Maverick Players of the 2011 squad showing off their National Championship Rings.
The newly-crowned national champion Archbishop McCarthy Mavericks baseball team celebrated and received their rings at Tuesday’s “Dinner-on-the-Diamond” at AMHS. The event was a sell-out event with over 250 Maverick family members and fans in attendance and the ceremonies were co-hosted by “The Voice of the Mavericks” Carlos Guzman and Head Coach Richard Bielski.
It was the second consecutive year that the Mavericks hosted a “Dinner-on-the-Diamond”, which has now become a new tradition at Archbishop McCarthy to celebrate championships.
USA Today HS Baseball Coach of the Year for 2011 Bielski addressed the huge and rare accomplishments of this team, and was quoted as saying, “To be a champion, you must work like a champion. This 2011 team succeeded both on and off the baseball diamond. The Maverick players understood that their success stems from their hard work and determination. Like any great program, Maverick Baseball stresses the importance of leadership, respect, togetherness, and the will to ‘never quit’ and ‘always finish strong.’ Strong academics and proper conduct are a must to play on this team and the players understand that at Archbishop McCarthy, school comes first.”
This National Championship team included 9 seniors, all of whom were leaders, played and starred all 4 years of their baseball career at Archbishop McCarthy High School. The developmental process led by the Maverick coaches has been a key part of the rise of the team.
Since the end of the season in May, Alexander Fernandez (San Diego Padres) and Jose Brizuela (Cinncinnati Reds) were selected in the June Major League baseball amateur draft. Both have decided to go to college and pursue their degrees while playing college baseball, Fernandez to Miami and Brizuela to Florida State. The other seven seniors are also attending college as well, Chris Thompson, Eric White and Ivan Santos at Florida Gulf Coast, Christopher Guzman at Florida International, Garrett Kennedy also at Miami, Steve Martin at Broward College and Danny Muniz at Miami-Dade College.
There are also a number of returning varsity Players in the 2012 senior class who have committed to college baseball scholarships and signed letters of intent: Andre Martinez to Florida State, Adam Duarte to St. Thomas University, Nick Travieso to Miami, Jason Morozowski and Nick Basto to Florida International and Ryan Castellanos to Illinois.
Bielski concluded, “Although their personal achievements were remarkable and commended, our Maverick baseball players’ main goal was to succeed as a team and succeed as a team they did, capturing yet another state championship title, and we couldn’t be more proud of them. They say that there is only one thing harder than winning a championship and that is defending one.”
The Mavericks did just that in the greatest final game imaginable defeating another national powerhouse team while facing the top-ranked 2012 player in the country in Lance McCullers dashing Tampa Jesuit’s state title hopes for the second straight year.
