Belen Jesuit Has The Right Foundation In Place

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Expectations are pretty high right now for the Belen Jesuit Wolverines. Last season a nice young team showed a lot of promise and made the coaches proud with how they played the game. This was capped by young hurler Pablo Arevalo emerging as a legitimate ace with a dominant campaign. Heading into the spring season the returning veterans are playing like kids with experience, and they are going after it.

Belen Manager Jerry Albert does not like to focus on long-term goals. Every team has the same overall goal of winning a state title, and the Wolverines focus on taking it day by day. Albert encourages them to accomplish what they’re trying to do that day and win the game at hand. Make the kids as good as they can be individually and then the team will become as good as it can as a team. When it comes time to competing, every time they step on the field their goal is to win.

“We definitely believe we are good enough to compete with and beat anybody that we’re going to have to play this year,” Albert said. “They have great energy, which is nice. There is no substitution for playing with a high level of energy and aggression. I think last year we did a lot with kids that might have been a year away offensively, so now returning all those kids they look more comfortable to play and they look more confident when they’re playing.”

The biggest difference the players have shown this year is in their confidence level. The kids are actually playing like they expect to be out there and they expect to be winning. Albert is glad to see they are playing how the coaches like for them to play, with a little reckless abandon. They tell the guys to just go out there and attack and be aggressive and don’t worry about making mistakes, to play hard and let the rest come to them. The club is growing confidence in bunches and coming together like they know they must.

“We had a really strong year and this year I think we can build off of that,” senior pitcher Michael Gomez said. “It was a real fun year and all the guys came together. It was one of the strongest bonds that I’ve ever been a part of. We didn’t really lose much from last year and I think we have already started off at mid-season form. We’re going to be a team to be reckoned with this year.”

Gomez has transitioned strictly into being a pitcher only this season, and he appreciates the strong team he has behind him in making it a smooth adjustment. The Wolverines are very strong in the middle infield, even despite graduating their standout shortstop Alex Cabrera this year. The fielding is crisp and the guys want the ball hit to them.

“It’s awesome because it is something that you need,” Gomez said. “You are not always going to make a perfect pitch, and when you do you need them behind you to make plays. Defense is what wins ball games and wins championships. We believe in each other 100%. When I am on the mound I don’t think twice about throwing fastballs because I know my defense is behind me. We’re going to make plays, we’re going to get run support and we just have each other’s backs. If one of us makes a mistake we always come and tell him to get them next time. It’s a good bond.”

The players take things seriously. Practices are old-fashioned in regards to discipline and repetition. Coach Albert believes guys get better by doing it and not just talking about it. The squad does their drills and repeats them under a high intensity level in practice so that when it comes to the game they know what to expect because they’ve been there before. Guys learn how to execute under duress and make it the norm.

Leadership is essential to get all the players to understand the discipline and focus that comes with practices and game execution. The Wolverines are fortunate to have many leaders who set the tone in the dugout, and chief among them is senior catcher Marcos Perez. The veteran backstop is a natural leader and a take-charge kid who plays aggressively. His motor is always going and he is a talker, and the coaches are grateful for the way he leads the ball club.

“I feel like leadership starts off with the catcher. The catcher has to tell everybody what to do and if something goes wrong it is the catcher’s fault,” Perez said. “It is the most important position on the field, and without a vocal catcher the team will not be as successful and as organized in knowing what they have to do. It’s a very tough job and all my teammates respect me, they all listen to me and they pay attention to what I tell them. We are going to have a really successful year this year.”

Perez understands how important communication is, especially coming from the guy who can see the entire field all the time and who is working with the pitchers. He is mindful to communicate with guys all throughout the games, helping with the adjustments that are needed to get everybody working in the same direction at all times. The guys listen to what he has to say, as that is something he has earned from them.

“Everybody respects me and they know that I’m always going to try to make them the best player they can be,” Perez said. “It starts off at practice. I just try to be a good teammate and a good friend and make sure I can make everybody the best player they can be, including myself.”

Albert understands that everybody has to show up every day and show that they really want to win and be a great team. So far it has looked really good in the fall. Many of the veterans have set the same good example as Perez, and each in their own ways. Michael Gomez is a quieter guy but one who sets a great example, while Lorenzo Laurita is a very hard-working guy and Julio Galvez is a very fiery kid. The main thing is that they all do it and it is not just talk.

The Wolverines had a successful year last season, and also competed in the 6A district that ultimately crowned the state champion in Mater Academy. While Albert does not feel this necessarily adds any fire to a friendly district rivalry, he does feel that it brings it a little closer to home that wthey too are capable of doing what Mater was able to do last year.

“There are probably four teams in our district that could go on through the classification and get to a state championship,” Albert said. “It’s very there within our grasp and I think the kids realize that. Everybody would love to be the last team with a win, and you know there is only one team that goes home with a win at the end of the year. We’d love to be that team and there’s no reason why we can’t if we put in the work.”

Making it just a little bit easier and a whole lot more comfortable to put in the work is the new baseball facility that the team unveils this season. Newly constructed and standing along the third baseline the team now enjoys perhaps the most premiere clubhouse for all high school baseball programs in South Florida. It still blows Albert’s mind that this came to be, and he is very grateful for how generous people can be and how happy they are to help the program once they see that they can trust them.

“For a team to have this is even better than most colleges, so it’s pretty special,” A;bert said. “It came to be with the input, the donations and the generosity of about half a dozen terrific people around here, all of whom which to remain anonymous. They are all super people and are just incredibly generous. We’ve never asked anybody for a nickel; we’ve just had people come that ask what they can do.”

This minted new clubhouse is something special, and the players are thrilled to be the first team that gets to enjoy it. It is a true baseball clubhouse, something they can call their own, and a place where they can improve the team bonding.

“We are very blessed to have this building they just constructed for us,” Perez said. “Not any other school out there has such a great facility as Belen does. It’s honestly a blessing to play here as a Belen Jesuit Wolverine. At the end of this year we’re going to have a blast. We have a pretty good team, we work hard and with this luxurious building that we’ve got we’ll be able to have a fun senior year for us seniors.”

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