Miami Christian cements name among Dade’s top baseball programs with fourth state title
Miami Christian proved once again it belongs in the conversation when it comes to South Florida’s top baseball programs.
Led by strong collective effort from its relievers and more aggressive baserunning, the Victors rallied from an early deficit to beat Tallahassee North Florida Christian 4-1 on Tuesday night in the Class 2A state championship at Hammond Stadium.
Miami Christian (29-3) won its fourth state title overall and third in the past five seasons.
“Out of all three, this one was the most wild one for sure,” Miami Christian coach Chris Cuadra said. “It was just back and forth, back and forth, every inning was stressful. I was pretty proud of the guys. They stayed level-headed and we pulled through.”
While the Victors don’t have the vast amount of state titles as a few other Miami-Dade and Broward powerhouses, they are quickly ascending in the record books.
Miami Christian’s four state titles now rank sixth all-time among Dade and Broward schools tied with Hialeah-Miami Lakes. The Victors trail only Westminster Christian (11), Brito (7), Monsignor Pace (7), Archbishop McCarthy (7) and now defunct Loyola (5) on that list.
Winning three titles in half a decade though is something four of those schools have all done.
Miami Christian, which won its first state title in 1975, has won all of its recent three under Cuadra.
“As a player, I never won one,” Cuadra said. “But I wanted to put Miami Christian where they’re at now. I felt like we built something really good. You know, we’re a small school. But guys just want to come to us and we have a culture of winning.”
Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Miami Christian made a game-changing play on the basepaths much like it did when Roylan Quevedo stole home in their state semifinal win on Monday against Orlando Foundation Academy.
After Jeter Polledo led off with a single, catcher Chris Diaz bunted him over to second. But Polledo didn’t stop at second. As he rounded the bag to head to third he forced a wild overthrow from NFC first baseman Kaseman Pressley that allowed him to score and tie the game at 1.
“We’re just a team that we never give up at any given time,” Quevedo said. “Since we started, all year we play together and this is exactly what we work for. And we just came out here and did our job and we just won the game.”
In the fifth, another error on a rushed throw by NFC shortstop Traylon Ray on an infield single by Jesus Mosegue allowed Jeymel Estrada to score from second and give Miami Christian the lead for good. The Victors added two more in the inning on a sac fly by Bryant Zayas and a single by Polledo.
“We have a lot of speed on the bases,” Cuadra said. “We put pressure. We stole a couple of bags. It gave us an advantage I felt and I always tell them if they want to win a championship we need defense and pitching.”
An RBI single by North Florida Christian designated hitter Aiden Butler scored the first run after Miami Christian starter Henry Martinez walked the bases loaded. But Polledo came up with a great throw to the plate to Estrada to prevent a second run as he tagged NFC left fielder Joey Ervin out at the plate.
“I just saw the hit, and I knew with the bases loaded, they were going to try to score two,” Polledo said. “So let’s just get the ball in as quick as possible.”
David Bosque would pitch 3 ⅓ scoreless innings in relief, Derrek Arrocha would pitch the final 2 1/3 innings and Jameson Caro would record the final out to seal the win.
“I’m always happy to come in for the team and to be able to shut it down every other game,” Bosque said. “I’m always prepared mentally and physically. So it was great to come in and just finish off the job.”
This story was originally published May 24, 2022 at 9:42 PM.
