More State Baseball Coaches of Year

State Medium Schools Coach of the Year Paul Martinez from Oakmont of Roseville talks to one of the other coaches during a game this season. Photo: Allene Salerno / Sacramento Bee.

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MEDIUM SCHOOLS STATE
COACH OF THE YEAR
Paul Martinez (Oakmont, Roseville)

The honors have come in fast and furious for the longtime Sacramento area coach, who has been at Oakmont since 2014 after previous baseball coaching stints at Rosemont of Sacramento and Del Campo of Fair Oaks.

The last two seasons for the Vikings and Martinez have been extra special. After the team won a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D4 title in 2023, it went one step further in 2024. The Vikings, who lost in the CIF NorCal D3 championship last year to Central Catholic of Modesto, beat the Raiders in this year’s D3 section final and beat them again to win the CIF NorCal D3 crown. The final record of 30-7, which included wins over several top large school programs, helped Oakmont be named Medium Schools State Team of the Year.

Martinez has already been selected as the Sacramento Bee All-Metro Coach of the Year, the West Coast Preps Sacramento Coach of the Year and this comes one year after he was inducted into the California Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He now adds State Medium Schools Coach of the Year honors to the resume. He’s the first from the SJS to get the honor since Rich Henning from Christian Brothers of Sacramento in 2017. The only other winner from the SJS since the honor began in 1998 has been Hondo Arpoika of Oakdale for 2008.

When he was at Rosemont and Del Campo, Martinez also was able to win a section title. The Sacramento Bee reported he is the first in section history to have three section titles from three different programs. He also has been in educational athletics for 29 years and is the father of Antelope High athletic director Jordan Martinez and Sierra College head softball coach Taylor Martinez.

This year’s team at Oakmont featured highly regarded junior pitcher Trevor Wilson, who ended 10-1 with a 0.92 ERA. The leading hitter was junior Tony Lira, who had seven homers, 31 RBI and a .404 batting average.

The one fact about Paul’s bio that floored us the most, however, is seeing he is a 1983 graduate of La Sierra High in Carmichael. That is a school that closed the following year, but six years earlier is where Cal-Hi Sports editor Mark Tennis took his high school graduation walk for the same school.

So from one former Longhorn to another former Longhorn: Congrats on a job well done.

Last 14 State Medium Schools Coaches of the Year: 2023 – Matt Mowry (Lake Balboa Birmingham); 2022 – Tony Nieto (Las Flores Tesoro); 2021 – Daniel Maye (Simi Valley Royal); 2020 – No selection (pandemic); 2019 – Pat Fuentes (Los Banos); 2018 – Ken Arnerich (Alameda); 2017 – Rich Henning (Christian Brothers, Sacramento); 2016 – Jeff Baumback (Redondo Beach Redondo Union); 2015 – Mike Mitchell (El Cajon Christian); 2014 – Ollie Turner (Torrance); 2013 – Wilmer Aaron (Gardena Serra); 2012 – Steve Vickery (Lakeside El Capitan); 2011 – Gary Remiker (San Diego Cathedral Catholic); 2010 – Rich Sciutto (Burlingame); 2009 – Bob Anderson (Lake Shasta Central Valley).

Scott Neal can now count three CIF Central Section titles at Chavez of Delano. His team this season also won a CIF SoCal regional crown. Photo: djuhsd.org.

Neal and the Titans played spoilers to a feel good story in Southern California with their 8-6 win in nine innings over Azusa in the CIF SoCal D5 regional championship. That school hadn’t won a CIF Southern Section title since 1983 before it came through this season and was looking to add its first regional title.

For Neal in his career, winning the last game of the season with a section title had been done before twice. When he was the head coach at Chavez between 2006 and 2018, the Titans earned CIF Central Section titles in 2015 and 2016. He resumed coaching the baseball team last season and also is Chavez High’s physical education department chair. Neal’s team won this year’s Central Section D6 title with a 1-0 win over Lindsay.

In the regional final, Azusa bounced back from a 4-1 deficit and tied the score at 6-6 with a run in the bottom of the seventh. In the top of the ninth, Miguel Ramirez and Jose Agredano had RBI singles for an 8-6 lead. Azusa went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

When the SoCal D5 bracket began, Chavez (22-12-1) was the No. 8 seed. But wins against South El Monte and Shafter, which like the championship, were both won in extra innings — 2-1 in eight innings and 4-2 in eight innings — put the Titans in the final. In fact, Neal and the Titans had to somehow figure out how to scratch out a run in 1-0 win in the quarterfinals of the section playoffs over California City, which had one of the state’s reported strikeout leaders, Blake Moore, who struck out 17 batters in that game.

Neal and his coaching staff were able to right the ship after a stretch in which the team lost six of seven games. The Titans finished with a 14-game streak and won all the close games after losing in close games early on.

The last State Small Schools Coach of the Year from the CIF Central Section was Jay Preuss of Kerman in 2014. The only other honoree from the section since the first year of selections in 2000 has been Bill Feaver of Fowler for 2001.

“I put a lot of work in, people put a lot of work in our program to build it up to what it is,” Neal said in a TV interview on KBAK after the team’s regional win over Shafter. “Now it’s getting recognition and it’s kind of fulfilling.”

Last 14 State Small Schools Coaches of the Year: 2023 – Stewart Peterson (Sutter); 2022 – Kurt Takahashi (Sacramento Bradshaw Christian); 2021 – Eric Lay (Colusa); 2020 – No selection (pandemic); 2019 – Greg Mugg (Sunnyvale The King’s Academy); 2018 – Mack Paciorek (Pasadena Poly); 2017 – Jim Cleveland (San Lorenzo Redwood Christian); 2016 – Troy Ghisetti (Arcata); 2015 – Nelson Randolph (Sacramento Capital Christian); 2014 – Jay Preuss (Kerman); 2013 – Gil Ruiz (Pacific Grove); 2012 – Greg Largent (Escalon); 2011 – Craig Schoof (Atherton Menlo School); 2010 – Glen Prater (Riverside Woodcrest Christian); 2009 – Brad Gunter (Roseville Valley Christian).