Bash brothers: Family feeling powers upstart Leroy Greene into CIF NorCal championships

Jesse Russell had to play the bad guy one day this record-setting season.

The second-year baseball coach at Leroy Greene Academy in Natomas could not afford to arch his head, left to right, in watching balls soar over the fence, so he dialed down the fun because you can’t play the sport without a ball.

“It’s impressive what our guys can do, but I had to limit batting practice reps on the field because I was losing too many baseballs,” the coach said. “We lost three dozen baseballs because our guys can really hit.”

The upstart small-school Lions haven’t lost much otherwise.

In just its seventh year of fielding a team, Leroy Greene is an interesting storyline as a first-time league and Sac-Joaquin Section champion and a looming darkhorse in this week’s CIF Northern California Division IV Regional Championships. The Lions are 20-1 and have a 17-game winning streak, earning the No. 4 NorCal seed. They will host No. 5 Hillsdale of San Mateo on Tuesday and could draw top-seeded Sutter in a second-round game if the seeds hold up.

Leroy Greene expects to be around awhile, too. The team fields just one senior in utility Quentin Marshall, the roster anchored by two junior sluggers primarily responsible for rocketing buckets of balls in batting practice.

A 6-foot-5-inch infielder/outfielder/pitcher, Drew Perry is batting a remarkable .707 this season. He has 41 hits, 11 doubles, four triples, eight home runs, 55 RBI and 35 runs. Perry made state history earlier this season when he crushed two grand slams in one game.

An infielder/pitcher, Korey Ramson is batting .576 with 13 doubles, seven triples and one home run to go with 34 RBI and 37 runs. Ramson drove in two and Perry one while freshman Tyson Beyah had three RBI to power Leroy Greene past Argonaut 9-7 in the section D-VI title game at Islander’s Park in Lathrop. Junior Isaiah McKee struck out four in relief and Perry sealed it as a closer to set up the celebration.

“We had a double-play to end it, and I jumped out of my seat and ran to the middle of the field,” Russell said. “To see the joy in the faces of our players, it’s something that I’ll never forget. Everyone was through the roof.”

The coach added: “We have one senior, Quentin Marshall, and he graduated on Thursday. I told him he was going to walk across the stage as a section champion. After the game, he and the whole team mobbed and doused me with water. Drove home soaked but happy.”

Leroy Greene returned Perry from an 11-10 season and welcomed Alpha Charter transfers Beyah, Marshall, Ramson and Lamont Bufford. Alpha Charter, a 50-student school in Elverta, won championships last spring weeks before the school closed because of low enrollment and financial concerns.

Russell said everyone blended into a team of potential that became a champion. Sophomore Eddie Ames is batting .597 with 12 doubles and 24 RBI. McKee is hitting .369 with 16 RBI. Beyah is hitting .492 with 24 RBI. McKee is 6-1 on the mound and Ramson 5-0.

A graduate and later a coach in multiple sports at Rio Linda, Russell said: “We’re a family. We spend more time with each other on the practice fields and on game days than we do with our own families. We have a phenomenal group, a lot of support. When I was at Rio Linda, I learned from coaches like Jack Garceau and Mike Morris about family and team. We’re excited with what we’ve done and can still do.”