Somerset Academy Making A Name For Itself

No one in the baseball community mentioned Somerset Academy just a few years ago.

The charter school, surrounded by some of the top baseball teams in the county, has quietly developed into one of the top small-school programs in the county and can compete with the big boys just as well as it could the little guys.

Somerset won 16 games last year and earned victories in half of its District 4A-13 games, not bad when you consider the teams the Panthers were up against.

Coming into the this year, Somerset is expecting to pick up where it left off with a senior-heavy squad that gained plenty of experience last year. The team lost just one senior to graduation, Kida De La Cruz. There are 10 seniors this year.

“I think as of last season, people are starting to know about us a little bit more because we faced tough teams that we beat,” pitcher/second baseman Etienne Latour said. “I think people started to get to know us a little bit more. Oh, Somerset, we have to be careful with them.”

Latour said some of the success can be attributed to the strong team chemistry that has developed.

“This is a brotherhood,” he said. “Everybody here loves each other. We’re all hanging out with each other. Whenever we go out, we go out with everybody here. I just think its one of the most important things because if you have a team and they don’t like each other, they start playing for themselves. Nobody here is selfish. Everybody plays for the team.”

Panthers manager Onel Garcia has watched his program progress over the past few years.

“This is my fourth year here, and I feel we’re improving to a level where we’re very competitive,” Garcia said. “A lot of success is tradition and we don’t have tradition here, but people who have followed us here in the last couple of years know we’re a very competitive team and can potentially beat anybody on any given day. I think we’ve got it to that level. Baseball’s a game of levels and hopefully we can keep moving up levels.”

Chris Medina, last year’s top hitter with a .355 average, returns at first base. When he’s not pitching, Etienne Latour will man second. The Panthers picked up Marlon Romero from Mater Lakes to play short stop and will have John Ham back at third base.

The team will rotate catchers this year with Israel Santana and Jesus Espana alternating starts.

Mike Van Degna will play in left field and Yoni Rodriguez in center field. Luis Mercado, Trevor Takacs and Brandon Acavedo will share time in right field.

Pitching will be the team’s main strength as the whole staff returns. Acavedo will be the ace again this year after a strong junior season in which he went 6-3 with 63 strikeouts and a 0.93 ERA in 60.1 innings.

“Brandon Acavedo last year was phenomenal,” Garcia said. “Every single start, he went six innings or more. He keeps the ball low. He’s picked up some speed now. He can top it off about 88 mph now. He has a sharp breaking ball. He’s been working on the change-up. He’s a high-level kid, and some D-1 schools have shown interest. He hasn’t committed anywhere and no one’s really offered anything yet. Being a righty might have a little bit to do with it. I think he can definitely play college baseball. He covers the mound well, has a great pick-off move and throws strikes. He competes and can go long in a game.”

Acavedo said he’s most effective with his fastball and breaking ball.

“My role is to put zeros up and try to keep my team in the game,” he said. “I just keep the ball low and get grounders and let my defense work.”

The team’s number two is Latour, who went 3-4 with 51 strikeouts in 37.1 innings last year.

“[Latour] is a pretty good strikeout pitcher,” Garcia said. “He’s got a good fastball. He’s around 85. He has two different curve balls. They’re a little bit loopy. He kind of throws a hard one and a slow one. He went deep last year in a lot of games. We just didn’t hit a lot when he pitched. I don’t know why.”

Casey Garcia will be the number three starter with Ham and Takacs coming in for relief. The team hopes Matthew Moglevsky is healthy this year after being injured last year, and the Panthers added Hector Lora, a transfer from the Orlando area.

“Casey probably has the best curve ball on the team,” coach Garcia said. “He throws three different pitches and really mixes it up well. He’s developed a cutter.”

The Panthers will work to develop Ham into next year’s ace. He’s a player whom coach Garcia said he isn’t “afraid to bring him in at any time.”

With several guys who can throw the ball, pitching won’t be a problem, but an area that will need improving from last year is offense. Somerset hit .272 as a team last year.

“A lot of our focus is staying gap to gap, staying inside the baseball and being better hitters, being more aggressive at the plate and swinging at good pitches,” coach Garcia said.

The team has been working on small ball and situational hitting. The Panthers are speedy with five players who can steal a base. The team also has power, hitting 10 home runs this fall.

The Panthers have gotten a lot of swings playing a lot this fall, which is how Garcia approaches things.

“We schedule a lot of fall games,” he said. “I believe in baseball you need to play a lot. We condition a little bit now and play a lot. I know some people have different philosophies on that. I like playing a lot of games as long as you don’t overthrow pitchers and keep an eye on their arms. We’ll shut it down after Thanksgiving and just get strictly into conditioning at that point.”

All of that will have the team ready to go up against the likes of North Broward Prep, Coral Springs Charter, University School, Cardinal Gibbons, Chaminade-Madonna and Pine Crest, coach Garcia believes.

“I love our district,” he said. “At first, I wanted to play every team only once, but now I’m one of the guys who wants to play everybody twice because every game is a good game. There is no day off in our district. A lot of good teams, a lot of good coaches. Every game is definitely a battle.”

As if the Panthers’ district opponents weren’t enough of a challenge, they will face some tough non-district foes as well, going up against Mater Lakes, Doral Academy and Archbishop McCarthy in addition to Key West on the road.

“We feel we can compete with anybody,” coach Garcia said. “Our district is tough and our schedule we made a little tougher this year, so it’s going to be pretty hard to win 16 again. We feel we can do it.”

Acavedo said the team is using last year’s first-round district loss to North Broward Prep as motivation for this year. He said the team won’t be satisfied with a tough finish like that this year.

“I feel like we’re on the map, but this is the year I want to get past the district and get into regionals,” he said. “I want something for us to remember in a few years.”

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