Douglas rallies past Florida Christian

Despite having an early six-run lead slip away, the Douglas baseball scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Florida Christian 11-10 late Monday night at Florida International University.

Chase Greene's sharp line drive up the middle bounced off the edge of Patriots' pitcher Bryan Radziewski's glove and allowed Zack Davis to score the winning run that ended the non-district contest.

The game took three hours and 20 minutes and was part of Lineupmag.com's ongoing Monday Night Baseball series at FIU.

''Even though we made mistakes, I praise my guys for battling back,'' Douglas coach Dean Florio said. ``We emphasize always putting the ball in play because something could happen in your favor.''

Florida Christian (14-2), ranked No. 3 in the state in Class 3A, was one out away from securing a comeback victory when Radziewski got Douglas designated hitter Adam Kam to hit a grounder to shortstop Ray Navarro. But Navarro's throw to first was low and bounced past first baseman Alfredo Brito, allowing Tyler Greene and Brad Terboss to score and tie the game at 10-10.

Douglas (10-5) took a 7-1 lead after two innings, but Florida Christian scored three runs in the third and four in the fourth to tie the game at 8-8.

The Patriots took a 9-8 lead when Brito hit one of his three singles in the top of the fifth. He scored three batters later when right fielder Jarret Burgess reached on an infield single with two outs.

Florida Christian's Andrew Webster held Douglas' hitters in check, going four scoreless innings in relief of starter Danny Sanchez. But Webster hit a batter to start the seventh and walked two more to load the bases.

''I thought we showed a lot of character to come back early, but sometimes mental mistakes happen,'' Florida Christian coach Ernie Padron said. ``It's part of the game, and they'll learn from it.''

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WP: Billy Miller (1-0). LP: Bryan Radziewski.