7A District 13 Preview

Coming off a historic 2015 season Jensen Beach looks continue to improve and make that final push to the state tournament.

Jensen Beach is coming off its most successful season in school history, a run that saw the Falcons hosting their first regional championship ever. But early in the fall season second-year manager Corey Cooke began to see some bad habits forming and he decided to bring his 10 seniors together to discuss it. He reminded them this season will be the one that defines this group’s time at Jensen Beach, and not what last year’s team accomplished.

“I sat down with them and reminded them how hard they worked to get where we were last year,” Cooke said. “They had a fire in their bellies and they were ready to prove everybody wrong, and we have to find a way to get that again. Being a new coach I do not know for sure, but I think that is the struggle with a lot of teams that have had success is to get that fire again that you had the year before. I think it refocused them and we had a better ending to our fall than we had a beginning, and that was really positive.”

Success brings recognition and also puts a target on your back. Fellow district opponents Martin County, Okeechobee and South Fork are all familiar foes who know them well and are not intimidated by them. Each has also enjoyed its fair share of success during their own history, and taking down the Falcons could potentially jump-start any of them on a similar playoff journey.

The process to prepare for the district challenge will be similar for all for teams in this district, as all of them have a tough and competitive non-district schedule. The teams should be challenged by all the tough offenses and dominant pitching they will see, and the one that improves the best against this stiff competition could find that to make all the difference in the end.

Jensen Beach – Team Page
2015 Record: 22-6-1
Manager: Corey Cooke
Coaching Staff: John Durham, Larry Sweazey, Mike Moulten, Ryan Vasquez, Justin Vasquez
Key Returners: Thad Blankenship, Fernando Pineyro, Zachary Gottfried, Ryan Rivera, Hunter Schoch, Lyon Richardson, Braeden Ogle, Zachary Miller, Angel Pardo, Angelo Palmieri,
Newcomers: Reagan Hearn, Sam Oliver, Wade Walton, Sean Menendez, Shawn Blake, Donald Amador, Taylor Higgins
Team strengths: Pitching

After last year’s success, all the kids talk about is getting to the Final Four and beating last year’s team. The expectations and the bar are set pretty high, and the entire Jensen Beach community has started to take notice. While second-year manager Corey Cooke is thrilled with the buzz, he is mindful to remind his guys to focus on each day and improving on that day just like they did last season.

“Every single teacher I see on campus or anybody that starts talking about the baseball team is saying that hey we are going to bring home the state title this year. I am like, ‘wow that is a pretty high bar’ and joking with them,” said Cooke. “But really, in reality it would be a disappointment if we did not reach at least to where we did last year. With the new districts shuffling around and with the new classifications I think it looks even harder to get there, but I don’t really want to look at that. I just want to grow and get better and make another run at it.”

The team has put together its toughest schedule possible in hopes to see lots of good pitching. Cooke stresses on putting the ball in play with contact hitting, and he draws a lot of reference to the success the Kansas City Royals had by winning the World Series last year behind solid, fundamental baseball. The key to that success is to avoid strikeouts, work the count and put the ball in play. Most important of all is for the guys to have the same passion and fire that drove them before.

“Baseball is a game and you don’t want to be stressed out and take everything to heart,” said Angel Pardo. “You just want to play your game and have fun and you want to win.”

Whereas the offense set the table for the club last year, this season it expects the pitching staff to do the heavy lifting. The team has a lot of depth on the mound, with sophomore Lyon Richardson and seniors Braeden Ogle and Wade Walton at the front of the rotation.

*Also in district: Martin County, Okeechobee, South Fork. Reports unavailable.

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