American Heritage rides early surge to second state baseball title in three years
American Heritage’s baseball team didn’t let adversity or the odds - even when they were in its favor - deter them from their goal this season.
The Patriots served up another example of this on Tuesday night.
Heritage faced underdog Mulberry, a first-time state finalist, instead of perennial powerhouse Tampa Jesuit - the team that beat the Patriots in last year’s final.
Heritage didn’t take their inspired foe lightly, striking for five runs in the second inning and riding that advantage to a 6-1 victory in the Class 4A state championship game at Hammond Stadium, which delivered the Patriots their second state title in three seasons and fourth overall.
“This team here (Mulberry), beat Jesuit with their ace on the mound (Monday) so this was no secret,” American Heritage coach and athletic director Bruce Aven said. “They did the job just like they could have done the job against us. Our kids were ready to go.”
American Heritage (29-6), ranked No. 17 nationally by MaxPreps, was the fifth school over the past week from either Broward or Miami-Dade County to win a state title, joining Miami Springs (Class 3A), Hialeah Gardens Mater Academy (5A), Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas (6A) and Parkland Stoneman Douglas (7A).
It was the most combined for Dade and Broward in a single season all-time.
The Patriots capped it with another strong collective performance, highlighted by a pitching staff which had to lean on its depth once again as it had all season.
“One through nine, we had guys competing every day,” Aven said. “Our seniors graduated already, and they weren’t already worrying about college and where they might get drafted, they were committed to high school.”
Senior and North Carolina signee Talan Holiday dealt with injuries at multiple times this season, but delivered a strong start to help Heritage get past Panama City Beach Arnold in extra innings in Monday night’s semifinal.
A day later, starter Mark Aleman tossed five scoreless innings despite four walks and allowed two hits while striking out five on 82 pitches.
Aleman ran into some trouble in the sixth as Mulberry scored its lone run off reliever Santiago Montiel. Sophomore Enrique Santos shut the door, pitching the final 1 2/3 innings, allowing only one hit and one walk with two strikeouts.
“It’s been tough this season. I was told I was going to be the No. 3 starter early in the year, and had to switch colleges, but I just put my head down and went to work,” said Aleman, who is headed to Barry University. “This shows how much work we did and it finally paid off. My teammates made it so easy to come in and work every day. We got it done.
“We wanted that revenge (against Jesuit), but we didn’t take this game like another one. We still played (Mulberry) like we were playing (Jesuit) or anyone else in the country.”
The Patriots broke through in the second after loading the bases with no outs when Chris Levy roped a two-run double to left field to score courtesy runner Ethan Till and Zack Wilson, who walked. Hayden Harrison, who also reached on a walk, scored on a balk to give Heritage a 3-0 lead.
Jordan Rich walked on the next at-bat and then, as he has often throughout his career, created chaos on the basepaths when he broke for second base and drew a throw from Mulberry catcher Hayden Wyatt. No one was covering second and the ball went into center field allowing Levy to score and Rich to reach third. Rich then scored on a sacrifice fly by RJ Machado, who led Heritage at the plate with two hits.
“We’ve all been pretty selfless all year and we trusted each other to do a job,” Levy said. “I just went up there and tried not to do too much and looked for a good pitch to swing at.
“I’m all over the place right now, but mostly ecstatic. I wouldn’t have wanted to do this with any other family. This feels great especially with this group. It’s the most together team I’ve ever played with in my life. There was never a doubt in my mind throughout this season that we’d come through.”