Staff

John Owens' college baseball career began as a pitcher for Palm Beach State before he transferred to take the mound for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  In 2002 Owens started the Charlotte Hurricanes Baseball Organization (now SBA CANES) with the dream of exposing a select group of players to the best competition in the nation while teaching an advanced level of play.  This dream has evolved to 30 teams in the organization competing nationally in every age group.  In 2010, Owens decided to take his vision to another level by opening “Showcase Baseball Academy” where athletes can develop their skills and learn to showcase their talents to best serve their TEAM. He is now President and CEO of Owens Management Group and was recently President and CEO of Ameritrust. Owens has been awarded the Charlotte Chamber Entrepreneur of the Year award, Charlotte business Journal 40 under 40, Inc Magazines, INC 500 for 2 consecutive years, and Carolina Parent top 40 for 3 consecutive years.  In 2009 and 2010 he was awarded Top Entrepreneur by Charlotte Business Leader Magazine. Owens serves as a member of the Charlotte Chamber’s Board of Advisers and as a board member of the UNC-Charlotte Athletic Foundation. He earned an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of North at Carolina at Charlotte.

jowens@showcasebaseball.org

Jake Robbins is a former Major League Baseball pitcher with 6 organizations. Jake ended his career with the Chicago White Sox AAA affiliate Charlotte Knights. He appeared in major league games in 2004 for the Cleveland Indians at the age of 28. The only run he gave up was a solo home run by Jacques Jones on September 24, of that year. Since retiring before the 2008 season, Jake has continued in the game of baseball by helping young baseball players achieve their dreams of playing in college and “the show”. Jake believes he is a better teacher of pitching than he was on the mound himself. Attributing his successes in teaching to God. “God gave me the ability and opportunity to play this great game and now I want to use the knowledge that was given to me, to help kids accomplish their dreams.”

jrobbins@showcasebaseball.org

Tomas Cruz is a native of Amarillo, TX where he graduated from Amarillo High School in 2006. From there, Tomas began his college career at Seward County Community College in Liberal, KS. Tomas’ sophomore year, he anchored the Seward Saints pitching staff with an 11-3 record and a 2.22 ERA in 81 innings pitched. He struck out a record high 85 batters and walked only 11 in 14 appearances. Cruz tossed seven complete games and two shutouts while becoming the first Saints pitcher to win 11 games since 2004.  While at Seward he was named:  the Jayhawk West Most Valuable Player, First Team All-Conference, First Team All-Region VI, and named to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Baseball 2nd Team All-American. After Seward, Cruz continued his college career by signing his National Letter of Intent to pitch at Clemson University.  At Clemson, Cruz served as a bullpen pitcher for the Tigers. During his two year, Cruz helped lead the Tigers to two Super Regional Appearances and one College World Series appearance. In his final appearance as a Tiger, at the 2010 College World Series, Cruz pitched three scoreless innings in relief. Following the CWS, Cruz went back to the west to pitch for the Liberal Bee-Jays. He posted a 2-0 record with four saves and a 0.56 ERA during the regular season as a closer. In the NBS World Series, he appeared in 5 out of 8 games, picking up two wins and a save. Cruz led the Bee-Jays to a NBC World Series win, with 3 ½ innings of work allowing no hits, no runs and 5ks. Following the 2010 season, Cruz stayed at Clemson as a student assistant pitching coach and a student assistant strength and conditioning coach. In 2011, Cruz served as the Graduate Assistant for Wingate University.  There he was the pitching coach, recruiter, and the strength and conditioning coach.

tcruz@showcasebaseball.org

Contact at dhampton@showcasebaseball.org