The baseball program at Plant City High School dates back decades before Durant began its program in the mid-1990s, but the Cougars have had more success in recent years and have grown into a perennial power.
That’s something new PCHS head coach Mike Fryrear, a Durant alumnus and former player, hopes to achieve with the Raiders.
“I’m trying to teach these guys how to compete at a high level,” said Fryrear, who is in his first head coaching job after holding assistant roles at the college and high school levels. “Getting them to have a winning attitude is our focus.”
Fryrear took over a program with no real direction. For the PCHS seniors, Fryrear is their third head coach since becoming Raiders.
“We have a lot of structure this year,” said senior pitcher Keven Long. “It’s a lot stricter, and it’s really helping us focus and get the wins that we need to get.”
It’s that daily structure that has helped lead the Raiders to their position this season. They boast a 5-5 record in a competitive Class 7A District 8 and are in third place heading into next week’s district tournament, with a shot at regionals on the line.
“Right before I came here, the players were almost content with losing,” Fryrear said. “Now, they know we have a good team, they know we can win, and they’re happy now.”
Fryrear will lead his Raiders into battle against his alma mater at 7 p.m. tonight, at Plant City, 1 Raider Place. It will be a non-district, out-of-classification game, but both teams have something to prove.
BUILDING A FOUNDATION
Fryrear has been a part of a program trying to establish itself before.
“That team back in ’96 — when I was a freshman — really established what Durant is now,” said Fryrear, who played for the Cougars from 1996 to 2000 for coach Gary Graham, now an assistant principal at Newsome. “Not necessarily the talent level they have now, but the winning attitude we had.”
Fryrear noted Durant’s first game that year was against a talented Brandon team that featured Chone Figgins, a World Series champion (2002), MLB All-Star (2009) and MLB stolen base leader (2005), along with other talented prospects.
Fryrear also had plenty of talent on his Durant team, including current PCHS pitching coach Jeramy Gomer, Durant pitching coach Brent Franklin and Ryan Raburn, who now plays for the Cleveland Indians.
“We played Brandon at their place, and Jeramy Gomer was actually on the mound for us, and we beat them,” Fryrear said. “That was the stepping stone to get to the next level.”
That led to district titles, regional wins and individual successes for Durant players, including Gomer, who pitched for four years in the minor leagues after being drafted by the Cubs out of high school. A rotator cuff injury took him out of baseball, but he eventually found his way back to the Tampa area. He coached at Tampa Bay Tech and Armwood, before joining his old teammate at Plant City this season.
“After I got hurt, I was a little bitter and didn’t think I would get into coaching or back into baseball,” Gomer said. “After getting a call from coach Fryrear, I decided to come here and help out.”
Gomer is now responsible for developing pitchers, including Long, who is 4-2 with a 1.62 ERA this season.
“We’ve got a lot of talent,” Gomer said. “We just have to get these kids to have the right mentality every day.”
DEVELOPING A PROGRAM
After getting the job this summer, Fryrear wasted no time building his staff and bettering the PCHS program. He led efforts to improve the facilities at PCHS. He also got right to work with a conditioning program.
Fryrear saw he had plenty of talent on his team, but many of the players lacked the winning attitude he was used to during his years at Durant, playing at the University of North Florida and in the assistant coaching roles he held before coming to Plant City.
“The experience I had at Durant is something I’m trying to teach these boys,” he said. “The system was very strict and structured, but we had fun. These guys are really starting to buy into what we’re trying to do.”
It has been a slow and, at times, trying process, but Fryrear feels the team is headed in the right direction.
“It is more stress than I’ve ever had as an individual,” Fryrear said about being a head coach. “I thought getting my master’s in coaching in college was hard, but this has been one of the most difficult and daunting tasks. But, I love it. Getting these guys headed in the right direction — that’s what it’s all about.”
Contact Matt Mauney at mmauney@plantcityobserver.com.