Miami Brito Setting Its Sights On Lucky Number Seven

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Sometimes the kids that come to Miami Brito do not understand the pressure and the winning tradition that the baseball program has for its school. The team has won six state titles, after adding the most recent trophy during a historic run of Miami-Dade teams at last year’s state tournament. For a young guy coming in or for a new guy coming over from another school, it can be hard to get used to such a demanding standard. But the Panthers would have it no other way.

Miami Brito is a special type of baseball program. Despite coming from a very small school and competing in Class 2A, the team operates like an 8A program. The Panthers play very competitive baseball, and they also play as tough a schedule as most any of the teams in 8A. They do not shy from tough opposition, and they battle to the very end of each game. Last season they faced all three of the other teams from Miami-Dade that won at states, and although they lost all three games they still know that it helped them playing such great teams.

It helped lead them to a state championship.

“Last year was definitely a good way to end in bringing back a state championship to Miami, along with the other three teams that won it in Miami-Dade County,” Assistant Manager Dave Fanshawe said. “It was definitely a great feeling and all of our hard work paid off in the end. I’m really happy for the group that was here and graduated, and their leadership was one of the reasons that propelled us to win the state championship. It’s just always good to end on a win.”

The team did not graduate a ton of guys, but it lost some key players all the same. The Panthers need to replace a shortstop, a centerfielder and also a guy who hit 13 home runs in the middle of the lineup. They also lost a lot of leadership. But the club is confident in the key guys that return, and those guys know what it is like to be there and how to get there. They have good guys in place and a good group of guys coming in.

Brito looks particularly strong on the mound. Hector Garcia started the title game last season, while Marco Bolanos has been the ace and go-to guy for several years. Newcomer Christian Crowe has joined the team after moving to the area from Naples, Richard Nunez is another starter from the state championship, and JC Valdes is a returning veteran who missed last year due to injury. There is depth on the mound and a good defense behind them, the keys to success for the Brito program.

Fanshawe admits that they put a lot of pressure on guys during practice. They have versatility in multiple positions and last year they had different guys in different spots that they weren’t even prepared for, and they stepped up in big-time situations.

“We are big on defense, because pitching and defense wins games,” Fanshawe said. “I think our defense definitely got us to the state championship game and in that big regional final game against Zion Lutheran. We do have a lot of versatility in this lineup, and we have a lot of position players who can also pitch. It’s good to have but it’s also hard to manage them late in the game. You have to make sure you don’t burn the wrong guys in key moments.”

Each starter will also factor into the defensive alignment on days they are not on the hill. Veteran Onelio Perdomo and Mater Academy transfer Jordan Gonzalez will share time behind the plate, while Michael Fanshawe and Brian Lavistida will be key guys in the infield defense too.

“I am very happy to get Julio Gonzalez’s position and I am very happy to play on this team,” said Richard Nunez, who will be the regular shortstop when he is not pitching. “Defense is a big part of our game and in practice if we don’t do good on defense we don’t deserve to hit and we keep doing defense. We have to earn it. We practice very hard and it is like a game. We get in the routine and everybody is talking and everybody is loud, and we have to deserve our positions.”

One guy who has long-since earned his spot with the team is Marco Bolanos, a six-year starter who is finally entering his final high school season. Bolanos is a guy who sets the standard for this group, while also reminding the younger players that responsibility to produce can come at any age. Bolanos has contributed in a growing role for years, and several other underclassmen also started for the Panthers last season too.

Fanshawe jokes that people always ask him if Bolanos is ever going to graduate. But now his senior year has come and the last guy who was on the roster for both the team’s last two state appearances is finally nearing the end of his time with them.

“I started playing my seventh-grade year and I played with Manny Machado and a lot of other great seniors who graduated, and I have learned a lot through the years,” Bolanos said. “It’s now my turn to teach the younger kids, and they respond pretty good. I am just teaching everyone and getting everyone to learn what they taught me since I started playing. It’s my last year and I’ve got to get the best out of it.”

Bolanos will move on to play for Miami-Dade College next year, and he is grateful that he is able to go there as a state champion. He knows the only thing that could top that is to go to college as a two-time state champion. Bolanos knows they have the team to do it, and he admits that the team plays so passionately thanks to the influence of their manager, Pedro Guerra.

“Our coach is the one who really pumps us up and motivates us and that is why we come out here and do a good job,” Bolanos said. “Winning states was one of the best feelings of my life so far and I am really happy for that. It’s already been my second time there, but we lost the other one. So it feels great and it was a really nice experience.”

Coach Fanshawe tells his guys that they have a big bullseye on their back now, and that everybody is out to beat them. They are a small school that nobody wants to lose to. They have scheduled their traditionally tough opponents such as Mater Academy, Miami Springs and Doral Academy, as well as competing in the HSBN March Madness Spring Break Tournament. Fanshawe is hoping they will be able to come back and build confidence from the pressure they faced to win it before, and that they can perform that way again this year. The second one is always the tougher one to achieve, but everybody on the club wants to get back there.

“We like that challenge and we like that competition,” Nunez said. “The goal is to win back-to-back state titles and that is what we are working for.”

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