Top-ranked Douglas, Springs advance; Doral set for regional rematch
From an illegal bat nullifying an RBI single to an assistant coach getting tossed to a nearly one hour weather delay.
You name it and you got it on Friday night.
The venue was Stoneman Douglas High School and when it was all over, an overflow crowd that not only lined both fences down the left and right field lines but also along the outfield fence, got treated to another classic between district and neighborhood rivals Douglas and Taravella, arguably the two best public school programs in South Florida.
Thanks to a strong performance from pitcher Chris Arroyo, defending Class 7A state champion Douglas will advance as the Eagles edged Taravella 3-2 in a Region 4-7A semifinal.
Ranked No. 1 in the nation by Baseball America and No. 2 by Max Preps, the Eagles improved to 27-2 and will host Columbus, which crushed Western 11-0 on Friday, in a Region 4-7A final on Tuesday at 6 p.m. It will be a rematch of last year’s state semifinal.
“What are you going to say, just an electric atmosphere out here tonight with two great teams giving it everything they had,” said Douglas coach Todd FitzGerald. “I couldn’t be happier for our group of guys because they really battled hard and in the end, it was just another great Taravella-Douglas down-to-thewire game.”
With the game tied at one, Arroyo took the mound in the top of the fifth, relieving starter Jake Clemente. But, after retiring the first batter, Arroyo sat around for nearly an hour when the lightning alarm went off.
With Taravella pitcher Brandon Metivler having relieved starter and University of Miami commit Chris Scinta following the hour delay, Arroyo came through in the game’s most pivotal moment when he stepped up to the plate with two on and two out in the bottom of the fifth and laced a line drive past first base that was fair by inches.
The ball got all the way down into the right field corner allowing Roman Anthony and Rylan Lujo to score from first and second, respectively. That turned out to be the winning
margin as the Trojans (21-6-1) managed to scrape a run across in the top of the sixth before Arroyo got a three-up, three down inning to close things out in the seventh.
Arroyo had to survive a rocky sixth inning after E.J. Burns led off with an infield single and Derek Rodriguez reached on an error at second base putting runners on the corners with no outs. It looked like he would work his way out of the jam when he struck out the next two batters but then wild pitched
Burns home and the tying run advanced to second. An intentional walk followed by a passed ball put runners on second and third.
A base hit could’ve given the Trojans the lead but Arroyo struck out Jassiel Valbuena to end the inning.
After Taravella grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the first when Aris Rivera singled in Matt Rubin after Rubin doubled to lead off the game.
With runners on first and second and two outs in the top of the fourth, Rubin singled up the middle scoring Anthony Quigley to give the Trojans a 2-1 lead. Or so they thought.
But Fitz-Gerald quickly jumped out of the dugout to go show the home plate umpire Rubin’s bat which had no handle on the bottom. After examining the bat, the umpire crew met and determined that it was illegal and Rubin was ruled out ending the inning and nullifying the run.
Region 4-4A semifinal — Miami Springs 4, Key West 2:
Thanks to a towering two-run homer by Jason Torres in the first inning that set the tone and a dominating pitching
performance by University of Miami commit Brandon Olivera, the Hawks came away with the victory in a tough road environment at Key West High.
Springs (21-5), the No. 5 seed in the region, will travel again Tuesday when they go to Cape Coral to play No. 3 seed Island Coast at 7 p.m. in the Region 4-4A final after the Gators upset Cardinal Gibbons 5-2 in the opposite semifinal.
— BILL DALEY
Region 4-6A semifinal — Doral 7, Mater Academy 3:
Frank Menendez struck out six over two innings. Daniel Restrepo hit a grand slam and Robert Rodriguez went 2 for 2 with a home run and and RBI. Adrian Santana went 1 for 3 with two runs scored and four stolen bases. Doral (23-4-1) will host Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer at 4 p.m. on Tuesday and play in its fourth consecutive regional final.
Region 4-5A semifinal — American Heritage 4, Fort Myers 3:
Spencer Butt’s RBI 2-out double in the bottom of the sixth inning broke a
1-1 tie and gave the Patriots (26-1) the lead for good. Erik Blair and Mateo Serna added a pair of insurance runs on RBI singles as Fort Myers scored twice in the top of the seventh and had the bases loaded with one out. But the Green Wave popped up and struck out to end the game.
Heritage, ranked No. 12 nationally by MaxPreps, will host Naples in the regional final on Monday night at 7 p.m.
More scores — Region 4-7A: Columbus 11, Western 0; Region 4-6A:
Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer 7, St. Thomas Aquinas 3.