Burlingame baseball manager Shawn Scott retires after 16 seasons

Still, as though he himself was part of the play, Burlingame manager Shawn Scott jumped out of the dugout, almost onto the infield itself, personifying his signature intensity and enthusiasm for the game by clapping vigorously and boisterously talking up Lau’s fine defensive effort.

“Aaron laid out and sold out for his teammates,” Scott said. “It was just the right thing to do, let him know how much I appreciate the play and how much his teammates appreciated that play.”

During that Friday the 13th game, Burlingame’s players already knew it would be Scott’s final time managing in the traditional non-league rivalry showdown. At the start of the season, Scott informed his team the 2026 season would be his last as a high school coach.

“They were shocked,” Scott said. “A couple of the younger players, they’ve been trying to talk me out of it. But I’m set. ... They can’t talk me out of it. No one can.”

Scott, 57, managed the final game of his 16-year career as Burlingame’s varsity head coach in the Central Coast Section Division II semifinals Wednesday at Sollecito Ballpark in Monterey. The Panthers fell 8-3 to Palma, ending the winningest career in the history of Burlingame varsity baseball.

“It’s time,” Scott said. “It’s time to move on for me. It’s time for this program to get a new voice. My shelf life here is done. There’s a self life for all of us, and it’s up to you as the individual to know when your shelf life is up so you don’t get pulled off the shelf.”

Making history

Saturday, May 9, when Burlingame defeated Heritage-Brentwood, Scott won his 236th career game for the Panthers — the only high school team he’s ever coached — breaking Rich Sciutto’s record of 235 wins. It stands as a fitting milestone for Scott’s final season as it was Sciutto for whom he took over the program in 2011.

“Hey, what can I say?” Sciutto said. “That’s great.”

Scott finished with 239 career wins, his final one coming in the opening round of the CCS playoffs, Saturday, May 23, backed by junior right-hander Mark O’Grady’s complete-game shutout in a 2-0 win over Leigh-San Jose.

While Scott has one CCS championship to his credit — with Burlingame claiming the Division III title in 2021 — he was part of another during a brief stretch as a varsity assistant in 2010. Burlingame has won three CCS titles all-time, the first two belonging to Sciutto. And when Sciutto managed his final game with career win No. 235 in the 2010 CCS Division II championship game, Scott was in his fourth game a varsity assistant, joining the team for the playoffs after managing Burlingame’s junior-varsity team in the regular season.

Burlingame pitcher Zac Grotz made the final putout in the that 2010 title game, covering first base with one on and one out in the seventh on a popup into shallow right field. Forrest Armanino charged in to make a tumbling shoestring catch on a ball that drew Burlingame’s first baseman into the outfield. Grotz hustled over the first to cover the bag and, after Armanino made the catch for the second out, took the throw behind the runner to complete a game-ending double play.

“That team was super, super close,” Grotz said. “Even now, I don’t think I’ve been a part of a team that was that close. ... That coaching staff was — we didn’t really talk about [personal] stuff in front of them ... where, with Shawn, it was kind of like a big brother.”

That’s how Scott’s high school coaching career began, as the following year he was hired to replace Sciutto. He went on to lead Burlingame to the CCS playoffs in 15 of his 16 seasons, with the team staying in the “A” league Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division all 16 years, including three league titles in 2012, ’24 and ’26.

“It’s teaching the basics,” Sciutto said of what makes Scott an enduring presence as a coach and role model, “and I think that’s what he’s done over the years.”

Early influences

Scott’s earliest varsity coaching influence was his El Camino High School manager, Carlos Roman. A 1987 graduate of El Camino, Scott was part of a storied tradition of Colts baseball.

“I wanted to do what he did, and just from what he taught me and everyone else that played with us, just the influence that he had on me,” Scott said. “He made it look fun, he made it look interesting and he was sneaking in life lessons that we knew nothing about until we hit our 20s.”

Scott enjoyed a long playing career before he took his first coaching gig in San Bruno Youth Baseball, skippering the Firefighters for seven years.

He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays out of El Camino in 1987 in the 27th round as part of the old draft-and-follow format, and signed with the Blue Jays after one outstanding junior college season at College of San Mateo. He went on to play six seasons in the Toronto system, advancing to Triple-A Syracuse for his final affiliated pro season in 1993. He went on to play seven years of independent pro ball in the Western League, before retiring after his 2001 season with the Chico Heat.

A year later, he returned to El Camino to ask Roman to join his staff at El Camino.

“I went to talk to Carlos about coaching El Camino,” Scott said. “He blatantly told me no, and then proceeded to call me about five minutes later: ‘Hey, Burlingame has an opening for JV coach. Go online and fill out an application and go from there.’ And I did that, and here I am.”

Scott said he never considered himself a pro prospect during his playing days until Roman sat him down and broke it down for him. In his first season managing Burlingame varsity, Scott had a similar impact on Grotz, who was a junior during the Panthers’ 2010 CCS title run and a senior during Scott’s first season running the program.

Grotz was a two-sport athlete more interested in shopping for colleges that would let him play basketball as a 6-foot guard. On the diamond, he was a two-way player, who insisted his path was as an everyday player in center field. It was Scott who explained his ticket to college athletics was his pitching arm.

“It probably had to do with playing for Shawn and talking to Shawn ... that there’s more upside for me pitching in college,” Grotz said.

Grotz went on to pitch at CSM, University of Tennessee and Embry-Riddle University, then went pro as a 28th round pick in 2015, reaching the major leagues for parts of two seasons with the Seattle Mariners in 2019 and ’20. Now 33, he is still pitching professionally on the international circuit, currently in his second season with the Jalisco Charros of the Mexican Baseball League.

Staying true to your school

Scott said he has considered retiring from coaching for several years, but always had a group of players he wanted to return for. After the 2025 season, when Burlingame missed the playoffs for the first time in his coaching tenure, his dream team assistant coaching staff of Marty Cole, Jesse Lehane, Rick Lavezzo and Vince Lopiccolo mulled the thought that might be the last straw for Scott.

“We all thought that was it, and he said: ‘There’s no way I’m going out a loser.’” Lopiccolo said.

The turnaround in 2026 was remarkable, as Scott helmed a sum-of-its-part team built purely on baseball fundamentals. By any modern metric, the Panthers shouldn’t have been a contender this season. They hit just .220 as a team in 2025, and, even this season, while turning it around to win the PAL Bay Division championship, the team hit just .267. Only last-place Capuchino was worse with a .263 average in the eight-team Bay Division.

Scott was unfazed by all the metrics at the start of the year.

“This season, he put it right out on Front Street: ‘We’re going to go out and win a league title,’” Lopiccolo said.

Lau’s defensive brilliance Friday, March 13, in Burlingame’s 12-7 loss to Serra was a glimpse of the 2026 Panthers’ greatness.

Clutch pitching and a .963 team fielding percentage were the cornerstones, and Scott worked to build a championship season by proving time and again to be a savvy field general. Calling steals, bunts and hit-and-runs from the third-base coaches box, Scott has long had an uncanny knack for picking the right time to execute a play with precision.

As a result, Burlingame went on to post an 8-1 record in one-run games.

“One of my old cliches is: ‘You only have to win by 1,’” Sciutto said, “and I think he’s done that quite a few times.”

Scott is now intent on focusing on his on his trade as a master plumber. He founded Coastline Plumbing in 2023, and now works for the city of San Francisco. He also recently became of grandfather, with his son Shawn Jr. becoming father to his first son, Quincy.

Putting into perspective 31 years as a baseball professional, including 16 seasons as Burlingame’s manager, Scott reflected on the philosophy he was taught by Roman as a high school player at El Camino.

“Be a good person, work hard, hold yourself accountable, believe in yourself, believe in the people around you,” Scott said. “If you can’t believe in the people around you, then don’t be around them.”