Stoneman Douglas overcomes adversity, pulls within one victory of a perfect season
If anyone thought the final steps in the Stoneman Douglas baseball team’s journey to a potential perfect season would be easy, guess again.
And not because of any adversity on the field.
For the unbeaten, nationally top-ranked Eagles, just getting to Fort Myers this week was an ordeal.
“We’ve had a rough couple of days,” Douglas coach Todd Fitz Gerald said. “The bus broke down, blew a tire on Alligator Alley, and limped our way to a gas station in Naples.
“We spent four hours under the underhang of a Shell gas station and couldn’t even sit on the bus while they changed the tire under the pouring rain. But not one of these kids ever complained or said ‘Coach, when do we get out of here?’ It shows the resilience of this team.”
Despite the extended trek to state and their ace Christian Rodriguez battling the flu, the Eagles found a way to stay on course to perfection on Tuesday night at Hammond Stadium following a 5-1 win over Port Orange Spruce Creek in a Class 7A state semifinal.
Rodriguez threw a complete game, struck out eight, allowed only two hits, one unearned run and one walk to lead Douglas (28-0), which won its 50th consecutive game (the longest active winning streak in the nation) and will next play Tampa Plant (21-7) on Wednesday night for the state title.
“I felt good. I just put it beside me,” Rodriguez said. “They trust me to give the best that I’ve got and my team always has my back so I just went out there and told myself I’d give them my best. Nothing really changed in my approach, just go out there and throw strikes and help us score runs.”
The Eagles, ranked No. 1 in the country by Baseball America, have the chance to become only the second Broward County team to win three consecutive state titles, joining Archbishop McCarthy, and could win three consecutive national titles.
They would also become the first Broward County team to complete an undefeated season and first in the South Florida area since Westminster Christian in 1996.
“We were stranded on the side of the road for four hours,” Fitz Gerald said. “The kids have just been through the ringer the past couple of days. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
Adding to their challenges, when Douglas was finally on the field Tuesday night, they had to deal with Spruce Creek starter Shane Lavin, who struck out six over the first two innings and seven overall before running into trouble in the third.
After falling behind 1-0 in the first, Douglas tied the game in the bottom half on a Rylan Lujo single and then took the lead in that third on a sacrifice fly by Matt Ossenfort that scored Alex Rodriguez.
The Eagles left the bases loaded in that inning, but Ossenfort delivered the big hit in the fifth against reliever Nick Lorenz when he crushed a double to right field to score Devin Fitz Gerald, who went 2 for 4, and pinch runner Jacob Hertzberg. Fitz Gerald started the inning with a stand-up triple on a ball hit to the right field wall.
“Early on (their starter) did a great job attacking on the outside half early, but we ran his pitch count up and then they went to their second guy and he left some balls up,” said Ossenfort, a Vanderbilt commit. “Bennett (Gary) put two really good swings on it that probably would have been gone at our park. Devin’s triple was huge and Christian got a big walk in there. We’re one win away now.”
Ossenfort, who transferred to Douglas this season from out of state, said he and his teammates spent the four hours finding ways to pass the time, which was not a problem for what he said has become such a tight-knit group off the field and why he credits the Eagles for being so consistent.
“A lot of shadowboxing,” Ossenfort said with a laugh. “We pulled a bunch of pranks on each other, kept it light. Since the fall, I’ve felt like I’ve been part of the family all four years. This is a special group.”
