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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
The FLORIDA FIRE name has been around for many years now. The Team name originated by David Liput was part of a group of Winter Springs families
served well (and all three Liput boys AUSTIN, CHASE, and DAVIS were part of the early years of play for each age group). Former FIRE players that have now graduated to college and are playing baseball on Scholarship are Ryan Fern and Austin Liput. Both will be enrolling this fall at USC Upstate in Spartanburg, SC. The Spartans are an emerging DI program.
The Liput crew handed the name down to Mark Schanback when their nephew
Luke started up at age 7 and the team played in and won it's first set of Championship Rings back in 2004. Many of those players are still playing at a high level. Hunter Lee recently played on the Chet Lemon Juice AAU National title 12U team. Johnny Jones is a starter with the Sarasota 12U Premier Travel team that placed 9th in Cooperstown in 2008 Week 3.
The Fire name went unused for a season in 2005/2006 Fall/Spring while the
Liput lead club retooled to form the FREEZE which made a run at Cooperstown this past summer. Meanwhile Schanback resurected the name to play again starting in the Fall of 2006 anchored by the Cousins Davis Liput and Luke Schanback taking the field together again.
Davis would return to his Father's Team the Freeze while Luke would continue with the Freeze and the Fire split for a time. Both teams are
part of the origins of the FIRE. Prior to the FIRE branded teams the original Winter Springs group spawned from the Winter Springs Warriors
dating back to 1999.
Today's version of the FIRE is ever changing. Recent players that have left the FIRE to play well for other teams include:
Joey Gardner - LIGHTNING
Omar Garcia - Chet Lemon's Juice
Quinton Davis - DIAMONBACKS / O-TOWN
Jake Corso - Patriots / LIGHTNING
Tucker Israel - Patriots / TT
Jalen Ortiz - Patriots / Team Combat / LIGHTNING
Luke Schanback - Team Velocity / Team RAGE
The Fire remain the area benchmark for talent but are being challenged by the DIAMONDBACKS locally and the rest of the State is relaoding too to keep up. Look for the FIRE to continue playing championship caliber ball.
The talent train just keeps on cycling more players each season. The team is now more regional and relies heavily on guest players to maintain the top level of talent.
If you know of any former FIRE PLAYERS please let us know where they play now so we can track them and report on them. We apolgize if we missed any.
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Fire 11U
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