McCarthy forfeits games, is fined

Ineligible players not used in postseason run

Archbishop McCarthy is facing stiff penalties after an FHSAA investigation found the school’s state champion baseball team fielded ineligible players who received impermissible benefits.

The Mavericks, the top-ranked team in the nation and winners of seven Florida Class 6A titles over the past eight years, was fined nearly $16,000, must forfeit all of its regular-season wins and will be placed on probation, according to findings handed down to school officials by the Florida High School Athletic Association.

McCarthy will retain its 2017 state baseball title since the ineligible players did not participate in any postseason contests, FHSAA spokesman Kyle Niblett said Thursday.

Archbishop McCarthy finished 29-2 in capturing its third consecutive state championship on June 3. MaxPreps.com on Wednesday announced the Mavs landed the No. 1 spot in its the composite national rankings.

During its investigation, which began in February following an anonymous tip, the FHSAA discovered three players received impermissible benefits, including housing and tuition assistance, from representatives of the baseball program.

Mike Sagaro, who runs the travel baseball program MVP Banditos and has a son on the Mavericks team, was named in the report as having provided illicit benefits to a number of players. An American Express card belonging to Sagaro was connected to tutition accounts of all three players, the report said.

Sagaro was also found to have provided improper temporary housing to one player when the athlete’s mother was working out of town.

Calls to Sagaro for comment were not immediately returned.

player told an FHSAA investigator that his father borrowed money from Laura Cenci, referred to as a representative of the school’s athletic interests, to pay for tuition. On Jan. 20, Cenci’s American Express card was used to pay $7,100 to the school.

Alex Fernandez, Archbishop McCarthy’s Director of Baseball Operations, emphasized the impermissible benefits were not related to coaches or the administration.

Fernandez says the team followed instructions from the school that the players in question could compete during the regular season. However, before district play, the administration advised them not to dress the players being investigated by the FHSAA.

“That’s when they told us that from then on it would affect the outcome [of the season if they were deemed ineligible],” Fernandez said.

“We took a chance [not dressing them] because they could’ve been ruled eligible, but we couldn’t risk it for the rest of the team. That’s why we chose that route.”

The school was hit with $5,000 fines on each player, $2,500 for playing an ineligible player and $2,500 for impermissible benefits. In addition, the FHSAA mandated that Archbishop McAnother Carthy must reimburse the FHSAA $947 for the use of its investigation.

In addition to the penalties handed down to the Southwest Ranches Catholic school, all three players have been ruled ineligible until Jan. 25, 2018, for receiving impermissible benefits.

Archbishop McCarthy, as an early corrective measure, informed the FHSAA it has implemented a policy on who may submit tuition payments for students.