Brian
Cain appreciates a strong challenge, and time after time this summer
and fall, his elite San Diego Show travel ball organization rose to
confront any that came its way.
During
the first week of July, a challenge presented itself at the East Cobb
Complex in Marietta, Ga., when the Show won five playoff games over
1½ days – including wins over the mighty East Cobb Braves 17u in
the semifinals and the East Cobb Yankees in the championship game –
and won the PG WWBA 2011 Grads or 18u National Championship.
In
late September a similar challenge reared its head, and the Show beat
520 Elite 18u one run in the semifinals and the San Diego Gamers by
two in the championship game to capture the title at the Perfect
Game/EvoShield National Championship (Upperclass) at Salt River
Fields at Talking Stick near Scottsdale, Ariz.
That
championship allowed the San Diego Show to join the East Cobb Braves
17u and Marucci Elite as the only teams to win two Perfect Game
national championships in 2011.
But
winning on the field isn’t the biggest challenge Cain and his
associate Hector Lorenzana face each year. Cain wants the Show to
maintain its level of championship excellence while also using
Perfect Game events to secure college scholarships for the prospects
he puts on the field.
“I
like where we’re at and I see the light at the end of the tunnel,”
Cain said in a recent telephone conversation with Perfect Game.
“People tell us ‘You can’t. You can’t get that kid a
scholarship. You can’t make that player better.’ But we’ve
always been baseball first, and anytime somebody says we can’t,
that’s like flipping a switch. We take it personally.”
Cain
has worked in the construction business for more than 20 years, and
has also coached baseball at the junior college level and served as
an associate scout for the Atlanta Braves. He started the San Diego
Show organization 10 years ago.
The
Show’s 18u and 17u teams are annually ranked in the top-10 in PG’s
National Travel Team Rankings; the 18u squad is No. 3 and the 17u
team No. 8 in the most recent rankings. Previous San Diego Show teams
that featured No. 1 overall draft picks Stephen Strasburg and Bryce
Harper were always highly ranked but they never left Marietta with a
national championship.
The
Show squad that won the WWBA 18u National Championship with a 9-0-1
record featured a roster peppered with 2011 prospects, including
tournament Most Valuable Player SS Phillip Evans from Carlsbad,
Calif., and MV Pitcher RHP Jake Reed from La Mesa, Calif.
Evans
was 9-for-22 (.409) with seven RBI at the tournament, and signed with
the New York Mets after being selected in the 15th round
of the 2011 amateur draft. Reed allowed only one earned run in 12 2/3
innings (0.63 ERA) with seven strikeouts, and won two games and saved
two others.
Cain
called winning the WWBA 18u National Championship one of the most
gratifying moments in San Diego Show history, highlighted by the wins
over the two powerhouse East Cobb teams in the semis and championship
game.
“That
last out at East Cobb was something special. There was a lot of hard
work crammed into just a few weeks,” Cain said. “I knew I had all
the pieces of the puzzle and our kids were extremely confident. Not
cocky but extremely confident. I knew I had guys that would be
leaders on the field for me.
“My
guys had to persevere through a lot and they did it with flying
colors,” he continued. “When you’ve got a group like that when
baseball means so much to them, a lot of time you just throw a ball
out there and try to stay out of the way.”
Five
prospects that were on the WWBA 18u championship team also played on
the PG/EvoShield National Championship (Upperclass) title team. They
were Perfect Game All-American 3B/SS/RHP Corey Oswalt of San Diego;
RHP/INF/OF Michael Martin of San Diego; 3B/OF Fernando Perez of Chula
Vista, Calif.; OF Nick Ruppert from La Mesa, Calif.; and SS/3B/RHP
Bobby Zarubin of San Diego.
Oswalt,
Perez, Ruppert and Zarubin are all in the class of 2012 and had
committed to UC Santa Barbara, Central Arizona CC, Dartmouth and
Stanford, respectively, at the time the PG/EvoShield tournament was
held. Martin, ranked 133rd nationally in the 2013 class,
is uncommitted.
Josh
Estill, a stocky 5-foot-10, 185-pound C/3B from Carlsbad, Calif., was
named the MV Player of the PG/EvoShield National Championship
(Upperclass) after an eye-popping seven games at the plate. He
finished 14-for-20 (.700) with six doubles, one triple, seven RBI and
eight runs scored, and recorded an on-base percentage of .727 and a
slugging percentage of 1.100.
“It
was fun to come out here and play in Arizona,” Estill said after
the championship game, seemingly unaffected by the triple-digit
temperature and the searing mid-day Arizona sun. “We were tired and
it’s 100 degrees, but I like hitting in the heat. We could be
playing in 72 degrees – San Diego heat – but this is fun. We got
it done out here.”
Zack
Wilkins, a 6-2, 185-pound right-hander out of Scripps Ranch High
School in San Diego, was named the tournament’s MV Pitcher after
throwing 10 innings of six-hit ball with six strikeouts and a 2.10
ERA. He too enjoyed his time in Phoenix and seemed unaffected by the
heat.
“It
was a great experience,” Wilkins said. “We played well and we
played as a team and I just thought everyone bonded real well up
here. And I’ll throw in any weather. I just go out there and do my
best and see what happens.”
Another
standout on the WWBA 18u squad was RHP John Gamble of Escondido,
Calif. C/1B Jesse Kay of Encinitas, Calif.; MIF Kevin Newman from
Poway, Calif.; and MIF Gosuke Katoh from Poway all played well at the
PG/EvoShield event.
Perfect
Game All-American 3B/SS Trey Williams from Suagus, Calif. – the
nation’s No. 11-ranked overall prospect in the 2012 class – was
listed on both rosters but didn’t participate in either tournament.
“We
have a good, tight nucleus of about 14 or 15 guys who really don’t
miss much,” Cain said. “I don’t know if Michael Martin has
missed a tournament for three years … and that pays off. Guys being
out at all these events, and the recruiters and the scouts get to see
them day in and day out, time and time again, it just increases their
chances of getting drafted and recruited.”
And,
as one quick look at these standouts’ home towns indicates, Cain
doesn’t have to look far to find exceptional talent.
“We
attract good players and most of them are local,” he said. “Our
guys are consistently from in-town … and that’s kind of cool
because in this day and age you see a lot of guys calling players
from all over the country. If you look at the top 15 or 20 programs
around, I bet most can’t say that 95 or 98 percent of their players
are from their town. And we can hang our hat on that.”
Cain
made an arrangement with Ron Slusher from the Ohio Warhawks to send
most of his star players to Jupiter, Fla., to play in the PG WWBA
World Championship under the Warhawks nameplate.
In
the end, 11 players from the Show wound up playing for the Warhawks
in Jupiter: Estill, Martin, Oswalt, Perez, Ruppert, Zarubin, Gamble,
Kay, Newman, LHP Stephen Gonsalves of San Marcos, Calif., and RHP Ian
Clarkin from San Diego. Gonsalves is the nation’s No. 1-ranked
left-handed pitching prospect (No. 8 overall) in the class of 2013.
The Warhawks finished a disappointing 2-1-1 in pool-play and didn’t
advance to the playoffs.
The
San Diego Show organization plans on fielding 15 teams in 2012 for
kids ages 7 through 18. The program just added the 7 through 13 age
groups two years ago.
“Every
level is extremely competitive and they’re all winning,” Cain
said. “They believe in what we’re doing and that’s the key with
younger players. If they buy into the system, the system’s worked;
the system’s worked for 10 years. So if you buy into it at a young
age and trust in what we’re doing, when they get to high school
they’re going to be far ahead (of other players).”
Cain
hands of a lot of the credit to Lorenzana, his partner in the
operation.
“He’s
the guy behind the scenes making a lot of stuff happen and he’s
covering my rear end,” Cain said. “He operates in the background
and he’s the unsung hero out of all this. He kind of gets the short
end of the stick and he probably doesn’t get the credit that he
deserves.”
The
Perfect Game tournament championships the Show won in July and
September will be what most outsiders comment on when the
conversation turns to the 2011 season and the San Diego Show. It is
an accomplishment Cain is justifiably proud of, but there is much
more involved.
“I’m
very pleased with the two national (championships) this year, and if
we didn’t have a good chemistry with some of the outstanding
players that we have,” it wouldn’t happen, Cain said. “It’s
nice to see a plan come together, but you can never do it without a
great group of kids. Let’s be real – they’re the ones that
play. I only give them the thoughts they need to have to focus in the
right direction. I don’t get in their way, I don’t micro-manage
and I let them play like they’re big-leaguers. There’s a mutual
respect that happens when you treat kids with that kind of confidence
and respect. …
“I
would say, all around this has probably been our most successful
year, and we’ve had some very good years,” he concluded. “The
big one for me is almost every one of my players has gotten a
Division I scholarship. More than the wins and the accolades, it’s
what we’re doing for the players. I got into this thing 10 years
ago because I knew I could help players fulfill their dreams.”
Just
don’t tell the Show they can’t do something.