Southwest baseball continues to ‘find ways to win’ after rallying against Varela
Southwest’s baseball’s tendency to defy the odds this season no matter how daunting they may seem kicked up a notch on Tuesday night.
The Eagles were facing Varela ace Edgar Colon, a University of Miami commit and potential draft prospect.
They had mustered only one hit for the first 4⅔ innings against the senior lefty.
And they were behind 4-0 at that point.
No problem.
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Southwest batters worked four consecutive walks from Colon to start a rally that culminated with five runs to give the Eagles the lead for good in a 5-4 comeback win over the Vipers in a Region 4-6A quarterfinal at Andre Dawson Field.
Joel Cabrera’s two-run single put Southwest (21-6) ahead after Colon lost command and issued those walks.
The Eagles will next host Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer (19-7) in the Region 4-6A semifinals on Friday at 4 p.m.
“It doesn’t matter how much we’re down. Edgar is a special pitcher, but we told the kids to stick to their game plan and Joel came through again,” Southwest coach Mandy Pelaez said. “These guys have been doing that all season, getting big hits when it counts.”
Pelaez has grown accustomed to stressing through his team’s games this season.
But as long as the Eagles keep finding ways to win, Pelaez will just keep smiling.
He watched his team stay patient in their approaches against Colon, who finished out the game and only allowed two hits overall.
After forcing Southwest’s first run home on his fourth walk, Colon then hit Eagles junior outfielder Albert Bell to force in another run, a passed ball allowed another run to score, cutting the lead to 4-3.
Cabrera then stepped in and worked a full count before delivering with a sharp liner into the outfield that scored the go-ahead runs.
“I just wanted to get a couple of runs in and make it hurt,” Cabrera said. “I was just sitting fastball and I didn’t miss it. His slider wasn’t as effective late in the game so I was just looking for the fastball. I told myself I wasn’t going to swing at any curveballs until I got that pitch.”
The victory was the second for Southwest in three matchups against the Vipers (17-9) in the past two weeks. All three games were decided by one run.
Sophomore Euclides Alvarez pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk and striking out one to pick up the save in relief of starter Nestor Quintana.
Alvarez also picked up the save last week when Southwest won its district championship against Doral Academy in a 4-1 victory that lasted eight innings.
“Nestor did a great job and (Alvarez) came in and shut the door,” Pelaez said. “That’s the 1-2 punch we’ve been working on for us on the mound.”
