Prep preview: Brunswick School has become juggernaut under Montanez

Brunswick School senior captain Leo Socci is headed to UConn, along with five other New England natives. (Courtesy photo)

Johnny Montanez looks at his job as a blessing. Indeed, it has been. The 10-year head coach of the Brunswick School baseball program believes in good fortune, and it appears he has found it within the walls of this pristine Greenwich, Conn., campus.

In the past nine seasons, Montanez has meticulously built the Bruins into a juggernaut. Over that span, Brunswick has won three Fairchester Athletic Association titles and taken home four postseason tournament crowns.

A native New Yorker, Montanez played his college ball at St. Michael's College before spending a couple of years playing internationally in Mexico. He came to Brunswick with a philosophy built around an ability to persevere and believing in oneself.

"I believe there are two things that matter in every contest," he said."The score and how you handle yourself as an athlete. The score is out of our control. It isn't something you can prep for or predict. But the way we carry ourselves as individuals on and off the field is the most important thing day in and day out. Every player has a choice. They can try to meet the expectations of others, or they can set realistic expectations and continue to progress into young men of understanding. I want the kid who will do whatever it takes to better himself through taking calculated risks."