By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Pete Baldwin became the fifth Osceola Kowboy to win two state wrestling championships Saturday when he won the 145-pound gold medal at the Class 3A state tournament at the Lakeland Center.

Baldwin, a senior, won the 119-pound championship as a freshman and reached the finals as a sophomore and a junior.

He capped the most sensational career in Osceola County wrestling history by recording an undefeated season (54-0) and setting national records for most career wins (324) and pins (242).

“I think this one was a little more special, because my brother (Fox Baldwin) won, too,” he said.

Fox Baldwin, a Lake Highland Prep eighth-grader, won the 119-pound Class A championship Saturday and set the state record with 53 pins this season.

Pete Baldwin defeated Travis Berridge of Brandon, 6-3, in the finals.

“He’s a good wrestler. I saw him at the regionals, and last year,” he said. “It’s always tough to beat a good wrestler twice. He comes from a great program, probably one of the toughest there is.”

Osceola Coach Jim Bird said Baldwin wrestled a little more cautiously than usual in the championship match.

“I think it was there in the back of his mind a little of what he had experienced the last couple of years, so he kind of let the kid hang around there until the end,” Bird said. “But, he pretty much had things under control.”

“There was a lot of stress there, to be honest,” Baldwin said.

Forty-five of Baldwin’s 54 wins came by pin this season, many of those just seconds into the match.

He said watching his brother collect a gold medal proved to be inspirational as well as motivational.

“You realize when you see that that the best glory of winning a championship goes to those around you,” he said. “To be able to see him win the championship, to see all that hard work pay off and see someone achieve something like that is inspiring.”

At the same time, Pete knew that Fox would be even in the Baldwin family’s state wrestling championship derby unless he beat Berridge. In that sense, Fox’s victory helped his older brother relax and concentrate on the championship match.

“Yeah, I couldn’t have him holding that over my head,” Pete Baldwin said.

It wasn’t until Sunday that it set in that his high school career is over, he said.

“But, it’s really not over. It’s just a stepping stone to the next phase,” he said.

Baldwin signed a wrestling scholarship to Old Dominion University in Virginia in November, where he will continue his career.

“I’ve got a lot of academic classes to complete before I get there. Between wrestling and that, there’s no rest for a champion,” he said.

Baldwin said he takes as much pride in the progress of the Kowboys as he does in his personal achievements.

“Coach Bird, all our coaches, do a great job. When we started the season, we were a bunch of nobodies. Then, when you see the Kenny Martins and Chris Pagans do as well as they did this season, then get to the state tournament and win medals, it makes you proud,” he said.

Pete Baldwin competed at more state wrestling tournaments over his career, six, than any other Osceola County wrestler. He twice reached the Class A state tournament as a wrestler at Life Christian Academy in the seventh and eighth grades.

Javier Maldonado, Alex Eggers, Levi Clemons and Joe Locksmith previously won two wrestling titles at OHS. St. Cloud’s Frank Cousins also won twice.

Pete Baldwin said all of the county’s wrestling records, including his own, are temporary pending the arrival of his little brother to OHS next season as a freshman.

Fox Baldwin already has 180 career victories and has placed at the Class A state tournament three times.

“Fox is going to have all the records, but that’s the way it should be. They are there to be broken,” he said.