College players-to-be mull a lost senior season
Menchville High’s baseball players spent the fall and winter preparing for what they were confident would be a state championship run. Then their spring was “gone in the blink of any eye,” according to all-state pitcher and infielder Phil Forbes V.
Forbes V, a James Madison University recruit, will play again. So, too, will pitcher Tyler Davis (Virginia Commonwealth), shortstop Dawson Guzik (Lynchburg), third baseman Kody Abrisz (Louisburg), pitcher/first baseman Brandon
Rodgers (Louisburg), outfielder Austin Maxey (Patrick Henry Community College) and infielder Pablo Veras (Thomas Nelson Community College).
But, Abrisz and Rodgers aside, those seniors will never play together again. So, after years of travel ball with each other, a regional championship and consecutive state tournament berths, the loss of a senior season cut short by COVID-19 will forever sting.
The bad luck struck in March, on Friday the 13th to be exact. On the heels of two successful scrimmages, Monarchs head coach Phil Forbes III took the advice of athletic director
Greg Henderson and decided to give his players a rare Friday and Saturday off ahead of the Tuesday season opener because a few players weren’t feeling well.
“Then we didn’t return,” said Forbes III, whose Monarchs reached the 2006 Group AAA state final and won the 2009 AAA state crown. “That was hard because this was most likely the hardest-working group of young men I’ve had in 34 years of coaching baseball, and we’ll never know what we would’ve done.
“We’re left with what-ifs. I
think we would’ve won the Peninsula District, went to the regional final and (the Class 4) state tournament and gone a long way.”
Why not? With Davis — the hardthrowing, VCU-bound, left-handed transfer — joining Forbes V (8-0 pitching as a junior), the Monarchs had a 1-2 starting pitching combination among the best in Class 4. Rodgers (2-0 as a junior), Maxey (31 strikeouts in limited action as a junior) and others provided pitching depth.
Forbes V (.409, 30 RBIs, 21 walks), all-state selection Abrisz (.401, 22 RBIs, 22 walks), Guzik (.348, 20 RBIs, 18 walks), Maxey (.327, 15 RBIs), Rodgers (.301, 11 RBIs) and Veras (.500, 11 runs as a reserve as a junior) gave the Monarchs the nucleus of a powerful and patient batting order. Forbes III and his son, assistant coach Phil Forbes IV, placed the pieces together in a demanding but fun atmosphere.
“I love Coach Forbes (III) to death,” Guzik said. “I know I’ll have coaches in college that are hard on me, but Coach Forbes always knew when to press my buttons to make me go harder in every practice.
“It made me a better player and made the games easier.”
But, as Forbes III generously pointed out, it was his players’ work ethic, camaraderie and love of the game that fueled their success. It was built in golf and bowling outings, parent-player cookouts and parties, and frequent after-practice meals at Vinny’s Pizza & Pasta a couple of miles from the school.
From November to February, virtually all of the Monarchs trained together three days a week at nearby Aiga Performance. Under the watchful eye of personal trainer Leland Solomona, the Monarchs honed their strength, agility and footwork.
For Veras, who, like many of the Monarchs, takes extra cuts or fields extra grounders after many practices, it wasn’t enough.
“I love the game so much that I throw a baseball up in the air when I’m lying in bed,” he said. “It’s a great feeling to be on the baseball field, do what you love and have fun with your friends.
“It definitely makes me feel better to be playing (on the next level) and, with God’s will, things will go back to normal.”
Guzik agrees, but will miss the family atmosphere.
“I love my teammates and it sucks that I won’t have another year with those guys because they are my brothers,” Guzik said.
The lost season is a void that can’t ever be filled for the Monarchs’ seniors.
“I understand now why we didn’t play — to stop the spread and keep people safe,” Forbes V said. “I get it, but it does not sit right in my stomach because everyone deserves a senior year.
“A lot of people don’t achieve what they want to achieve until their senior year. The routine, the workouts, the sweat and the tears were all going to push us through this year.
“We’ve never worked this hard in our lives, so I wish we could do it all again and enjoy every day. I told my grandfather I’d rather have lost on a walk-off home run in the state final than to have not played this year.”