Miami Christian overcomes early deficit to return to state baseball final four

It wasn’t the start the Miami Christian baseball team was looking for.

In fact, the Victors entered Tuesday afternoon’s Region 4-2A final against Fort Pierce John Carroll not only having won seven straight games but gone nearly a month during that stretch without trailing in a game at any point.

But when Carroll jumped all over the Victors scoring three runs in the first inning and a half, it was a stunned and silent Miami Christian dugout.

Victors’ coach Chris Cuadra knew his kids and that there would be no panic.

He was right.

Miami Christian immediately struck back with three runs in the bottom of the inning to get the game tied, settled down with good defense and pitching from the bullpen over the next four innings and finally struck for three runs in the bottom of the sixth which proved to be the difference in a 6-3 victory over the visiting Rams at Miami Christian.

The win advances Miami Christian back to the state final four where the Victors (21-4) will be the No. 2 seed and take on No. 3 Orlando First Academy on Monday at 1 p.m. at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers. The Victors will be looking for their fourth state title in the past six seasons.

“Obviously it wasn’t the start we were looking for but the kids did a nice job of settling down, trusting each other and staying with it,” Cuadra said. “We have a deep pitching staff and I trust in our bullpen. They were ready today when they were called upon and kept us in the game. I was confident that we would eventually be able to push some runs across and we came through in the sixth when we had to.”

The payoff for the Victors came in that sixth inning when shortstop Ronny Cruz, who had just made a sparkling defensive play in the top of the inning to make the final out and put out a John Carroll threat, stepped up with a runner on first and one out and drilled a deep shot off the left field fence for an RBI double.

Jendy Gonzalez came around to score to break the tie and, one out later, Fabio Peralta and Alejandro Abruet delivered back-to-back RBI doubles as the Miami Christian dugout erupted.

Hector Escobar, who had taken over on the mound in the sixth after Jeffred Fermin had turned in four solid innings of relief after Miami Christian starter Lucas Rodriguez couldn’t make it past the second inning, then shut the Rams down in the final inning and the celebrating began.

“I felt comfortable when I went up to the plate,” said Jones of his big sixth inning tiebreaking double. “I was sitting on a fast ball, that’s my pitch and that’s what I got. I actually thought it was gone when it left the bat but as long as it was enough to get the run home, that’s what counted.”

John Carroll jumped all over Rodriguez in the first inning when Ayson McIntosh led the game off with a single to left and scored one batter later when Taggert Cameron singled to right and the ball went underneath right fielder Willy Mendez’s glove, Cameron winding up at third. He scored one batter later when Brennan Jones singled to left center.

One inning later, the No. 8 and 9 hitters for John Carroll, Grady Messner and Jaxon Pomar, drilled back-to-back doubles to make it 3-0.

“We trust ourselves,” Peralta said. “We know that we’re a talented team that had worked hard all year to get to this moment and we were not about to panic or turn on each other when we got off to the bad start.”

Their three run deficit did not last long as the Victors showed that trust when they answered back in the last of the second with three unearned runs to get the game tied.

It came thanks to a huge two-out error when the John Caroll left fielder, with two runners on, dropped a routine fly ball allowing Ray Yero to score from second and leave runners on second and third. Pinch runner Luis Molina then scored on a wild pitch before Cruz delivered an RBI single to left.

When Mikey Palenzuela issued three consecutive one-out walks in the top of the third, Fermin entered the game and got his team out of a jam by striking out Colt Miller and induced a groundout to shortstop by Messner ending the threat. He then retired six of the next eight batters over the fourth and fifth innings before giving way to Escobar who brought it home.

“It’s always nice to get there,” said Cuadra referring to his team’s trip back to the state final four. “We didn’t get there last year and had a sour taste from that regional final loss, (to Westminster Academy) so now we’re headed back to where every team wants to be and excited about the opportunity to try and win another championship.”

This story was originally published May 15, 2024 at 6:37 AM.