the last three years that we’ve been here, we’ve done a lot of firsts,” Brewer said. “Everything we do is pretty much making history over here. We want to bring pride back to our program.”

Brewer credits his seniors with creating a culture where players are willing to put in extra work on off days — something that was not always the case.

“They want to be good, they want to be here, and they take ... pride in being at the ballfield,” Brewer said. “You have to run them away from the field now.”

Seniors such as Satterwhite still feel good about the condition they are leaving the program in, despite of some disappointing losses this season. A young core that includes some freshmen getting playing time with varsity has shown flashes of great potential.

“We’re going to be in good shape,” Satterwhite said of the program. “Four years of those kids in the weight room with Coach Hall and then out here with Coach Wise and Coach Brewer — they’ll be dangerous.”

Mostly, there is a sense of pride in establishing the program as a destination that kids playing in Ocoee Little League or area travel-ball teams will now look forward to playing for one day instead of a program they might have tried to find a way out of in the past.

“I get it, I get why they didn’t want to be here (in the past),” Brewer said. “But there’s no reason for that anymore.”

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].