Heritage beats McCarthy for regional final spot since 2013

PLANTATION — Whenever American Heritage and Archbishop McCarthy have met in elimination games in recent memory, it has usually come down to one key play — in McCarthy’s favor.

“It was either they got the hit or we didn’t get the hit,” said Heritage coach Bruce Aven, who has been on the wrong end of those regional matchups two of the previous three seasons. “One moment, one at-bat, one play, one pitch. And I said, ‘I don’t want that to happen to us [Wednesday].’ ”

The Patriots didn’t. They had plenty of those big hits throughout to back starter Ryan Cabarcas and roll to a 12-3 win over McCarthy at home in a Region 4-6A semifinal played Wednesday morning after being postponed Tuesday.

Heritage (24-3) will face the winner between Merritt Island and Rockledge in a Tuesday regional final, the first for the Patriots since 2013.

“It’s been a long time coming for all of us,” said senior first baseman Triston Casas, a Miami signee who went 2 for 4 with a double and three RBI.

“To come out here and say that we came out on top in a regional semifinal game against McCarthy, it feels pretty good no matter who’s on the other side,” he added, speaking to the turnover on the Mavericks’ roster from the teams that won three consecutive state titles to cap a run of seven in eight seasons, which was snapped Wednesday.

Florida-signed middle infielder Cory Acton went 2 for 4 with four RBI, two of them on a home run well over the right-field fence in the sixth.

“I think he left a changeup a little up,” said Acton, who noticed that’s how the pitcher worked Casas before him. “I knew I wasn’t going to miss that one.

“This is the furthest I’ve ever been in five years.”

Cabarcas, a junior Gators commit, improved his record to 11-0, going 5 innings with three earned runs against him on seven hits and five strikeouts.

“It feels great to come through,” said Cabarcas, who recovered after allowing two runs in the third. “Third inning, it was shaky a little bit. I wasn’t following through, but then I adjusted and started pitching low in the zone.”

Matt Ruiz went 3 for 4 with three RBI, speedy leadoff man Enrique Bradfield had a pair of infield hits and Santiago Garavito hit a solo homer off the scoreboard beyond right field.

The Mavericks (16-12) had Daniel Paret homer while Daniel Matos and Buzz Vorachek hit runscoring singles.

American Heritage was eliminated in 2015 and 2016 by McCarthy in regional semifinals, each time after winning the district title before that. Last season, Heritage was district runner-up to McCarthy but was upset in the first round by Hialeah Goleman before getting a shot at the Mavericks.

Other baseball scores

Region 4-7A semifinal: Doral Academy 5, Pines Charter 2.