After a respectable 17-13 season finish in its first season of existence as a program in 2009, the ASA Baseball Team came back with a bang in 2010. The team finished with a 31-12 overall record including a number of team highlights for the season. The Avengers ended the regular season with a 27-10 win-loss record, with key wins against Region XV powers, Nassau (Division III) and Monroe College (Division I). Between March 13, 2010 and May 2, 2010, the Avengers were only defeated six times in thirty-one tries. That strong effort during the regular carried over into the post-season where the team would go head-to-head against conference rival, Monroe College in a three-game Region XV Division I championship series. Despite dropping the final two meetings with Monroe towards the end of the regular season, the Avenger bats would come alive in Game 1 of the series, winning in dramatic fashion by the score of 13-12. Game 2 proved that ASA had the right to move on to the Region XX championships in Hagerstown, MD, as freshman lefty pitcher, Michael Avila (Glendale, NY/Aviation H.S.), tossed eight solid innings to get the 12-4 win and series sweep. The title would allow the Avengers to move on to the Region XX tournament, with the winner advancing to the Eastern District Championships against the winner of the North Carolina and South Carolina conference winners. ASA would make a strong push to the championship round of the tournament, winning two games against Chesapeake and #1 seeded host, Hagerstown, before falling to Potomac State in heartbreaking fashion 12-11 in the finals of the tournament..... More
As ASA's first head baseball coach, Francisco Perez brings with him a reputation for winning and a talent for imparting his own passion for competing on to his players. Throughout his years coaching players ofa wide range of ages and abilities, Perez has shown a knack for energizing teams and turning them into winners.
Before launching the ASA program, Perez was the head coach at Globe Institute of Technology where he took the Knights from a 9-21 recordthe year before he arrived to playing .500 ball and advancing to the finals in the 2008 NJCAA regional playoffs in his first year coaching the team.
In addition to his commitment to ASA, Perez is the director of baseball operations for the NY Gothams, a respected youth program he's headed since the organization's inception in 2000. Over the course of eight seasons with the NY Gothams, the teams he's coached have amassed an impressive 371/129 win loss record. His tournament wins are numerous and highlighted by three national championships, including the 16U ECTB National Championship in 2006, the 16U AAU National Tournament in 2003 and the 14U AAU Disney World Championship in 2002.
In addition to team wins, over 15 of the NY Gothams players that Perezhas coached have been recruited to play for colleges including Fordham College, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Wake Forest, St. John's College, University of Michigan and Wesleyan University. Ten have been drafted by professional teams and the entire organization is especially proud of the Milwaukee Brewers 2008 call up of catcher Angel Salome, who works out with the NY Gothams in the off season and also helps to coach some of its players.
Before joining ASA, Perez directed the baseball program for Trinity School, an academically top-ranked private school located in Manhattan. Unfazed by the team's 50-plus-year championship drought and an unimpressive 1-12 win loss record posted in the year prior to his arrival, Perez create a program with a focus on individual player development and within four years brought home the Independent Schools State Championship.
More than just a coach, Perez knows personally what it takes to compete in the game at its highest levels. At the age of 17, he attended Hill College on full scholarship and was recruited by the Seattle Mariners organization. For two years he was a middle infielder in the Mariners farm system, followed by a year with the New York Yankees. He then played in two independent leagues before transitioning into coaching. Perez has placed a priority on maintaining ties with the many coaches and organizations with which he has contact over the course of his years playing the game.
During the summer of 2009, Marshall Shimasaki was hired as ASA’s assistant baseball coach. Coach Shimasaki comes to ASA with a number of years coaching youth baseball on the travel and AAU circuit. For the past four years, he has been affiliated with the NY Gothams, a premier travel baseball organization where he worked with Coach Perez as an assistant coach/team administrator. During two of those years, Shimasaki served on the organization’s board of trustees.
With many years of experience in private business, Coach Shimasaki will bring his knowledge of organization and management to an already successful baseball program. As Coach Perez’s assistant, Coach Shimasaki’s responsibilities will include recruiting, overseeing the team’s strength and conditioning sessions, practice and in-game coaching, and heading the team’s academic monitoring program.
