‘Keeping his legacy alive’: Baseball tournament honors Brockton teen killed in 2017 wreck

The parents of a 15-year-old promising baseball player who was killed in a 2017 car wreck threw out the first pitches at a memorial tournament in their son’s honor.

Frances and Osvaldo Caban watched a new sign be unveiled at the Downey Elementary School baseball field in Brockton Thursday before the first game of the inaugural Isaias Caban Memorial Tournament. On it were their son’s initials and his retired baseball number: “IC8.”

“Every day is a hard day for us because we miss our son daily, but I think seeing all of the support, that’s what really touches my heart, the support, and keeping his legacy alive,” Frances said.

“It’s emotional, and I can’t even explain it,” Osvaldo added. “It [means] so much to me, to the family that people still remember my son, Isaias. I’m grateful to be here, I’m grateful for everybody to be here.”

Brockton High School student Isaias Caban was a passenger in a car with two other students when it crashed into a tree in April 2017.

Brockton Baseball Association President John Stevens helped organize the tournament, kicking off seven years after he and his sons, who had played baseball with Isaias, mourned the community’s loss.

“I remember it vividly, It was one of those events in my life where you remember exactly where you were when you heard the news,” Stevens said. “The kids were devastated. It really hit the community pretty hard.”

Catching the Cabans’ first pitches Thursday was Isaias’s friend Adam Perez. Other young men who had been childhood friends of Isaias attended in support of the family.

“He was like a big brother to me,” Perez said of Isaias. “And being a part of this, means the world to me, you know, his legacy, for the love of baseball to be carried on year in and year out.”

Isaias, a member of his high school ROTC program, had hoped to join the Army and dreamed to play professional baseball, following in the footsteps of his father, who made it to the pros but never to the majors.

Osvaldo believes his son would have made it farther than he did.

“He was more than I.. He was third baseman, pitcher, catcher, he played everything. I [taught] him how to play when he was four years old.

Watching kids play ball Thursday as his son once did, Osvaldo said he hopes others with big goals will chase after their dreams.

“I wish everyone can follow that dream,” Osvaldo said. “I know life is hard, but whatever you have in your heart, follow your heart.”

Eight teams are participating in the tournament with the championship bracket taking place Sunday.

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