UD’s Brea celebrates Dominican roots by throwing first pitch at Mets game

“It’s been fun just seeing the guys finally put on that uniform,” Brea said. “It a different kind of excitement. It lets everybody know that we’re one step closer to getting into the season.”

“Guys are working hard,” Dayton associate head coach Ricardo Greer said. “Guys are are so much more mature. It’s a different group. They have to just continue to work and continue to understand that this season is going to be a lot tougher than it was last year. So you’ve got to stay locked in and focused on what’s in front of you.”

Brea took a day off practice Tuesday for a good reason and with the support of his coaches. As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, the New York Mets invited Brea, a New York City native from the Washington Heights Neighborhood and Monsignor Scanlan High School, to throw out the ceremonial first pitch Tuesday before a game against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field.

Greer accompanied him to the game along with Ryan Phillips, UD’s assistant director of digital strategy and brand enhancement.

“It was great to see to see him on that stage,” Greer said, “and to hear his name being called out like that. It was just good for his family. It was a great experience.”

Brea, who was born in the United States but has deep roots in the Dominican Republic, said the opportunity came about because of conversations he had with two former Mets: Jose Reyes and Carlos Gomez, who were both born in the Dominican Republic.

Brea has ties to a number of athletes from New York City. His godfather is Felipe Lopez, a basketball star at St. John’s in the 1990s. He knows New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera. He also said he’s close to Reyes and Gomez, and when they talked about how there aren’t many Dominican basketball players at the college and pro level, they decided to do a collaboration of sorts and came up with the idea of honoring Brea by having him throw out a first pitch.

UD released a video Monday showing Brea meeting with Dayton baseball coach Jayson King and then throwing on the baseball field with Andy Farrell, the special assistant to Dayton head coach Anthony Grant and the program’s recruiting coordinator.

That practice helped, but on Tuesday, Brea expected to get a few warm-up tosses on the field.

“I’m talking to one of the players, and he’s like, ‘Did they let you practice?’” Brea said. “I was like, ‘No, they haven’t. He said, ‘Well, it’s time to go.’”

“Oh my God,” Brea thought.

Even without the extra tosses and a few nerves, Brea managed to get the ball over the plate. His catcher was Starling Marte, a veteran outfielder with the Mets and a native of the Dominican Republic. Brea said his parents, brothers and uncle watched him throw out the first pitch.

The visit to New York allowed Koby’s dad, Stephan Brea, to see his son for a few hours. He’ll get to see him again later this weekend on campus during Family Weekend. Stephan said Koby didn’t play organized baseball growing up but liked to throw in front of the DVD store Stephan owned.

“I used to catch for him,” Stephan said. “He would throw so many strikes. He used to throw hard. But he never let basketball go. That was his first thing.”

Stephan played shortstop when he was a kid but also focused on basketball and played at the professional level in the Dominican Republic, where he was born. He went to George Washington High School in New York City with Manny Ramirez, who hit 555 home runs in a big-league career that stretched from 1993 to 2011.

“He was amazing,” Stephan said. “They used to take us to the track to run, and he was hitting there, and he we would just stop to watch him hit home runs back to back to back — 25, 27 in a row. He was a natural.”

Koby is a natural on another court. The 6-foot-6, 206-pound Brea averaged 8.1 points per game last season. He led the team in 3-pointers made (63 of 149) and 3-point shooting percentage (42.3). He averaged 21.7 minutes per game off the bench and was named the Atlantic 10 Conference Sixth Man of the Year.

Even if he comes off the bench again for a team that returns all five starters, Brea will once again be a key player for Dayton, which returns seven of its top eight scorers.

“He’s a different kid, and you can see it in his body,” Greer said. “You can see it in the way that he goes about doing things. He’s much more mature than he was when he first came on campus, and he’s continuing to grow not only mentally and physically but also as a man.”

“He has been working on his body,” Stephan said. “He knows he needs to put his body together, and mentally, he’s getting tough. Maturity wise, I’ve seen the change in the past year. Koby’s a team player.”

Dayton can practice as many as 30 times in the 42 days leading up to the season opener.

“To me, this is the best team they’ve had in the past few years,” Stephan said. “It’s a tough team. These kids are on the same page. You can see the progress. They’ve got a chance to make big noises this year.”