Through plane crash, coach’s passing and death of Matt Darr’s father, Regis Jesuit baseball leans on one another

With burn scars under his uniform, Jackson Miller writes his mom’s initials in the dirt with his bat before stepping into the batter’s box.

Miller, an outfielder on the Regis Jesuit sophomore team, survived a small plane crash last summer that killed his mother, Melissa Brinkmann. He suffered third-degree burns on his right arm and thighs that required skin grafts, and also had second-degree burns on other parts of his body.

Those injuries sidelined him from baseball in the summer and fall as he recovered. That and the anguish of losing his mom had him questioning his future in the game — until the support of the Regis Jesuit baseball program convinced him otherwise.

“After losing her, it was hard to stay up emotionally and stay on track with myself and my goals,” Miller said. “I had a couple moments where I was down on myself, and I didn’t feel like baseball was a fit anymore. I felt lazy because I couldn’t do much.

“But I had coaches and teammates there for me to pick me up and dust me off, push me to keep playing, because they believed that I’m a good player and they knew I love this game. Just because of a bad thing and big problem in my life, they didn’t want that special connection to drop away because I was in a dark spot.”

That emotional camaraderie has been a common theme for Regis Jesuit since losing the Class 5A championship to Cherry Creek last June 1 at All-Star Park, where the Raiders fell twice to the Bruins on the final day as the title slipped through their fingers.

The pain of those defeats was nothing compared to the real-life heartbreak the program’s endured since.

First, there was Miller’s fiery plane crash on June 7. Then, on Aug. 25, Regis Jesuit freshman coach Matt Signorelli passed away suddenly from a heart attack. The final gut-punch came at the start of this season, when head coach Matt Darr’s father, Loyal Darr, died on March 7 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.

Through it all, the program’s gained perspective — and a tighter sense of brotherhood than any seven-inning game could bring.

“Losing in the championship was a bitter pill to swallow, because it wasn’t just one game, it was two opportunities,” Matt Darr said. “It was a tough night, tough week. Then the thing with Jackson’s mom happened, and suddenly, losing the championship seemed insignificant. That started the string of adversity that has been really tough to deal with.”

Jackson’s road back

Miller was in the hospital for about six weeks after the crash, and then homebound for roughly two months after that.

The single-engine airplane that he, his mom, stepbrother and stepfather were riding in attempted an emergency landing on a street in an Arvada neighborhood after his stepfather, the pilot, radioed that he was having engine oil pressure problems.

The plane’s left wingtip clipped a 30-foot tree adjacent to the road, then the plane hit the road, slid several hundred feet and crashed into a truck in a front yard. The National Transportation Safety Board has not yet issued an official report on the exact cause of the crash.

The impact of the truck caused the plane to catch fire. Miller says he was covered in flames as he exited the plane. He took a few seconds to process what had just happened, then ran back into the flaming cabin to help his stepfather get his mom and stepbrother, both of whom Miller says had been knocked unconscious, out of the plane.

“At that point, the adrenaline was pumping,” Miller said. “The fire, and everything that was in the way of getting them out, wasn’t really a problem at all mentally. It was kind of just instinct to do it.”

Brinkmann passed away from her injuries the next day, but Miller’s stepfather and stepbrother ended up recovering. Darr lauded the sophomore for his decisive action amid the tragedy.

“He’s really a hero,” Darr said. “He helped save his brother’s life.”

The Raiders wore “JM” stickers on their helmets during the summer season to honor Miller. By the time the outfielder was ready to return to the program during winter workouts, his comeback served as inspiration for the best players in the Regis Jesuit program, such as junior right-hander and Vanderbilt commit Hudson Alpert.

“It’s easy to take a lot of things for granted, and hearing what he’s done and what he’s been through, it makes you check yourself and appreciate how strong he’s been through all of this,” Alpert said. “He’s gone through more adversity than most people ever will, and it’s so impressive how he hasn’t lost sight of himself through it all.”

Now back on the diamond, Miller’s been starting for the sophomore team in left field, while also seeing time in center. He says a prayer before each game in honor of his mom, in addition to his routine walking into the box. And he remains steadfast in his ambition to eventually make the varsity team in one of Colorado’s top programs.

Darr believes Miller has the skills to get there.

“He has some tools with his athleticism and his speed to project to play down the road at a higher level,” Darr said. “And he’s also a super gritty kid, hard-nosed, tough, an in-your-face type of player who brings a little bit of an edge to his game.”

Losing Coach Sig

Shortly after Miller got out of the hospital, Regis Jesuit got put on the ropes again with the passing of Signorelli, known as Coach Sig.

Signorelli had been Regis Jesuit’s freshman coach for five years and was also a club coach/instructor. He was a popular coach with players across all levels of the program. He took care of unheralded tasks, such as setting up the field for men’s league play on Sunday mornings and working youth camps.

Darr described Signorelli as a coach who “found the good in every kid.”

“Whereas I was the varsity coach, sometimes saying, ‘This kid is never going to play for me, Sig,’ he always saw the upside in every player,” Darr said. “He championed for every kid.”

The Raiders are wearing “MS” stickers on their helmets this season to honor Signorelli’s legacy. Signorelli’s wife and son also threw out the first pitch in a March 29 home game dedicated to him — a 7-3 Raiders win over Fossil Ridge. Darr says the program plans to install a sign at the field in his honor.

Carson Gardiner, an outfielder on Regis Jesuit’s freshman team who played for Signorelli on fall and summer club teams as an eighth grader, says the recognition is warranted for a coach who “always made the game fun for everybody.” That was even the case when Gardiner was out for some of last summer due to a back injury.

“He never made me feel forgotten,” Gardiner said. “He always told me to focus on healing and reminded me that he still saw my potential. … He had a way of making every player feel important — because to him, we were.

“He once said that one of his jobs was to help make us young men. I think about that a lot. I hope I’m making him proud.”

Darr’s empty tank

In dealing with the fallout from Miller’s plane crash and Signorelli’s unexpected death, Darr hardly had a moment to catch his breath by the time his dad died during spring tryouts.

Loyal Darr, 87, was a Hall of Fame educator. But for Matt, he was the coach who inspired the manager’s own career, one that’s seen him win two state titles (Class 2A with Denver Christian in 2013 and 5A with Regis Jesuit in 2019).

“I’ve just been trying to provide a stabilizing force for the guys for when Jackson lost his mom, for when we lost Coach Sig,” Darr said. “Just being there, being available and helping them understand as best they can. And when I lost my dad, I felt that love and that support reciprocated. Now, the guys were there for me.”

Darr’s dad was a fixture in his baseball life, coaching him in Little League through eighth grade. He was the man who taught his son how to take advantage of his speed by drag bunting.

As a senior at Denver Christian in 1989, Matt led the state in hitting with a .722 average, which included 14 bunt base hits. Loyal never missed a game and continued to be Matt’s biggest fan as he played in college at William Jewell and then started his coaching career with a five-year stint as a graduate assistant at Northern Colorado.

Loyal was a diehard St. Louis Cardinals fan, so to honor his dad, Matt places Loyal’s beloved, tattered Cardinals cap atop his bag in the dugout before each game.

Matt’s hoping that the three-day break with Easter weekend — before that, the Raiders played seven games in eight days — will finally give him time to properly grieve.

“I need to get away for a few days, because I told my players that I don’t think I’ve been the best coach I can be because my tank is so empty,” Darr said. “I’m hoping that after taking these days off, I’ll come back revived.”

On-field redemption

The Raiders will need Darr at his sharpest in order to make a run at the championship this year.

Regis Jesuit’s taken a leap forward in the state tournament each of the past three seasons — Final 8 in 2022, Final 4 in ’23 and then last year’s title game. Darr believes “now it’s time to take the next step.”

The team is 8-5 so far, but has played a tough slate that included a trip to Cary, N.C., to compete against some of the best teams in the country at the National High School Invitational. As of Friday, the Raiders had the third-toughest schedule in the state by opponents’ win percentage behind Mountain Vista and Grandview.

“The schedule that Coach Darr’s put together has done nothing but mold us,” said senior right-hander Luke Reasbeck, a North Greenville commit. “I’m confident it will pay off in May, June. Yeah, we don’t have a great record right now, but I guarantee there’s no other team in the state that has faced the caliber of teams and big arms that we’ve faced.”

Underscoring Regis Jesuit’s confidence is its pitching. Alpert and Reasbeck are the team’s seasoned one-two punch, but the Raiders are also getting a breakout season from sophomore right-hander Michael Kroll.

With three pitchers with plus stuff, in addition to a lineup that features other Division I commits such as junior shortstop Chase Massey (Boston College), senior center fielder Christian Lopez (Cal State Bakersfield), senior right fielder Gavin Cronin (Air Force) and junior left fielder Carter Rathbun (San Francisco), Regis Jesuit has the talent to stack up against anyone in parity-laden Class 5A.

If the bats and gloves can match the pitching, the Raiders are capable of honoring Miller’s courage and the lives of Brinkmann, Signorelli and Loyal Darr in a storybook fashion.

“We could win it just because of the arms,” Matt Darr said. “We’ve got to get better defensively, and we’ve got to hit a little above average to take some pressure off our pitching. … If we do that, we have what it takes to put together (the ultimate tribute season).”

25 Colorado ballplayers to watch in ’25

As conference play heats up across Colorado, here are the guys to keep an eye on in a cold-weather state with a significant amount of talent.

Highlands Ranch Sr. UTL Trevor Gottsegen (Utah)

Regis Jesuit Jr. RHP Hudson Alpert (Vanderbilt)

Cherokee Trail Sr. LHP Carter Wilcox (Iowa)

Mullen Sr. SS/RHP Thomas Stewart (Virginia)

Grandview Jr. RHP/OF Ethan Wachsmann (Wake Forest)

Castle View Sr. OF Sam Harry (Sacramento State)

Mountain Vista Jr. RHP/SS Alex King (Xavier)

Arvada West Soph. RHP/SS Cooper Vais (uncommitted)

Arvada West Sr. SS Tate Deal (Evansville)

Broomfield Sr. RHP Nate Wochner (BYU)

Broomfield Sr. RHP Ethan Zufall (BYU)

Falcon Jr. RHP/1B Aaron Jaquez (North Carolina)

Prairie View Sr. RHP/INF Jerry Stone (Colorado Northwestern CC)

Eaton Jr. RHP/1B Gunnar Garrison (BYU)

Golden Sr. RHP Sawyer Brinkman (Dodge City CC)

Erie Jr. RHP/UTL Maddox Burnett (BYU)

Mountain Vista Sr. RHP Chase Ruden (Santa Clara)

Cherry Creek Sr. 1B/OF Connor Larkin (Oklahoma)

Cherokee Trail Sr. RHP Ethin Woltz (New Mexico)

Fossil Ridge Sr. SS Owen Morgan (Oregon)

Cherry Creek Sr. RHP Wyatt Rudden (Michigan)

Cherry Creek Sr. INF Mason Scott (Army)

Cherry Creek Sr. RHP Ryan Falke (Washington State)

Berthoud Sr. RHP/INF Adam Hayes (Texas Tech)

Green Mountain Sr. RHP Simon Lunsford (Colorado Mesa)