Schools of Hard Knocks

By Stephen C. Smith
Publisher
February 20, 2010

 

The Florida Tech Panthers and the Brevard Community College Titans are the two college-level teams in the Space Coast.

One day, they might be giants.

Giants, Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, or one of twenty-six other major league teams.

Each June, Major League Baseball goes through an annual ritual called the amateur draft. Fifty rounds where each of thirty major league organizations select high school and college players.

Many won't sign. Most will never see the majors. A few will play in the big leagues. A very few will become stars known to the world.

But it all begins on amateur fields across the nation, and some of those fields are in Brevard County.

The Space Coast has thirteen high schools by my count, but only two colleges with baseball programs — Brevard Community College and the Florida Institute of Technology.

Florida Tech is in the NCAA Division II category, while BCC is a junior college two-year program.

BCC Titans players rake their infield before a February 14 game against Lake Sumter.

Major league life is pampered. Minor league life is hardly glamorous, but it's still a step up from college ball, where players balance their education and a part-time job with their baseball career.

Unlike the professionals, college players perform menial tasks such as maintaining their own playing field.

Before their February 14th game against Lake Sumter, BCC players were raking the infield to get it into playing shape after an overnight storm. Coach Ernie Rosseau drove a tractor in circles on the dirt, dragging a screen hoping to crush the clumps of clay.

Rosseau is a local legend in baseball circles. A 1969 graduate of Satellite High School, he played in the St. Louis Cardinals' minor league system in the 1970s, then was a minor league hitting instructor for various organizations. He's coached BCC baseball for a quarter-century, taking two teams to the National Junior College World Series.

Los Angeles Angels scout Tom Kotchman credits Rosseau with finding Howie Kendrick. Literally unknown to the baseball scouting world, Kendrick was playing second base for St. John's River Community College in Palatka. Kotchman, who's also managed minor league baseball for the Angels since 1984, asked Rosseau who was the best hitter he'd seen that year. Ernie told him about Kendrick, and the Angels selected him in the 10th round of the June 2002 draft. Today he's the Angels' starting second baseman, and many have predicted he may win a batting title one day.

Greg Berkemeier, the head coach at Florida Tech, doesn't have Rosseau's impressive résumé — yet — but then he's about 25 years younger than Rosseau.

Rosseau is old school, while Berkemeier is — well, newer than old school.

Greg graduated from Bowling Green in 1999 with a degree in Sports Management in 1999, then added a Masters Degree in Sports Administration in 2001. After a six-season stint as assistant coach from 2001 through 2007, he was named head coach for 2008.

Although unranked in national polls before their season, Florida Tech is off to an 8-1 start, including a thrilling 12-11 upset of #6-ranked University of South Carolina - Aiken on February 11. Click here to watch video highlights from the USC-Aiken game. Windows Media Player and a broadband (cable modem, DSL) Internet connection required.

Their first Sunshine State Conference game is February 26 against Nova Southeastern.

If you want to watch these games, they're open to the public.

The Titans play on the Brevard Community College campus in Melbourne near Wickham Road and Post Road. Click here for the Titans' 2010 schedule.

The Panthers' ballpark is on the Florida Tech campus in Melbourne south of New Haven Avenue near Babcock Street. I finally figured out that the only practical way to reach the field is to go south on Babcock from New Haven, past University Boulevard and look for a small side-street on your right called Engineering Road. Turn into that driveway and weave your way to the ballpark. Contrary to what maps show, Country Club Road does not go through to the ballpark, it's blocked off. Click here for the Panthers' 2010 schedule.

Mike Piazza (left) played for Florida Tech in 2009 and was then signed by the Angels. Taylor Jordan pitched for BCC and was then drafted by the Nationals.

The level of play certainly isn't major-league caliber. It's not minor-league caliber either, but it's one step below. For those of us used to the crack of the bat, the clank of aluminum is a bit unsettling. Metal bats inflate final scores, and discourage pitchers from throwing inside, a bad habit they have to lose should they turn pro.

If you attend a BCC or Tech game this year, you're likely to see someone who will be selected in the June 2010 draft. A year ago, you would have seen Taylor Jordan pitching for the Titans, and Mike Piazza pitching for the Panthers. Jordan was drafted by the Nationals and assigned to the home town team, the Gulf Coast League Nationals at the minor league complex in Viera. Piazza was signed by the Angels and sent to Orem, Utah, where his manager was the aforementioned Tom Kotchman.

Are they future major leaguers? That's for Fate to decide.

But if they are, you can say you saw them way back when they were humbly raking an infield before a game.