West Broward baseball ousts Columbus from playoffs for third season in a row
West Broward’s baseball team is once again on the cusp of a breakthrough season for its program.
Each of the past two seasons, the Bobcats’ playoff march has been halted in the regional finals by five-time Stoneman Douglas.
Will the third time be the charm for West Broward?
The Bobcats might just have the right mix needed to overcome their longtime nemesis if they can produce the timely hitting they did this past weekend while securing a 2-1 series win over Miami Columbus in their best-of-3 Region 4-7A semifinal at Columbus.
Trailing 5-2 after four innings in the decisive game on Saturday afternoon, third baseman AJ Cruz and catcher Manuel Sarcos hit back to back home runs to spark a five-run inning that eventually propelled West Broward to a clinching 13-7 rout.
The Bobcats (22-8) earned a rematch at Douglas in the regional finals in another best-of-3 series beginning Friday at 6.
Douglas (24-5) advanced after a two-game sweep of Southwest Miami.
“We have great hitters, and confidence right now,” Sarcos said.
Sarcos nearly matched his home run total for the season in one game with three home runs in the clinching victory, giving him seven overall.
His two-run homer in the fourth inning started West Broward’s comeback after Columbus took a 4-0 lead on a sac fly by Evan Paul, a double by Dayan Viciedo in the second and a two-run home run by AJ Rivero in the third inning.
Sarcos broke the game open in the sixth with a three-run home run that followed a solo home run by Ethan Lindor.
“Ethan started it with the big knock and I just felt good to keep it going,” Cruz said.
West Broward used the long ball throughout the three-game series, hitting seven home runs overall.
The Bobcats were resilient in multiple spots as well. In Friday’s first game, which had six lead changes, Reggie Rodriguez hit a two-run home run in the top of the seventh to rally West Broward for a 7-6 comeback win.
On Saturday, Columbus (26-5) responded with a 10-4 victory to tie the series at 1, highlighted by an RJ Diaz two-run home run and an RBI single.
But West Broward answered with its offensive outburst to defeat the Explorers in the regional semifinals for the third consecutive season.
“For us to lose the first game and then at 4-0 the game could have gotten out of hand,” West Broward coach Howard Stein said. “Manu (Sarcos) gave us some life and the bats just caught fire and doing damage and that’s contagious.”
Next will be its all-too familiar Broward County nemesis.
Although the Bobcats have some confidence stemming from their 9-5 victory on Feb. 25 over Douglas with Eagles’ ace Gio Rojas on the mound.
“We beat them for the first time in a long time,” Stein said. “We’re going in there with the confidence we haven’t had before, especially after these wins over Columbus. They’re a good ball club.”
This story was originally published May 3, 2026 at 10:11 AM.
