CAPE CORAL, Fla — From baseball's most valuable player at Cape Coral High School to a pitcher in the World Series.
Just 5 years after graduating, Shane McClannahan is on the roster for the Tampa Bay Rays and is helping them in their fight to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers and become World Champions.
"Florida has year-round baseball, but it's still so difficult to actually get to the pros," Coach Mike Gorton says.
"So I mean just to see a one percent get there, and it was actually at your school is great."
Mike Gorton is the head baseball coach over at Cape Coral High School.
In 2012 he met McClanahan and began to train him over the next 3 years of his baseball career.
"One of the things that separated him was work ethic, one. He really does love baseball, and he lives to play it," Coach Gorton says.
"The other thing is that he always has a smile on his face; it seems like there’s not too much that gets him down."
That hard work paid off in high school as McClanahans's name is posted on the dugout as the most valuable player for 2015.
This leading to his major league success 5 years later.
But the coach says that even as a pro, Shane never forgets where he came from.
"A lot of the guys know him because he comes back and visits, sits in the dugout, he’s given back to the program," Coach Gorton says.
"So he’s come and been around the guys, so they see him here, and all of a sudden he’s on tv. It is a little bit of an inspiration."
Local baseball fans Tom Brennan and Donovan Brown, are excited to see a local star make it to the big leagues. The two get together at Buckett's Wings and More in Fort Myers to watch the World Series and wanted to give this piece of advice as McClanahan takes on the Dodgers.
"Just do what you’re doing! You got there and that’s the toughest thing to do. Baseball is one of the toughest sports to get all the way to the top, just be yourself, you’ll be great," says Brennan.
Coach Gorton and his team says they'll continue to cheer Shane on here in Cape Coral as the Rays take on the Dodgers in game 3 of the World Series.
