Doral’s bats silenced, state title repeat bid dashed by in state baseball semifinal loss
Doral Academy’s lineup provided a strong complement to its deep pitching staff, averaging nearly seven runs per game this season and nearly nine during the postseason.
But those bats were silenced on Tuesday morning.
The Firebirds were unable to muster a run and held to only four hits against Viera High’s pitching combo of Dylan Jordan and Camden Wicker and lost 3-0 to the Hawks in a Class 6A state semifinal at Hammond Stadium.
Doral (24-6) fell short in its bid to win back-to-back state championships a year after winning the school’s first ever in baseball.
Jordan, a Florida State commit, struck out seven and walked three, allowing three hits over 4 ⅔ innings. Wicker, a Wofford commit, allowed the other hit, walked one and struck out five more.
“We just didn’t do anything offensively today and when you do that it makes it tough,” Doral coach Ralph Suarez said. “If you had told me coming in, we’d only allow three runs, I’d have thought we’d have a good chance to win. But we didn’t swing the bats well today.”
The Firebirds were shut out for the third time this season and first since losing 1-0 to St. Xavier in the first game of the National High School Invitational in Cary, N.C. on March 29. The only other shutout loss was against Stoneman Douglas - the No. 1-ranked team in the nation by Baseball America.
Doral slugged well against almost everyone else on its schedule, averaging 6.8 runs per game this season and almost 8.9 per game in three regional playoff wins.
The Firebirds had a runner in scoring position three times on Tuesday, but none ever got past second base.
Daniel Restrepo doubled to deep left center with one out in the fourth with Doral trailing 1-0. But Jordan proceeded to strike out Gabriel Milano and Alejandro Ludeiro to end the inning.
The Firebirds put two runners on with two outs in the fifth after Justin Ruiz drew a walk and, two batters later, Michael Torres singled to center. This prompted Viera to turn to Wicker, who induced an inning-ending pop up from Wilfred Gonzalez.
“(Jordan)’s fastball had a lot of movement and a nice changeup and slider,” Torres said. “It was a great combination of pitches and he kept putting it where we couldn’t hit it. He’s a good pitcher.”
What made things even more frustrating for Doral was the fact Viera’s first two runs came on bases loaded walks. The third came in the seventh inning when Fano Cruz tripled to the gap in right center off Keyler Gonzalez and then scored on a throwing error.
Gonzalez was the fourth pitcher Doral used in the game after starter Luis Rodriguez exited in the first with an injury. Rodriguez was hit by a liner back to the mound a batter earlier, which loaded the bases. He then walked Cruz, forcing in the first run of the game.
Rodriguez, Pedro Acosta, Torres and Gonzalez combined for 10 strikeouts and were among five pitchers used overall. Rodriguez, Acosta and Torres combined to walk six batters though.
Doral’s rotation was shorthanded in recent weeks with ace and University of Florida commit Frankie Menendez dealing with an injury.
“Sometimes in baseball, it’s a strange deal,” Suarez said. “I thought we prepared well and other than a mistake in the seventh (inning), I thought we played sound. Losing Luis put us in a tough situation because we’re stretched thin at pitching.
“We had a good run considering we haven’t had our No. 1 (pitcher) since the playoffs started.”
