Before practice Wednesday evening, Center High School's football players said a prayer for Brandon Mitchell Baker and his family.

Then they worked out near the field where the 14-year-old freshmen had collapsed and died after junior varsity soccer practice the day before.

"We feel like we lost a part of the Cougars family," said Brent Schueler, a 17-year-old football player.

The Sacramento County Coroner's Office performed an autopsy on Baker on Wednesday afternoon but had not yet determined what killed the young athlete.

There was "nothing wrong with him that I knew of," said the boy's father, William Baker of Antelope. "I mean, he never had to go to the doctor except for a runny nose or an ear infection."

Brandon Baker was just a few weeks into his ninth grade year at Center High. He had spent the summer working out with the school's baseball team and was scheduled to start practicing with them again Friday, William Baker said.

On Tuesday, the younger Baker completed soccer practice. He was circling the field's perimeter – called "the Cougar Mile" – as part of a cool-down exercise when he collapsed about 5 p.m.

A coach administered CPR until paramedics arrived. After receiving a call from school administrators, William Baker showed up just as the ambulance was pulling out of the campus driveway.

William Baker, his wife and his father-in-law followed paramedics to Mercy San Juan Medical Center, where Brandon Baker was pronounced dead.

"They hit him with the paddles and tried to start his heart," William Baker said of the paramedics. "By the time they got (to the hospital), they said they had tried everything they could."

Assistant Coroner Ed Smith said his office is not aware of any medical conditions or drug or alcohol use by Baker.

The Coroner's Office is awaiting toxicology results.

Smith said the boy's age could make it difficult to determine an exact cause of death.

Center Unified School District policy requires that all students get medical clearance before participating in sports.

The same policy also states "care shall be taken to ensure that all athletic trainings and competitions are conducted in a manner that will not overtax the physical capabilities of the participants."

Assistant Superintendent Scott Loehr said Brandon Baker had the required medical clearance on file, with no mention of problems by the boy's doctor.

Loehr said Tuesday's soccer practice was routine and not overly strenuous.

"Everything I've heard is there is no indication it was anything out of the ordinary," Loehr said.

About 3 p.m. that day – just after school let out, and likely shortly before practice began – the temperature in the Sacramento area was 89 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. By 5 p.m., the temperature was 92.

William Baker said he has no reason to believe the day's heat or the intensity of the workout caused his son's death.

"Everything's been going just fine" with his son's previous soccer workouts, he said.

Baker played sports all his life and aspired to be a professional athlete, his father said.

Brett Teves, who coached Baker in Little League for five years, said the boy acted like a leader on his team. He was respectful, easygoing and always all-star athletic material.

"He was a role model," Teves said. "He was a very good kid, very athletic."

On Wednesday, Baker's death was on the minds of many at Center High.

Irene Aldana was on campus to pick up her 14-year-old son, Gilbert Moreno. It had been a struggle, she said, to get him go to school. She described her son and Baker as "two peas in a pod."

Still dressed in his shoulder pads after football practice, Moreno said he was trying to keep Baker's death off his mind.

"We couldn't believe that it happened," the boy said, casting his eyes downward.

Moreno and another boy said players planned to dedicate the season in Baker's memory.

Call The Bee's Kim Minugh, (916) 321-1038. Bee staff writer Bill Lindelof contributed to this report.