Mouthy and mighty Terriers

They may glare, screech and butt heads, but at the end of the day, Hillsborough High baseball players and coaches are still just one big, slightly dysfunctional family.

By BRANDON WRIGHT
Published May 17, 2006

	[Times photo: Scott Purks]
	Hardly a wallflower, Hillsborough coach Pat Russo, often is a live wire during games.

TAMPA - Growing frustrated as the Terriers repeatedly left runners in scoring position with fewer than two outs against Venice in the region semifinal (five in the first four innings), coach Pat Russo, a hulking presence who looks like he belongs in an offensive tackle box instead of a third base coaching box, was fuming.

He groused.

He screamed.

He turned shades of purple.

Then things really got heated. With starter Joey Gildea at 100 pitches after the sixth inning, pitching coach Marcus Garcia told the senior his night was over. Russo balked at the idea, igniting a screaming match between all the coaches at the foot of the dugout. Players got involved, each stating their opinions - loudly. Enough profanity emerged from the dugout to make George Carlin blush.

Third baseman Chris Ramirez was one of those who wanted Gildea to finish out the seventh. As he stood by the on-deck circle, Ramirez yelled to the other side of the dugout: "If (Gildea's) coming out, you're going to have to find a new third baseman because I'm not going out (for the seventh)."

And all of this discord before the most important inning of the most important game in the Terriers' season.

"That's how we are: loud and aggressive," Ramirez said. "But every player on this team believes in each other and in the end, we'd do anything for each other or the coaches."

Just when it looked like Hillsborough might come unglued, Ramirez took his spot at third, reliever Kevin Williams pitched a scoreless seventh and three outs later, the Terriers were piled on top of each other by the mound, celebrating their 28th win.

"We fuss and fight amongst ourselves," shortstop Alex Cooks said. "But we're always ready to go to war with each other."

To the outsider, it's hard to imagine how the Terriers have any chemistry, other than a volatile one. But rather than tailor their in-your-face attitude to suit conventional theories on team cohesiveness, the Terriers have embraced their seemingly chaotic style and made it work. The proof is in No. 4 Hillsborough (29-4) reaching the Class 5A semifinal tonight against top-ranked Naples Barron Collier (28-3). It's the Terriers' first trip to the final four since 1980.

"Some people could not play for this team," Russo said. "If you're soft, you couldn't play here. We're all pretty thick-skinned."

Hillsborough's brash style may rub some the wrong way but there is an underlying sense of family - albeit less Leave it to Beaver and more All in the Family - beneath the bristly surface. When asked if the hard-nosed Ramirez would lay down in the middle of Himes Avenue for him, Russo responded, "No doubt. They all would."

To some, Hillsborough's style doesn't sit well. Here's what a column in the Venice Gondolier said after Hillsborough's win against the Indians:

"(Russo's) profanity-laced tirades would make a sailor blush. Venice should be proud it has a classy coaching staff that doesn't resort to using such salty language for inspiration." But Ramirez said Russo is the perfect coach - and ringmaster - for this wacky family circus.

"We need him to always stay on top of us and we feed off him like he feeds off us," he said. "He's always yelling and acting wild, but he's really a big teddy bear."

While Hillsborough's players and coaches rarely give each other a pass, the opposition never gets one. Leading East Lake 5-3 with Evan Huegel on third in the fifth of the region quarterfinal, Schurig struck out cleanup hitter Michael Papa and A.J. Caesar to end the threat. Schurig began screaming at the top of his lungs, crossing paths with Huegel and staring him down all the way across the field.

"We go into games like we don't know you and we don't want to know you," Schurig said. "This team plays on emotion."

But the Terriers don't just play on emotion - they rely on it. In a midseason loss against Blake, a program that has never had a winning season, the Terriers' omnipresent chatter was nowhere to be found.

"We were looking past Blake and we flatlined," Schurig said. "We were quiet in the dugout and not yelling at each other and (Blake). That was our wakeup call."

Since then, the Terriers have lost just three times, capturing the Saladino Tournament title along the way. And the Terriers, now two games from their first state baseball title since 1967, don't plan on changing their formula tonight.

"(Barron Collier) will be looking across the field at us like we're crazy," Schurig said. "But where it's a distraction for them, it's a focus point for us."

All games at Ed Smith Stadium, Sarasota.

$8 per session.

CLASS 5A

Hillsborough (29-4) vs. Barron Collier (28-3), 8 p.m. today

Final, 7 p.m. Thursday

CLASS 4A

Jesuit (24-6) vs. Miami Monsignor Pace (26-4), 5 p.m. Friday

Final, 7 p.m. Saturday

CLASS 3A

Jacksonville Episcopal 8, Miami Florida Christian 5

CLASS A

Brito Miami Private 4, Jacksonville Eagle's View 3

[Last modified May 17, 2006, 01:29:12]