'He should have been pitching tonight.' How Buchholz baseball honored Rex and Brody Reinhart

The Buchholz baseball team will play at Bobcat Park for possibly the final time this season Thursday night when it hosts Fleming Island in the Class 6A-District 3 Final.

The home of the squad, Bobcat Park, has held a different feel this season due to a new on-field addition.

Before Buchholz’s game with Jacksonville’s Trinity Christian on March 28, the team officially dedicated the diamond on the northwest corner of Buchholz’s campus to Rex and Brody Reinhart.

“It was cool to see what was accomplished without them being here because Rex should have been in our grade,” Buchholz junior Wyatt Clarke said. “He probably should have been out here pitching tonight.”

Who were Rex and Brody Reinhart?

Rex (14) and Brody (11) were both tragically killed by their father in a murder-suicide on the morning of Tuesday, May 4, 2021.

The father, who had been separated from his wife, Minde O'Sullivan, took Rex and Brody to the family’s vacation home 50 miles west of Gainesville, near Suwannee in Dixie County. He killed them before lighting the house on fire and taking his own life.

The tragedy attracted attention in Gainesville, not just for its horrific nature, but also because Rex and Brody were active in the North Central Florida youth baseball community.

Rex played for the Tampa-based Florida Heat travel baseball squad. He was best friends with Clarke and fellow junior Gage Riley.

Clarke said Rex and Brody’s deaths were among the first “major” events in his life, and it made him grow up quicker.

Riley said he was always at the Reinhart home and vice versa, even being there two nights before.

“It was just gut-wrenching. I remember the exact time I was pulled out of school, and I got the news broken to me,” Riley said. “I couldn't even do anything. Like breathing was hard, I couldn't cry, all the emotions rushed in so fast. It was a big turning point in my life.”

Buchholz coach Ron Brooks didn’t know Rex and Brody personally, but he said the two’s spirit live on in the Bobcats dugout.

“They talk about how lighthearted he was, and how loose he made everybody in the dugout and on the field feel,” Brooks said. “I think you see a lot of kids in our program carry on that spirit.”

How did this project come to be?

Minde said she began the Rex and Brody foundation just a few days after May 4th because she wanted a purpose.

“I wake up every single day and think how in the world did this happen? Like why is this my life? How did this happen to my boys, but I get up every single day with a purpose because of the foundation,” she said.

Minde admits the foundation has carried a steep learning curve as fundraising and asking for money was never her “thing.”

The foundation has accomplished a great deal with the three years. They helped pay for new jerseys for GHS last season.

Minde’s also helped take youth teams on the road. She brings a team to Cooperstown each season to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and sponsored travel teams from Arizona and California.

The field dedication, though, was one of the first projects she wanted to partake in.

“Half of these boys have played with Rex since he was in T-ball, so half this team suffered this tremendous loss, and it’s impacted their life hugely,” she said. “I thought this was one way we could come back and help them.”

Buchholz baseball players benefit from Minde

Due to the foundation, Clarke got to visit Cooperstown and coach a team there along with former Gator great Austin Langworthy.

“That was really cool because that was all of Brody’s friends and his direct team, and for her to give them the opportunity,” Clarke said. “That team went to the final four out of 126 teams, so that’s pretty impressive.”

Riley said he, along with Rex and Brody’s friends, view Minde as a second mom.

“The only way we got through what happened was with lots of tears and lots of hugs. We all gathered kind of as a baseball community around Mindy in the idea of the boys passing away, and she was very strong and helped us,” Riley said.

Minde said she can’t imagine the pain Clarke, Riley and others endured and still do, but she believes they are stronger now due to Rex and Brody’s presence.

“If you go in that dugout right now, I swear Rex and Brody’s name has probably been brought up at least two to three times,” she said. “They’re not forgetting them.”

Clarke and Riley suppose Rex and Brody are watching over them.

“I believe they’re living vicariously through us,” Riley said. “They’re watching every move, and they’re with us when we’re shouting in the dugout, when we’re playing.”

Both Clarke and Riley said they’ll be playing for the Reinharts through their high school careers and beyond.

“For me, as a mother, that means so much that my boys had that much of an impact on kids in this short period of time on this earth,” she said.

And in a few decades, when Clarke and Riley have their own kids, they’ll carry on Rex and Brody’s legacy to the next generation.

“My kids will know that’s the boys right there,” Clarke said. “That was my dad’s best friend.”

Buchholz seeks to win a district title for Rex and Brody when it welcomes Fleming Island on Thursday night. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.

Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun. Contact him at Nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Buchholz baseball dedicates field in memory of Rex and Brody Reinhart