2017 Perfect Game High School Preview Index
It’s been 27 years since future Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer Chipper Jones wore the Orange-and-Blue of The Bolles School Bulldogs and more than four years since he ended his brilliant, 19-year, story book career with the Atlanta Braves.
But legends live-on forever, so it should come as no surprise that the young men who are seniors – or even underclassmen – at Bolles in 2017 speak reverently of the 44-year-old Jones, a first-round pick of the Braves out of Bolles in the 1990 MLB June Amateur Draft. Consider the thoughts of 18-year-old senior third baseman/left-handed pitcher Clemente Inclan, for example.
“It does hit me sometimes,” Inclan told PG recently when asked what it’s like to put on the same high school uniform Jones wore back in the late 1980s and 1990. “It’s really cool to think that I’m playing on the same field that he used to play on, and seeing him a few years ago when his (Bolles) jersey number was retired, that was just really cool.”
That’s the kind of history and tradition that the young members of Bolles’ baseball program – and just about every athletic program and academic program at the school – are surrounded by every day. Notable alumni of the college prep school located in Jacksonville, Fla., include not only former big-leaguers like Jones and Rick Wilkins, but NFL, NBA and NHL players, Olympic Gold Medalists and prize-winning actors, authors, journalists and musicians.
The Bulldogs’ baseball program, under the direction of head coach Mike Boswell, is coming off a 2016 season during which it won the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Class 5A state championship, the school’s seventh overall but first since 2010. The program ranks among the best in the entire Perfect Game High School Florida Region.
The baseball state championship was the seventh and final one captured during the 2015-16 school year at Bolles, joining those won by the girls’ and boys’ swimming, boys’ basketball, girls’ cross country, girls’ soccer and girls’ track and field teams.
“We do talk about expectations and we expect every year to be able to challenge for state championships,” Boswell told PG during a recent telephone conversation. “Seven was the best-ever, so that’s not the norm, but we – the whole athletic department – strive to be the best and we work to be the best. …
“Every sport has that goal to be a state champion but if that doesn’t happen, it’s not like you’ve had a down season,” he continued. “It’s about doing the best you can and at the end of the day, as long as you’re doing the right thing, we’re going to be proud of you.”
Boswell was an infielder/outfielder who the Chicago Cubs drafted in the 31st round of the 1987 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Palm Beach Community College in Lake Worth, Fla.; he played two seasons (1987-88) in the minor leagues before retiring.
He served as Bolles head baseball coach from 2004-08 before assuming the role of head assistant coach in 2009-10 while his son, Bo Boswell, was went through the program. Mike wanted Bo to enjoy the experience without having to worry about his dad being the head coach, so former big-league right-hander Storm Davis took over as head coach for a couple of seasons.
Boswell re-assumed the head coaching duties in 2011 and recently added his son Bo as an assistant coach for this season. It’s just another example of how everyone at Bolles seems to work together in a cohesive effort to achieve the best possible results.
“Within our athletic program with all the (different sports’) coaching staffs, we all get along, we all work hard and we all cheer for each other,” Mike Boswell said. “Most of our athletes are dual-sport athletes, and the culture here is that we’re one big family.
“No matter what sport it is, we all get along and we all have that ultimate goal (of making the kids outstanding citizens) … and we have great talent coming through here, too, so that certainly helps.”
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THE BULLDOGS OPEN THEIR 2017 SEASON ON VALENTINE’S DAY at home in Jacksonville, Fla., but 10 miles east of their San Jose Campus at Sandalwood High School. Boswell brought this 2017 group together for the first time in the fall, and was pleased to see that the younger players who had to watch and follow the events of last season were more than ready to step-up and become team leaders.
It is a young team that will set out to defend their FHSAA Class 5A state championship, led by the senior Clemente Inclan (PG No. 309-ranked, a North Carolina signee), junior infielder Austin Knight (No. 344, Tennessee), junior outfielder/middle-infielder Max Ferguson (top-500, Tennessee), junior corner-infielder/right-hander Nate Skinner and super-duper sophomore left-hander/first baseman/outfielder Hunter Barco (No. 7, Virginia).
While the Bulldogs graduated four of their top hitters from the 2016 squad – Bryce Newman, Austin Henson, Ty Smith and Hamp Skinner – and their staff ace in Hamp Skinner, the young guys coming back are ready to take over: Inclan hit .300 with a team-high four home runs and 23 RBI and Knight hit .310 with two home runs and a team-high 27 RBI last season.
And then there is the 6-foot-4, 195-pound Barco, one of the class of 2019’s top two-way players. Although the recently turned 16-year-old is a sophomore this season, Boswell considers him a team leader. He played in 16 games as a position player and made 13 pitching appearances as an eighth-grader in 2015, showing his tremendous promise even as a 14-year-old.
He dazzled during his freshman season, particularly on the mound, where he finished 12-0 with a 0.54 ERA, and 89 strikeouts and 17 walks in 77 2/3 innings pitched.
“He is young and we’ve got some older some guys on the team, but he’s very mature for his high school age and he’s played a lot of high-level baseball, so it’s not too early for him to step into a leadership position,” Boswell said. “He does it more by example than he does vocally; he’s a tremendous worker so everybody just follows suit.”
Barco elected not to pitch at all during an appearance at the 2016 PG National Underclass Showcase-Main Event in Fort Myers, Fla., right after Christmas, but was still named to the event’s Top Prospect List based on what he did at the plate and his play in the field.
“I really like to do both (hit and pitch),” Barco told PG while in Fort Myers. “I just like to play baseball. I like being involved in the game and I like that there isn’t a clock in the game. It’s a fair game and everyone gets their chance and it’s a game of failure; it really keeps you mentally tough.”
Barco’s father, Barry Barco – himself a Bolles graduate – was with Hunter at the Main Event, and while the elder Barco acknowledges his son has benefitted by playing with the Georgia-based East Cobb Astros during the summer, Barry also feels Hunter really learned how to pitch after he began working with Boswell and Bolles pitching coach Bob Shepherd as an eighth-grader.
Inclan and most of his Bolles teammates also play travel ball during the summer – Inclan is part of the highly respected and nationally prominent Orlando Scorpions program – but they all seem to be in their true element when they’re wearing their Bolles uniforms.
“Playing with my same friends that I hang out with during school, it’s just a great experience,” Inclan said. “Working hard with them to win games is even better. … We definitely have a winning tradition here; we work hard to win.”
The Bulldogs were 23-3 when they began bracket-play in the FHSAA Class 5A playoffs last spring, and they reached the playoffs behind the work of one of stingiest pitching staffs in the state of Florida, regardless of class. The staff had collectively given up only 32 earned runs in those 26 regular-season games and, incredibly, it got even better in the playoffs.
Bolles outscored its five playoff opponents by a combined 30-1 on its way to the championship, including a 1-0, nine-inning victory over Monsignor Pace High School out of Miami Gardens in the championship game. The Bulldogs won the title game with a walk-off suicide squeeze bunt in the bottom of the ninth.
Although they hit .295 as a team (72 of their 236 went for extra-bases, including 55 doubles) their final 28-3 record was largely a function of a pitching staff that allowed only 33 earned runs in 212 innings (1.09 ERA) with 220 strikeouts.
Barco was a big part of that, of course, leading the team with his 12 wins and 77 2/3 innings pitched, but the left-hander Hamp Skinner was dominant as well, finishing 9-0 with a 0.54 ERA in 64 2/3 innings pitched. “Hamp kind of ran that pitching staff; it was leadership by example. He just showed up every day working hard, the other guys just followed suit and it was nice,” Boswell said.
“They locked-in and locked-down, and it was incredible to be on that side of it and watch those guys work each-and-every day,” the head coach continued, speaking of the entire 2016 staff. “All the credit goes to them. We played great defense – made the plays when we needed to – and they made the pitches when they needed to; they complemented each other very well.”
Inclan agreed: “Our team last year had great chemistry and our seniors were great leaders. Winning state was one of the best moments of my life, and it was great just having fun with the team, as well, while we were doing that. It was just a great experience. And having Hunter Barco and Hamp Skinner pitch the way they did, it was really unbelievable. They just did well all year and it was just great being able to play behind them.”
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THE BOLLES SCHOOL’S HISTORY SPEAKS OF AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION whose administrators past and present showed the foresight to look ahead and adapt to changing times.
It was founded as an all-boys military school in 1933 but it dropped its military status in 1962 and began admitting girls in 1971. Today, Bolles’ co-ed enrollment includes about 1,600 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, some of who are boarded and some of whom are considered “day students.” About 90 percent of this year’s student body is day students, according to Boswell.
The school’s website boasts that “100 percent” of its graduating seniors will be admitted to college after learning “the importance of self-discipline, respect, personal responsibility and compassion.” Many of the students are second- and third-generation attendees of the school – legacies – and that includes current baseball players Barco, Inclan and Knight, to name a few.
Most of the athletes that attend the upper school also went through the Bolles middle-school, so they’re well-versed in the history and traditions of each separate program.
“We’ve run baseball camps for 15 years and a lot of our kids have gone through those camps,” Boswell said. “They see the same guys saying the same things and preaching the same things about being men and so forth, and the new guys that come in see that senior leadership from those guys that have been here, and they really just buy into the system.”
Boswell knew going into the 2016 season that he had a group that was going to play hard and had great senior leadership, and one that enjoyed outstanding camaraderie amongst all the players, regardless of class. It was a team that, as the season progressed, became more and more intent on playing for the good of the team instead of the good of the individual.
When Boswell first brought this 2017 team together in the fall, he talked to them briefly about the epic playoff run of 2016, and asked the veteran players to remember what it felt like and what it took to get there. And then he moved on under the mantra of “different team, new year, same goals.”
Inclan, the top returning senior who will be wearing Carolina Blue up in Chapel Hill, N.C., next spring, is not going to allow anyone to operate on cruise control during the 2017 season. This group of Bulldogs needs to have the same mindset as the 2016 team and, most importantly, it needs to play loose, relaxed and confident if the program is going to win an eighth FHSAA state championship.
In other words, this year’s Bulldogs need to perform and carry themselves in a manner that will make a future MLB HOF’er like Chipper Jones – and all the other Bolles School alumni – proud to once again put on the Bulldogs’ colors.
“Being a part of this culture is just great,” Inclan said. “Bolles really pushes you to be the best person that you can be. And not only is it athletics, but the academics are (demanding) as well, and just being a part of Bolles, it just really teaches you how to work hard.
“It’s been great; I could not have asked for a better experience,” he concluded. “Working hard with this team and working hard on my academics, it could not have been any better.”