Playing the field

COEUR d'ALENE - It didn't take much to sell Coeur d'Alene High senior Levi Pereira on playing college baseball at Gonzaga.

A visit to "The Kennel" for a men's basketball game and sitting in the student section, and he was in.

"For my official visit (Nov. 9 against Southern Utah), they put me in the student section," Pereira said. "That was a major selling point right there. They were playing a smaller school and ended up beating them by 38 points."

Staying close to home was also a selling point for the senior, who was the 5A Inland Empire League Most Valuable Player last year. Pereira was also named the North Idaho 5A-4A Baseball Player of the Year on Saturday at the North Idaho Sports Banquet at the Best Western Coeur d'Alene Inn.

"When I went there, within an hour I knew I wanted to go there," said Pereira, who verbally committed to the Zags last November. "I liked the coaching staff, the style they play and got to watch them practice. It was close to home and everything about it, I liked. I love the small-school feel and it's not a big school. Just everything seemed to fit for me."

After bouncing from catcher and first base as a sophomore to first base, right field and center field this year, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Pereira will likely play first base and roam the outfield for Gonzaga next season.

"I'm probably not going to do a lot of catching there," Pereira said. "It's different, but there's not much action (in the outfield), but I like it. I just love learning new positions on the field and learning to play all over the field."

"Gonzaga is getting a very good deal in my opinion," Coeur d'Alene High baseball coach Nick Rook said. "Levi is a blessing to coach. He is a phenomenal student-athlete with a great family."

Pereira even played quarterback while in the Coeur d'Alene Junior Tackle football program before moving to wide receiver/tight end his freshman year at Coeur d'Alene High and moving onto the offensive/defensive line as a sophomore and junior.

"I just kind of played all over the place," Pereira said. "It's been a lot like baseball, but I've enjoyed every minute of it."

Pereira opted not to play football last fall, instead continuing to play baseball with the Idaho Cubs - a scout team run by the Chicago Cubs organization - where he plays catcher.

"We traveled around during the fall to Utah and Reno and played against junior colleges," Pereira said. "It helped me get in about 20 extra games. It was a lot of fun because I got the chance to meet some kids from schools like Highland (Pocatello), Rocky (Mountain of Meridian), Centennial (Boise), Spokane and Oregon. It's just fun to get to meet some new guys and get coached by some guys that played professionally and coached with the Boise Hawks."

Pereira got connected with the team after attending a camp during his freshman year.

"To play on it, it's usually your sophomore or junior year," Pereira said. "My sophomore year, they approached me about it, but didn't do it because of football."

That changed in the fall.

"I wanted to pursue playing baseball in college instead of football, so I thought it was a good opportunity," Pereira said. "It was an extremely tough decision to make, especially going in and telling the coaches. I still like playing football, but it was a better decision for me to play more baseball."

The Idaho Cubs season concluded on Oct. 28, the week before the state football playoffs. The Idaho Cubs manager is Gary Van Tol, manager of the Northwest League Boise Hawks.

Pereira is currently ranked 31st in this year's graduating class and previously was on the student council.

"Right now, baseball and graduation are taking up a lot of my time," Pereira said. "I'm usually at Bud Rasmussen's place (Ultimate Athlete Sports Performance) lifting weights or at The Warehouse in Spokane hitting. Right now, it's just non-stop baseball."

"I love working with Bud," Pereira said. "He's a great guy and very knowledgeable because he's trained Olympic, college and professional athletes. I feel like he's got the best stuff in the area and is very knowledgeable and trains Shea Vucinich, Kyle Johnson and Alex Capaul. He's gotten himself pretty well into baseball."

Vucinich (Milwaukee Brewers), a Coeur d'Alene High graduate, as well as Johnson (Los Angeles Angels) and Capaul (Arizona Diamondbacks) were later drafted by major league teams after their college careers had ended.

"That would be awesome," said Pereira of following in their footsteps and being drafted. "That would be the dream eventually, but we'll see happens."

Last summer, Pereira trained with current Lake City High senior Mitch Bevacqua - a shortstop who has signed with the University of Washington.

Pereira has played in 10 games this season, but has been slowed after coming back from getting mononucleosis before the start of the season. Entering Saturday's doubleheader at Lewiston, Pereira is batting .414 with 14 RBIs with a .500 on-base and .524 slugging percentage.

"These numbers are lower than his expectations, which has a lot to do with the mono in my opinion," Rook said. "He's been working his way back into it after dropping nearly 20 pounds."

Coeur d'Alene (9-3, 1-2 5A Inland Empire League) resumes league play today at Lake City (4-5, 2-2) at 4 p.m.

"We've got a lot of talent this year athletically," Pereira said. "We're extremely athletic this year and there's more college talent on this team that we've had in a while. But it's about reaching our full potential and I don't think we've come close to that yet."

His favorite memory as a Viking was as a sophomore, getting the chance to catch one of his older brother Jake's final high school games.

"It was still one of my favorite years as far as playing baseball in high school goes," Pereira said. "It's something I'll always remember and he'll always remember and we still talk about it."

Having his brother on the varsity team also helped him get more comfortable with high school.

"I got the chance to play with my brother, Drew Turbin and Matt Lambert," Pereira said. "Those guys I became close with that year and started to hang out with more. Coming into high school, I was a little skeptical, but had my brother's friends to guide me. Some kids say they don't like high school, but I've loved every minute of it. It's something I'm going to have the rest of my life."

"Levi will be extremely missed and we wish him the best," Rook said. "He will succeed anywhere he goes because of his work ethic and attitude. He enjoys the grind of being a premier student-athlete. He is extremely coachable and sets lofty expectations for himself. I would rate him in the top 5 percent of the athletes I have coached, in terms of attitude and effort."