By Andy Kanengiser Long Beach Breeze reporter
Long Beach High baseball players didn’t realize their 2020 season would come to an early end this Spring. The Bearcats reeled off wins against teams like Pass Christian, West Harrison, Hancock, and Warren Central as games wrapped up in March due to the COVID-19 health crisis.
When the Bearcats return to the diamond for the 2021 season, the Maroon & White squad will be led by a new head coach, Garrett LaRosa. A former Bearcats baseball standout, Garrett is excited to return to his alma mater as the team’s new skipper.
LaRosa takes over a Long Beach High squad sporting a 9-3 record during a shortened 2020 season. He succeeds Connor Douglas, who was named in May 2019 to lead the Long Beach team. Douglas arrived in the Long Beach district post after seven seasons as varsity head coach at Warren Central High in Vicksburg. Douglas left Long Beach to serve as an assistant coach/ assistant athletic director in another district.
LaRosa brings proven experience as an assistant varsity baseball coach at Hancock County High. This season, he served as a varsity assistant baseball coach for the Long Beach Bearcats.
Maroon & White sports fans always have high expectations for the Bearcats baseball team. And the 2021 season should be no different on the 300 East Old Pass Road campus. The new baseball coach should be a nice fit at a newly constructed Long Beach High this year.
Garrett LaRosa is certainly a familiar face around Harrison County, especially in his Gulf Coast hometown of Long Beach. He was the cleanup hitter on the Long Beach High state championship baseball team in 2010. Garrett was a solid hitter as well with the Bearcats 2011 and 2011 Bearcat squads.
The Long Beach High alumnus played baseball at Meridian Community College and McNeese State University in Louisiana.
Long Beach School District Superintendent Jay Smith is convinced Garrett LaRosa will do a wonderful job leading the Bearcats as the varsity’s new head coach. “We are confident in his abilities to lead this program and we are equally confident that his long term commitment to our players is rooted in sound character.’’
No doubt, the Mississippian brings a record of success as well as dedication to the Long Beach district family, school supporters say.
