Sun Conference

STU HEAD BASEBALL COACH, JORGE PEREZ, PROMOTED TO ASSISTANT AD

10/3/2018 5:20:15 PM

By Jon Leatherman

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (Oct. 3, 2018) – Jorge Perez, the St. Thomas University (STU) Baseball Head Coach, has been promoted to assistant athletic director effective Oct. 1. As assistant athletic director, Perez will assist current athletic director, Laura Courtley-Todd in the operations of STU’s Athletic Department and will continue as the head baseball coach.

“Perez’s new leadership position is a testament to his hard work and dedication to building a competitive baseball program and overall mentorship to fellow coaches,” said Courtley-Todd. “His passion for excellence and community partnerships is a great asset to our university.”

STU has been a fixture in the postseason under Perez, reaching the Sun Conference tournament for 10 consecutive seasons, the opening round of the NAIA tournament for four consecutive seasons, and two of the program’s six NAIA World Series appearances.

Perez led the Bobcats to a historic 2018 baseball season, as the team broke the program record with 56 wins (the previous record was 54 wins set in 1998); won the regular season Sun Conference Championship, swept the Hattiesburg Opening Round; and appeared in the NAIA World Series. During this season, STU featured three first team All-Americans, and a second team All-American.

When asked about being promoted to assistant athletic director, Perez said “I would like to thank President Armstrong for this tremendous opportunity, and I look forward to helping our coaches as well as the student-athletes perform at a high level on and off the field.”

Perez started at STU during the 1999-2000 season as an assistant coach under Manny Mantrana. He went on
to become the head coach at South Dade Senior High from 2002-05, and Gulliver Prep from 2006-2008. Perez was hired by STU full-time, in 2008 as the University’s sixth head baseball coach. Under Perez’s leadership STU has seen tremendous success. Overall, STU has qualified for the NAIA Opening Round seven times in his 10 years. During the past four seasons, the Bobcats baseball team has had its most successful stretch in program history, having played for the University’s first-ever National Championship (2015), Opening Round championship (2016), Opening Round appearance (2017), NAIA World Series (2018), accumulating a 177-68 record and a .722-win percentage.

 Following the 2018 NAIA World Series appearance, Perez coached alongside Louisiana State University head coach and STU alumnus and STU Sports Hall of Fame member, Paul Mainieri ’82 with the team USA Collegiate National team. Perez and the rest of the Team USA Collegiate National team participated in games against the Coastal Plain League All-Stars, Chinese Taipei as part of an International Friendly series for the 18^th consecutive season, as well as the 42^nd USA vs Japan Collegiate All-Star series before traveling to Perez’s home country of Cuba for the 7^th annual friendship series against Cuba.

Since Perez took over as the Head Baseball Coach in 2010, St. Thomas has been a target of professional baseball teams for talent, as several of his players have gone on to play professionally. The professional Bobcats include: Joel Capote and Dane Stone (2012), Edwin Rolon, Ozney Guillen, Fernando Escarra and Ricky Claudio (2013), Edwin Medina, Emilio Ogando and Eddie Cody (2014), Jerry Downs, highest drafted NAIA player in 2015 First-year MLB player draft (2015), Ben Ancheff, Jose Gomez and Alex Viera (2016), Orlando Rivera, Michael Centeno and Brandon Valentin (2017) and Elih Marrero (first NAIA position player drafted in 2018 first-year player draft), Nelson Mompierre and Erne Valdes (2018).