Mater Lakes baseball team exacts revenge on Miami Springs in region quarterfinals
The irony was certainly not lost on Mater Lakes Academy baseball coach Rafael Jiron.
Two years after he watched his team (then as an assistant coach) defeat district rival Miami Springs to win the district title, only to be matched up against them in the first round of regionals and have the Golden Hawks beat them to end their season.
It happened again on Wednesday, but this time, it was the Bears who turned the tables.
Just five days after Springs won a dramatic extra-inning slugfest over Mater Lakes to capture another district title, Mater Lakes got the revenge it so desperately sought as the Bears defeated Springs 6-3 in a Region 4-4A quarterfinal contest on Wednesday afternoon at Springs High’s Shelly Dunkel Field.
A happy Springs squad locked up the No. 2 playoff seed in their region last week and saw Mater Lakes fall to the No. 7 spot two days later when the FHSAA announced the regional pairings.
That meant Springs would have to turn around and beat the Bears all over again. But, thanks to a strong pitching performance by starter Alfrin Rosario and some clutch hitting from Taisuki Rodriguez, Mater Lakes advances to the regional semifinals for only the second time in program history (having lost to North Broward Prep. in the regional final in 2021).
The Bears will hit the road again Saturday, traveling to Miami Sunset to take on the No. 6 seed Knights after they eliminated No. 3 Delray Beach American Heritage 4-3 in 9 innings.
“Absolutely, we still have some kids who were on that roster from two years ago who I didn’t have to remind them what happened to us and told the kids who were not on that team that opportunity we had in front of us when we found out we got paired up against Springs again,” said Jiron, when asked his reaction to the news that his Bears would get another shot at their rivals when it “really” counted. “Even though they shocked us early and got ahead, credit our kids for keeping their poise and battling back and really played great baseball today. It was our chance at payback and we took advantage of it.”
Jiron referred to the first two batters Rosario faced to lead off the game. Springs’ Roydan Perez doubled to right center before Ivan Membreno, who turned in a strong two-home run performance to lead the Hawks past Southwest in the GMAC championship game, did it again when he turned on a Rosario fast ball and drove it high over the fence in right center.
Just like that, Springs had a 2-0 lead as a stunned Bears dugout looked on.
But Rosario never flinched. He then settled down and retired the next 11 Springs batters in order. After the Bears (16-13) plated a single run in the third to trim their deficit in half, chasing starter Magdiel Estevez, Rosario watched from the dugout as Rodriguez stepped up with one on and two out in the top of the fourth and blasted a deep shot over the left field fence off reliever Sammy Camacho.
The two-run homer gave the Bears a lead they would never lose.
“I got a fast ball up, something I could handle and just turned on it,” said Rodriguez. “It was a big moment because it gave us the lead and gave us the confidence that we could win this thing today.”
Camacho wasn’t nearly as effective as he was when he came in to relief Estevez in the district final as the two pitchers combined to walk six Mater Lakes batters and hit another five.
The free passes provided an opportunity for Rosario, who was relieved by Vladil Balderina the previous inning but remained in the lineup, a big chance to help his team, stepping up the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the sixth. Rosario doubled down the right field line scoring two to give the Bears a 5-2 lead and breathing room they were looking for.
Jeuri LaRosa added one more run with an RBI double in the seventh to make it 6-2 before the Hawks plated a harmless two-out run in the final inning on a fielding error.
Springs head coach David Fanshawe was boxed into a corner as he knew that Mater Lakes had gotten a great look at his two best pitchers, Estevez and Camacho in last week’s district final and it showed as both struggled. Meanwhile, Jiron kept Rosario, his ace on the bench on a hunch that, win or lose that night, his team might see Springs again and that’s exactly how it played out.
“Yeah, I knew win or lost that night that we were already in regionals so I kept Alfrin, even though he’s our horse, off the mound with that thought in the back of my mind,” Jiron said. ”He really did a nice job of keeping his poise and settling down after giving up that early home run.”
After Membreno’s homer, Springs would tally just two base hits the remainder of the game off Balderina, who was forced to come out in the sixth when he appeared to hurt his back, and Javier Reyes who closed out the game.
“Seeing the same arms today that we did last week I think was definitely an advantage for us,” Rodriguez said. “We felt really fortunate the way the seedings fell that we got another shot at them for sure and now we want to keep this thing going.”
MORE RESULTS
Region 4-4A quarterfinals - Sunset 4, Delray American Heritage 3 (9); Key West 5, Jensen Beach 4; Cardinal Gibbons 3, Somerset Academy 0.
Region 3-3A quarterfinals: North Broward Prep 5, Melbourne Central Catholic 0; Coral Springs Charter 4, Montverde Academy 3.
Region 4-3A quarterfinals: Miami Westminster Christian 12, Keys Gate 2; Chaminade-Madonna 9, Monsignor Pace 7; Calvary Christian 4, COHEA 0; NSU University School 12, Palmer Trinity 3.
Region 4-2A quarterfinals: Miami Christian 10, Dade Christian 0; Westminster Academy 6, Brito 3; Lake Worth Trinity Christian 10, True North 7; Fort Pierce John Carroll 4, Schoolhouse Prep 3.
This story was originally published May 8, 2024 at 11:27 PM.