Calvary Christian goes 3-1 in baseball tourney
Calvary Christian, which entered as the No. 1 team in the country according to Perfect Game, went 3-1 against top competition in the USA Baseball National High School Invitational this week.
American Heritage, competing in the prestigious 16-team tournament for the second consecutive season, finished 2-2, capping the four-day stretch with a walk-off on Saturday.
The Eagles (16-2) won their Wednesday and Thursday games before falling to California’s Orange Lutheran, the eventual champion which defended last year’s title, in a semifinal and then bouncing back on Saturday.
Calvary started 2-0 after Florida signee Roberto Pena tossed six shutout innings of one-hit ball in an 8-2 win over Sandra Day O’Connor (Arizona) on Thursday. He struck out five and walked four.
Pena, a third baseman when not pitching, hit a pair of doubles and knocked in two runs in a Wednesday 4-1 victory over Hattiesburg (Mississippi). Fellow Gators signee, Christian Scott, went for a complete game, allowing one unearned run on three nine.
After the Eagles dropped a 3-2 decision on Friday, freshman Andrew Painter nearly tossed a no-hitter on Saturday. He lost it against the first batter he faced in the seventh inning. Settling for a one-hitter, Painter shut out John Curtis (Louisiana) in the finale as Calvary won 3-0.
American Heritage (12-3) beat Sandra Day O’Connor 4-3 in eight innings on Saturday. Cory Acton, another UF signee, hit a walk-off RBI single to right to send the Patriots back home as winners.
Heritage hits and striking also started out the invitational victorious, 1-0 over Santiago (California) on Wednesday. Sophomore right fielder Matt Ruiz brought home a run on a double in the top of the seventh to make Ryan Cabarcas a winner after six scoreless innings and one hit. Jordan Carrion earned the save.
On Friday, Heritage lost 2-1 to John Curtis. The Patriots had runners on the corners and one out in the seventh, but a slow roller to third on a check swing from Cory Acton drew a fake throw to first and ultimately doubled up both baserunners, caught in rundowns to end it.
All four of the Patriots’ games were decided by one run as they also dropped a 3-2 decision to Mountain Ridge (Arizona) on Friday.
Calvary and Heritage weren’t the only Broward County teams excelling in major tournaments.
Pompano Beach went 3-1 in the Florida League Invitational with their coach, Joe Giummule, earning his 200th career win. The Golden Tornadoes won 14-4 against Hialeah Educational Academy and had 8-3 victories over Gainesville and Taravella to finish third. They lost 8-3 to tournament champ Vero Beach.
Trevor Kniskern, a Pepperdine signee, and Mike Schuler (FAU) earned victories on the mound. Kniskern was 9-for-13 in the four games with seven RBI and four stolen bases. Schuler was 6-for-13, scoring six runs with three steals. Sophomore Riley Skeen went 7-for-11 and robbed five bags.
Douglas played in Pompano Beach’s Hall of Fame Classic. The Eagles (7-4) won their first two by double digits — 15-0 over Fairview (Colorado) and 13-3 against Hialeah Goleman — but fell 9-6 to Charlotte Christian (N.C.) in the championship.
dfurones@sunsentinel.com, @DavidFurones_