American Heritage’s vast pitching depth not enough in state semifinal loss
Over a dozen scouts descended upon Hammond Stadium to see American Heritage ace Brady Snow pitch.
But it was Patriots’ senior lefty Mason McGeehan who put on a show on Tuesday afternoon.
Snow touched 97 mph on his fastball in the one inning he pitched before a two-hour, 45-minute weather delay halted American Heritage’s Class 4A state semifinal against Orlando Bishop Moore.
McGeehan took over for Snow when play resumed, and proceeded to strike out 11 over eight no-hit innings.
But the masterpiece still wasn’t enough for the Patriots as Bishop Moore’s own pitching staff blanked them for 11 innings, and dealt them a frustrating 1-0 loss.
With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 11th, Heritage reliever Santiago Montiel hit Hornets third baseman Hayden Ramos with his first pitch on the left ankle to force in the winning run, eliminating the Patriots (21-10) from what was their fourth consecutive appearance at the state final four.
“I’m proud of our guys and this is how we played all year, we either won a lot by one (run) or lost by one,” American Heritage coach Bruce Aven said. “Give them a lot of credit, they matched us zero for zero. We had a rain delay, but that’s nothing new. We live in South Florida. Lightning delays are part of the game. We had 1A (Snow) and 1B (McGeehan) ready to go on the mound. But we just couldn’t find the barrel on the ball.”
Even after losing senior righthander Jimmy Huard, a Vanderbilt commit who can throw 95 mph, to an elbow injury in the preseason, American Heritage showed off its pitching depth again on Tuesday.
McGeehan threw 104 pitches and walked three batters, but kept Bishop Moore off balance throughout the game.
“I knew coming into the day there was a chance of me throwing, so it was about always being ready,” McGeehan said. “Once the rain was coming, I just had to get mentally ready to give my team every opportunity I could. It didn’t work out for us today, but it did a lot during the season, and I’m proud to have been able to have this opportunity.”
Originally, Heritage’s plan was to go with McGeehan if it advanced and played Tampa Jesuit in the 4A state final on Wednesday. But those plans changed when the game was stopped in the top of the second inning.
The frustrating part for the Patriots was that if they had pulled out the win, Snow could have returned Wednesday to pitch in a potentially epic showdown against Tampa Jesuit.
“Being out after the first inning was hard, and I tried to stay loose, but it was hard,” Snow said. “I didn’t know what I was coming into at the start of the season coming to Heritage. A state championship is the standard here. I knew the season would come down to winning or losing…At the end it didn’t go our way, but it’s just baseball.”
As the delay dragged on for more than an hour, Aven said he made the decision to not put Snow back on the mound once play resumed as a precaution. Snow, a University of Florida commit, already bounced back from injury, which kept him out a month earlier this season.
“He would have pitched because he’s not here about him, he’s here for the team, and he wants to pitch and compete,” Aven said about Snow, who threw 15 pitches. “But I made the decision. This kid has a career, and there’s a certain time limit, especially when you’re a hard thrower and you come up. Once it started getting past 45 minutes to an hour, we had to look at his safety.”
McGeehan, who had been committed to USF before they pulled the offer, was lifted after he issued a leadoff walk in the 10th inning to Gray Mosley. Enrique Santos entered in relief and gave up a single to Ramos. Nick Wolsonovich tried to bunt the runners over, but Santos threw out Mosley at third. Nolan Borgia then executed the sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third. After Santos intentionally walked Nate Davis, he induced an inning-ending fly out by Danny Garcia.
But in the 11th, Santos walked two batters with one out, and then, reliever Jaden Carlo loaded the bases with a walk, setting up Ramos’ game-winning plate appearance against Montiel after he replaced Carlo.
On the flipside, Heritage hitters couldn’t figure out Bishop Moore starter JT Costello, who struck out nine, walked three and gave up only two hits over 7 1/3 scoreless innings. Once Costello exceeded the pitch limit, Emmett Whelan pitched 3 ⅔ innings, allowing just one hit, no walks and striking out three.
“It wasn’t really tough stuff, but when you throw fastballs away, I mean even big-league hitters hit like (.140) against fastballs away,” Aven said. “When you get out there and spot your fastball and take something off, that’s all it was. Their pitchers didn’t change anything. They pitched 1 through 9 the same way and they threw fastballs away and at the end of the day, this ballpark is a graveyard, and when that wind died down, that ball wasn’t going very far. We still couldn’t hit a ball over their head and they couldn’t hit one over ours.”
