True North baseball’s state runner-up finish may be start of sustained success
True North’s baseball team may have felt low after the last out of the Class 2A state championship game.
But the Titans had every reason to hold their heads high after raising the bar higher than ever for their program during a breakout season.
Tuesday night was not True North’s night as state powerhouse Jacksonville Trinity Christian proved too much as they handed the Titans an 8-4 loss at Hammond Stadium.
But the fearless way True North took it to some of the best teams in the state, including the Conquerors (27-8), who entered ranked 20th nationally per MaxPreps, left it confident this year was just the beginning.
“We’re for real. We take pride in what we do and we try to play baseball the right way and I think these kids showed this program is here to stay for sure,” True North coach Adrian Nieto said. “It’s a program you can’t take lightly anymore and have to respect.”
Nieto, a Plantation American Heritage alum and former major-leaguer, who played briefly with the Chicago White Sox and had two stints in the Marlins’ minor-league system, became True North’s coach in 2021 at the time of its inception.
In just their fifth season as a varsity program, the Titans (22-8) made it to their first state final after emerging from one of the tougher regions in the state, and scoring an impressive 9-4 win over Tampa Berkeley Prep in the semifinals on Monday.
“We established this program five years ago in my eighth grade and each year, we just set the bar higher,” True North senior outfielder Kash Ojeda said. “And now our goal for next season is to set it even higher. We won districts and regionals and got on the bus (to state). Anything can happen if you can get on the bus. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, but we’ll be back. The next group coming is gonna be a lot better than us.”
Ojeda’s group was no slouch itself.
The Titans rode the right arm of senior starter Will Foss - despite a two-and-a-half hour weather delay - to their aforementioned victory in the semifinals.
Things got off to a rough start for True North against Trinity Christian, which struck for three runs over the first two innings off starter Carlos Victorero.
With a large and loud contingent of fans that made the over two-hour drive from Miami behind them, the Titans battled back with three runs in the top of the third to tie the game.
Ojeda got things started with a one-out bunt single. Junior Jayden Cedeno followed with a single and sophomore catcher Evan Alexander hit a ball over third base to score Kash and put the Titans on the board.
After loading the bases, Victorero drove in a second run on a fielder’s choice. That set up senior Mikey Cuenca’s game-tying single up the middle to score Alexander.
“That’s just the identity these guys have,” Nieto said. “You have to believe that no matter how big or small you are, if your passion and fire are there, anything is possible. That team over there is one of the best we’ve ever seen, but we battled and gave ourselves a chance.”
Unfortunately for the Titans, things unraveled in the bottom half of the inning when Trinity Christian answered with five runs and never trailed again. Two walks and an error on a pickoff attempt, plus a pair of wild pitches compounded True North’s issues in the frame.
And yet True North still nearly had a chance for a comeback in the top of the sixth. After cutting the deficit to 8-4, Ojeda roped a double to put runners on second and third with one out, and prompted the Conquerors to take starter Brennan Bachtell out of the game.
But pitcher Romy DeCenzo squashed the Titans’ last, best hope by striking out Cedeno and Alexander to end the inning.
“It’s hard to get here. I had some great teams at Heritage and in five years there, we only won once,” Nieto said. “I just told the kids to keep their heads up, because a lot of teams don’t even get here. They raised the bar high and they showed the kids coming up how high the standard is gonna be here for years to come. “
