Southridge baseball sweeps Doral, plus more regional semifinal results
Miami Southridge has taken steps this season to become one of the state’s best baseball teams once again.
This weekend, the Spartans secured another milestone on that path by sweeping Doral Academy in a two-game road sweep of the Region 4-6A semifinal series.
First baseman Jonathan Paniagua’s two home runs and seven RBIs led the Spartans (21-5) to their first trip to the regional finals since 2002. That was the last season that Southridge advanced to the state final.
The Spartans will next take on defending Class 6A state champion St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale in the Region 4-6A final best-of-3 series beginning Friday at 7 at Aquinas.
Southridge beat Doral (24-6) for the third consecutive time, having also defeated the Firebirds two weeks ago to clinch its first district title since 2008. In Friday’s series opener, Southridge rallied from a 3-1 deficit with four runs in the sixth inning and eventually hung on for a 6-5 win.
The Spartans also won their first GMAC tournament title since 2001 earlier this season.
“They just did all the little things right and I’m just super proud of these guys,” Southridge coach Manny Ojeda said. “We hadn’t won a district title in 18 years and now we’re headed to the regional finals. To see these guys grow has been wonderful.”
Starting pitcher Isaac Vidal, a University of Miami commit who also threw in Friday’s series opener, threw the first two innings. Brandon Pfieffer came in to pitch the third and finished out the final three innings.
Chris Gonzalez led off the game with a home run to right field off Doral starter Marco Ecarri. Southridge went on to score two more runs in the inning for 3-0 lead after one.
Paniagua then blasted a towering three-run homer off the scoreboard in left center in the second to give the Spartans a 6-0 lead.
Nico Perez’s solo home run made it 7-0 before Paniagua blasted a two-out grand slam in the bottom of fifth to secure the walk-off win. The Spartans were hitting in the bottom half of the innings despite playing at Doral after the teams switched for the second game of the series.
MORE BASEBALL
Region 4-3A semifinal - Miami Springs 7, iMater Prep 2: Despite graduating 12 seniors from last year’s state championship team, the Hawks continued their title defense with a sweep of No. 4 seed Knights (17-8) on Saturday morning at Walker Park in Hialeah.
The win completed a two-game series sweep, and extended Springs’ postseason winning streak to 11 in a row. Miami Springs (17-10-1), which is remarkably on this run despite being the No. 8 seed in the region, advances to a Best-of-3 Region 4-3A final against No. 3 Gulliver Prep next weekend.
Junior center fielder Taylor Ancheta, who hit the biggest home run in program history 11 months ago with a game-winning solo homer in the 3A state title game, broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the second with another home run. This one was a three-run shot over the right field fence that put Springs ahead for good.
“We knew we were starting to really kick it into gear towards the end of the season and that’s what you want to be doing at this time of year, playing your best baseball,” said Ancheta who now has five home runs this season along with a .372 battling average and 26 RBIs.
Region 4-7A semifinal - Douglas 20, Southwest 4: On Friday night, five-time reigning state champion Douglas needed its ace Gio Rojas to be his typical dominant self.
Although not at his sharpest as he issued four walks and hit a batter, Rojas powered Douglas to a 1-0 win with 12 strikeouts over 6 ⅓ no-hit innings.
But longtime coach Todd Fitz-Gerald saw a bigger issue concerning the team’s offense that needed to be addressed.
“Overall I thought we stunk offensively. I thought we were abysmal,” Fitz-Gerald said. “We didn’t execute and it could have been disastrous.”
Message received.
A day after Rojas’ latest gem, Douglas (24-5) recovered its form at the plate, blasting 17 hits overall to wrap up a two-game sweep of Southwest (17-9).
Jake Rizzo and Rojas led the charge as each hit a home run and had five RBI. Rizzo went 4-for-4 and Lorenzo Laurel also went 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Matthew Toback had two hits and two RBI and Ander Elorriaga had two hits. Reid Dadic had two RBI and allowed two earned runs on five hits over three innings. He struck out three and walked one.
Region 4-2A semifinal - Chaminade 10, Boca Raton St. John Paul II 0: The Lions (20-11) put together back-to-back shutouts after a 13-0 rout in Friday’s first game. Santiago Arismendi gave up five hits over five shutout innings on Saturday, striking out three and waking two. Spencer Krasner struck out 11 and allowed three hits and two walks in six innings on Friday. Chase Potter had three hits and three RBI and AJ Diaz had two hits and an RBI.
Region 4-6A semifinal - St. Thomas Aquinas 15, West Boca Raton 14: The Raiders (24-5) rallied twice in what became a wild finish to the decisive third game of their series after West Boca scored seven runs in the fifth and six more in the sixth. Aquinas watched its 6-1 lead heading into the fifth vanish but then rallied from deficits of 8-6 and 14-10 to move on to the regional finals.
Nico Sabatino led the Raiders with two hits and five RBI while Brady Buxbaum had three hits and three RBI. Jaden Doverspike had four hits and an RBI. Yuniel Paredes had three hits and an RBI and Jake Carruthers had two hits and an RBI.
Region 4-5A semifinal - Mater Academy 24, Okeechobee 3: After dropping the first game in extra innings on Friday, the Lions (24-6) swept their foe on Saturday with a 9-3 rout and their mercy rule clincher. Bryan Mesa led Mater with three hits, including two doubles, and two RBI in the third game. Bryan Fernandez also went 2 for 3 with two RBI. Mater will next host Archbishop McCarthy in the regional finals starting Friday.
Region 4-5A semifinal - Archbishop McCarthy 9, Pembroke Pines Charter 3: Joey Shapiro had a three-run home run and Jay Patterson had three hits and an RBI to lead the Mavericks (16-13) in the series clinching third game. Robert Kerns also had two hits.
Region 4-4A semifinal - American Heritage 5, Merritt Island 2: Santiago Monticello, Gabriel Rozenfeld and Enrique Santos combined to strike out 11 and help the Patriots (19-9) rally to win the series with back-to-back wins on Saturday. Heritage will next host Somerset Academy in the regional finals. David Saladdino had two RBI and Marc Asencio, Anthony Lyman and Gavin Ruvalcaba each had an RBI. Heritage will next host Somerset Academy in the regional finals.
Region 4-4A semifinal - Somerset Academy 10, Key West 4: The Panthers (17-12) continued their impressive playoff run with a series victory at Key West. Alan Sanchez and Jon Mora each had two hits and two RBI. Brady Kenhan had a double and a triple while Ryan Marichal had two hits and an RBI.
Region 4-1A semifinal - Schoolhouse Prep 5, Miami Christian 4 (8): The Wolfpack (15-13) next host Brito in the regional finals.
Region 4-1A semifinal - Brito 10, Jupiter Christian 9: Cristian Rodriguez had a triple and three RBI. Raivon Pinder had three hits, including two doubles, and Leandro Rosario had two hits and two RBI for the Panthers (10-13).
This story was originally published May 3, 2026 at 12:32 PM.
