Miami Springs stuns Columbus, faces Southwest in GMAC final
Normally storming the mound is reserved for huge moments, not merely winning a GMAC semifinal.
But for the Miami
Springs baseball team, this was no ordinary GMAC contest.
Not even close.
Miami Springs did something to the Columbus Explorers on Tuesday night that this program had not done in 33 years — beat them.
Thanks to a combined two-hitter by three different pitchers and a clutch Roydan Perez RBI single in the top of the ninth, the Golden Hawks stunned the top-seeded Explorers 3-2 at Columbus High School.
Springs (14-7), the No. 5 seed in the tournament advances to its second GMAC final in the last three years and will travel to Southwest for the championship game on Thursday at 6 p.m. The No. 2-seeded Eagles rallied to edge No. 3 Braddock 3-2 in the other semifinal. The game will be a rematch of the GMAC final from two years ago when Southwest won 8-2. The Hawks will be looking for the program’s secondever GMAC title having won its only one in 2007.
“I’m happy for the kids and happy for all the players that have played here over the years with some pretty good teams but it just never happened,” Springs coach David Fanshawe said. “I’m not sure if these kids all truly understand what it means to come to this field and get a victory like this tonight. We have a lot of returners back from last year and we were in a close game in this very same game on this same field last year (Springs lost to Columbus 5-3 in the GMAC semi) so they knew what to expect coming in here. Tonight the boys were able to get it done, a great effort.”
The win back in 1991 came by the same score and was played at Milander Park, but Tuesday night is believed to be Springs’ first-ever win on Columbus’ home field and was the first home loss for the Explorers this season. Columbus came in ranked No. 13 in the state by MaxPreps regardless of classification.
Springs won on Tuesday night thanks to a great combined pitching effort as starter Josiah Acosta went the first give innings giving up just two hits before Oscar Hernandez relieved him (not yielding a hit but walked three and hit two batters) and Samuel Camacho closed it out with a clutch three-up, threedown bottom of the ninth.
Even though they only had two hits, the Explorers, thanks to a grand total of nine walks issued by the Springs pitchers and those two hit batsmen, had their share of opportunities to take the lead including a controversial call in the bottom of the seventh.
After Lucas Carrilles drew an opening walk, No. 9 hitter Robbie Oyarzun tried to bunt him down to second. When the count ran to 3-2, Oyarzun struck out swinging but Carrilles got a great jump and easily stole second. But he was ruled out when Oyarzun, much to the shock of coach Joe Weber and the Columbus dugout, was ruled to have interfered with catcher Kelven Perrera’s throw.
With nobody on and two out, Hernandez lost the strike zone, walking two and then hitting Frank Francisco to load the bases. Jose Correa then hit a deep ball between shortstop and third that Camacho (playing third base) fielded and fired to first just barely getting a diving Correa to send the game to extra innings and leaving Columbus wondering what could have been.
In the last of the eighth, both Rene Ramirez and Max Alvarez launched towering fly balls to right center that on any other night might’ve been gameending home runs. But with a significant breeze blowing in from right on this night, they turned into two long outs.