Clutch hits late spark North Broward Prep to second consecutive state baseball title
North Broward Prep’s baseball team went on a bit of a Cinderella run to its first state title a year ago.
But this season, despite some setbacks along the way, the Eagles believed they deserved to be state champions once again.
“There was never a fairy tale that we could come here and when they truly believed, that’s contagious, and everybody wants to work to get here,” North Broward Prep coach Brian Campbell said.
While they were not the highest-ranked team in their bracket like last season, the Eagles proved they belonged once again as they secured their second consecutive state title following a 5-3 comeback win over Tampa Berkeley Prep on Wednesday at Hammond Stadium.
North Broward (23-9) finished its season winning 16 of its final 17 games following a two-game stretch in which they were shut out back-to-back by district rival Calvary Christian and West Boca in late March.
“It was their attitude of knowing they could get back here and knowing they could get here and when you know that kind of pulls everybody else along,” Campbell said.
North Broward Prep capped a stellar week for South Florida teams at the state tournament as the four teams from Miami-Dade and Broward - the Eagles, Douglas, Doral Academy and Miami Christian - all won state titles.
The Eagles, who were ranked 72nd overall in the state entering regionals by MaxPreps, upended No. 11 Berkeley Prep (28-4) a day after beating No. 53 Cardinal Newman in the semifinals.
North Broward Prep became the sixth Broward County school to ever win back-to-back state championships, joining Archbishop McCarthy, Flanagan, Douglas, Nova and Westminster Academy.
“They stayed the course. There were tough times in our season,” Campbell said. “We had a little roller coaster there for a bit. We had a two week stretch where we weren’t playing very good baseball. But the boys just kept working and never gave up. They kept grinding.”
The Eagles, who started five sophomores in Wednesday’s final including starting pitcher Ryan McPherson, needed to course correct late in the game after he allowed two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth as the Bucs took a 3-2 lead.
Senior and Appalachian State commit Jonathan Xuereb pitched the Eagles out of trouble after Cade Kurland’s go-ahead solo home run. He then led off the sixth with a double. After senior and Florida Gators commit Yoel Tejeda Jr. walked, sophomore Gian DeCastro’s sacrifice bunt didn’t work out as intended as courtesy runner Zac Mandell was thrown out at third.
As he did the night before, sophomore Riley Luft delivered the clutch hit when he roped a double into the left center gap to tie the game.
“I was looking at it, I was down 0-2 so I was just not happy with the umps today, but he gave me a pitch right there and I just took advantage of it and drove it,” Luft said.
Two batters later, sophomore A.J. Cutler hit a slow roller up the first base line and reached safely on a throwing error by Berkeley Prep pitcher Rivers Kurland to give North Broward the lead when DeCastro scored. Sophomore Nick Koorse followed with a sac fly to score Luft.
“I think Riley’s just got that mentality that he can do it,” Xuereb said. “He doesn’t get pressured. And he just doesn’t think of anything.”
For Campbell, who has coached at North Broward Prep for the past 20 years, the victory represented something special for a program he’s seen rise from barely a district contender to a repeat state champion.
“That road has come with some really good people, as coaches and administrators…my athletic department,” Campbell said. “My coaching staff right now is the best group of men that I could ever put together, and we’ve been together for a long time. We’ve been through rough times together too. So to get here with them and see the work they put in away from their families. That is very, very special to me.”
This story was originally published May 25, 2022 at 5:45 PM.
