Huge inning propels Brito Miami baseball to first trip to state final four in a decade
Brito Miami coach Pedro Guerra wore a jacket on Tuesday that commemorated his school’s baseball state championship legacy.
It had the rings and years from all seven state titles the Panthers have won printed on the back.
Guerra did it to remind his players what they were vying for, and more importantly, that anything is possible.
Brito heeded its coach’s message doing things that are rare in a state-clinching playoff game.
Erasing a 6-0 deficit. Scoring 13 runs in an inning. Giving up another six runs and hanging on to win.
The Panthers did all of that and still punched their first ticket to the state final four since 2015 by outlasting rival Miami Christian in a rollercoaster 14-12 victory to clinch a 2-0 series win over the Victors on their home field in the Region 4-1A final.
“We always tell the kids not to give up,” Guerra said. “Our coaches have done a great job to put together the team we have today and here we are.”
Brito (16-13), which advanced to state as a No. 4 seed in its region, will play the underdog again next when it takes on Class 1A top-seed Orange Park St. Johns Country Day in a state semifinal on May 14 at Lee Health Sports Complex - Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers at a time to be announced.
After winning the first game of the series 9-5 on Monday, the Panthers returned to Miami Christian’s home field on Tuesday and quickly found themselves down 6-0 after three innings. The Victors (13-18), winners of state titles in 2018, 2019 and 2022 and state runners-up last season, were led by senior Kevin Bruno, who went 3 for 5 with five RBI.
But then Brito put together one of the more memorable hitting innings in recent memory, scoring 13 runs in the top of the fourth - all with one out.
Sophomore catcher Christopher Guzman highlighted the barrage with a grand slam that put Brito ahead 9-6. Claudio De Los Santos also had two RBI. Samuel Castro went 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored while Raivon Pinder and Luis Diaz each had two hits.
“I’m proud of being on a team like this that never gives up,” Guzman said. “I’m grateful God gave me the chance to make a play like that and I’m really happy. We’re a family and nothing is impossible for us. We just have to stay together and keep working hard together.”
Miami Christian wasn’t done, however, as the Victors answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth and three more in the fifth to cut the deficit to 14-11.
Miami Christian then loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and scored a run on a single by Jonathan Vila. But then Brito reliever Noah Nevarez induced a game-ending fielder’s choice ground ball from Ray Yero.
“I had never seen something like that,” Guerra said, referring to his team’s 13-run inning. “We knew this would be a high-scoring game since we both had gone through our top pitchers in the first game. Ever since the Southridge game, everything has turned for us.”
Guerra, who has guided the Panthers to their three most recent state titles in 2006, 2014 and 2015, credited his assistant coaches including Jose Orta for revitalizing their program in recent years.
Following a loss at Miami Southridge in its regular season finale on April 9, Brito was 8-13.
Five days later, the Panthers beat Miami Christian 3-1 to start an eight-game winning streak which led them to a district title and a 6-0 record through the regional playoffs which also included series wins vs. Vero Beach Masters Academy and Schoolhouse Prep.
“Our goal was to build a family and learn to win games, come back and stay in it,” said Orta, who joined the program three years ago. “If we get the championship we get it, but our main goal was to build a family that could win together and never think they’re out of a game.”
▪ Region 4-3A final - Game 1 - Miami Spings 3, St. Brendan 2 (9): Going all the way back to his little league days, Yordan Torres wasn’t sure if he ever had a bigger at-bat than he did late Tuesday afternoon at Miami Springs.
Standing at the plate with his Hawks locked in a 2-2 extra-inning standoff with St. Brendan and the bases loaded with two outs, Torres delivered.
He lifted a soft line drive to left center on an 0-1 pitch from Giannicarlo Guzman, scoring Magdiel Estevez from third for the game-winning run in Springs’ dramatic win in the first game of a best-of-3 series.
The Hawks (25-3) will host St. Brendan again on Wednesday at 3:30 in Game 2 with a chance to advance to the state final four for the second time in program history. If St. Brendan wins, a Game 3 winner-take-all will be played Thursday at St. Brendan.
“The bigger the moment, the smaller you have to be,” said Torres, who also scored the game-tying run in the bottom of the sixth after he led off the inning with a base hit. “You have to work very hard to simply stay in the moment and try to block out how important it is and I managed to do that. I was thinking I might getting an off speed pitch from him because he had given me one two innings earlier and that’s what I got. As soon as I hit it, I knew it was going to drop in. Biggest moment of my baseball life for sure.”
Both starting pitchers, Kevin Roque for Springs and Lucci Nava for St. Brendan battled for five innings as the game went to the sixth in a 1-1 tie.
When St. Brendan’s Kevin Leon came through with a big two-out RBI single to right center scoring Jan Perez from second, the Sabres had a 2-1 lead and were six outs away from the win.
But Springs tied it in bottom of the inning when Torres, who was sacrificed down to second after the leadoff hit and advanced to third on a wild pitch, tagged up and scored when Justin Mercado lifted a fly ball to left that was just barely deep enough to allow him to tag.
BILL DALEY
▪ Region 4-4A final - Game 1 - American Heritage 5, Belen 0: Mark Aleman pitched six shutout innings, striking out eight and allowing only two hits and three walks to lead the Patriots (26-6) to the victory to open the series. Dylan Dubovik belted a two-run home run, RJ Machado had a two-run single and Jordan Rich went 2-for-4 with an RBI as Heritage scored all of its runs in the third inning. The Patriots host Belen again on Wednesday night at 7 in the second game.
