West Broward hangs on to beat Southwest to advance to 7A baseball regional semifinals

Head coach Howard Stein made no bones about it.

Asked when the news came out before the season began that the FHSAA state regional baseball playoffs had gone to best two-out-of-three instead of the traditional one-game format and if he was happy about it, his answer was emphatic.

“I hated it and I was one of the biggest opponents against it,” Stein said. He then paused and unveiled a sheepish grin on his face. “What a great rules change.”

Stein was all for it now because under the old one-game format, his Pembroke Pines West Broward team’s season would have ended Wednesday when No. 6 seeded Southwest traveled to Broward County and knocked off the Bobcats 4-1.

West Broward took maximum advantage of the second opportunity. Two days after shutting out the Eagles in game two (6-0), the Bobcats traveled to Southwest’s Andre Dawson Field on Saturday afternoon for the “rubber” match and hung on for a 5-4 victory in a Region 4-7A quarterfinal matchup.

West Broward (19-11) advances to next week’s regional semifinal round and the No. 3 seeded Bobcats will travel to Miami to take on No. 2 Columbus with Games one and two scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday at Columbus at 4 p.m. It will mark the third straight year the two have met in the same round with the Explorers winning in 2023 and the Bobcats last season.

West Broward, on the strength of a strong offensive game from junior second baseman Ivan Sabater, had built a 5-0 lead through four innings and were one out away from wrapping up an seemingly easy 5-1 win.

But Southwest, as it seems to have done so many times on its home field, would not quit. A half dozen times, the Eagles were literally down to their last strike before both Ajay Perez and Orisjoe Valdes worked walks off West Broward pitcher Angel Figueroa.

Senior captain Albert Bell then stepped up and, again with two strikes, hit a towering drive over the fence in right center for a three run homer as the Eagles dugout celebrated. Stein then brought in ace closer Derek Sclafani to try and get the final out.

When Sclafani induced Michael Cabrera to hit a routine grounder to second, it appeared he had done so. That was until the Bobcats second baseman booted it bringing Max Rico to the plate.

When Cabrera attempted to steal second, the throw down went into center field and he took off for third. In a moment that Southwest coach Mandy Palaez and his team will look back on as an opportunity lost, West Broward center fielder Ethan Lindor bobbled the ball.

Palaez initially waved Cabrera home. But Cabrera, not realizing what had happened with Lindor’s bobble, had already stopped and headed back after rounding third. One pitch later, Sclafani struck out Rico swinging to end the game.

“I threw him a two-seam fast ball that was outside and got him to chase it,” Sclafani said. “I didn’t really didn’t think I’d be going in but I knew I had to be ready just in case I got the call and I was.”

Palaez didn’t fret too much over that final sequence involving Cabrera.

“Once he had stopped, it was a good thing he didn’t try and score because he would’ve been out,” said Palaez after he had finished giving his team its season-ending speech in right field following the contest. “I’m proud of our kids. We never ever quit in a game and we showed that out there again today.”

West Broward built its lead by plating three runs in the second thanks to five hits, one a double by Sabater. Sergio Garcia and Anthony Sanchez followed with a bunt single and infield hit, respectively before Carlos Paneque and Lindor delivered with RBI singles to complete the rally. One inning later, Sabater stepped up and drilled one over the right field fence for a solo home run and 4-0 lead chasing Eagles starter Uclides Alvarez.

“Their pitcher (Alvarez) didn’t have a lot of velo (velocity) to get it past me and he pitched me outside so I decided to stay back and hit it the other way,” said Sabater when asked about his two big hits. “That was my plan the whole game.”

Trailing 5-0, the Eagles (17-11) finally got something going with a two-out rally in the fifth on back-to-back singles by Perez and Valdes before Bell hit an RBI double off the center field fence chasing West Broward starter Adrian Bermudez. With runners on second and third, Figueroa entered and got Cabrera to ground out to second to end the threat.

“Give them credit,” said Stein pointing over to the Southwest postgame huddle in right field. “They’re a well-coached team and those kids scrapped, clawed and just wouldn’t go away. Right down to the last out, they gave us a real scare but fortunately our guy made a big pitch when it counted the most. Columbus again – it’s going to be a great series and we’re excited for the opportunity.”