Courtesy of Vinny Augustine

Vinny Augustine stands at attention while coaching baseball.

By elementary school, Saratoga High baseball head coach Vinny Augustine knew baseball was a sport that required high discipline. As long as he was playing, he followed his motto: “No walking on the field; run, play hard, get dirty, repeat.” Now, the Los Gatos-born coach requires the same of his players — respect and discipline. 

Baseball has been an integral part of Augustine’s life for more than 28 years. At age 6, Augustine started playing T-ball; he continued on to play in the Los Gatos Little League in middle school and as a catcher for Los Gatos’ varsity baseball team in high school. 

Augustine aspired to be a professional baseball player all throughout high school, practicing and working out daily. Eventually, he was recruited as a student athlete to Cabrillo College, which competes in the Coast Athletic Conference; he played first and third base. However, he had to turn away from playing baseball in order to focus on his academics. He went on to receive a master’s degree in business management.

“If you can’t do the student part of the student athlete, you won’t get a chance to be an athlete. If you don’t get it done in the classroom, the game can be taken away from you,” Augustine said. 

As a player in high school and college, Augustine had a team player mindset and was willing to play whatever position the team needed.

After he stopped playing baseball for his college, Augustine was able to receive coaching opportunities. He coached baseball at Los Gatos High for six years and has coached at SHS for three years. During off-season for school baseball, he also coaches for private institutions such as Top Flight Baseball, Serious Baseball and Rogue Baseball, his own program.

Besides working as a coach for the baseball team, Augustine is also an account manager at Facilitron, a tech company. He clocks in earlier in the day at around 7 a.m. so that he can leave earlier and make it to baseball practice. 

Augustine has received huge support from friends and family as well. To honor his father’s memory, Augustine draws his father’s initials in the dirt or grass before a game; his father died of COVID 19 during the pandemic. His mother still comes to every game that she can, like how she attended all of Augustine’s baseball games when he was a child.

“My friends joke around that I’m coaching at the rival school, but it’s all fun and games. They’re all happy and supportive for me,” Augustine said.

Augustine has also found support from SHS staff who have been welcoming and supportive: “The support we have as a baseball team, not just from fans, but from the athletic director, Rick Ellis, from the principal, Greg Louie, and assistant principal Matt Torrens really help make Saratoga baseball where we are today,” Augustine said. “It’s great to be a Falcon.”

Going forward, however, Augustine and the players face a significant challenge: a shortage of players for the team. According to senior left hand pitcher Aiden Chen, the varsity only team will likely not have any incoming freshmen players; in addition, the team will see more than five key senior players graduate this year.

“It will be a miracle to field a team next year,” Chen said. “It’s sad that this brand new beautiful field is going to waste. Some big changes will need to happen in order for us to have a team next year.”