Flowers sends Cardinal Newman into 3A final

WEST PALM BEACH — Cardinal Newman senior pitcher Drake Flowers dominated with an 11-strikeout shutout as the host Crusaders defeated Melbourne Central Catholic 3-0 in a Class 3A regional semifinal Saturday night.

Cardinal Newman (20-5) advances to the Class 3A regional final and will play at The First Academy on Tuesday.

Flowers, a Florida State signee, had his first shutout of the season and allowed six hits and walked two.

He stepped up late in the game to secure the victory after the tying run came to the plate in the final two innings.

“I had the crowd in the background getting me through the last couple of innings so it was great,” Flowers said. “That’s been a huge part of our success is everyone in the stands and everyone being here supporting.”

Flowers struck out the side in the sixth and stranded runners at the corners. Melbourne Central Catholic (21-5-1) also had runners at first and third with one out in the seventh, but Flowers struck out the final two batters to close the game.

“Drake loves to compete and he did a great job,” Cardinal Newman coach J.R. Edwards said. “He was able to bear down and make tough pitches when he needed to.”

Senior catcher Raul Feliz and senior first baseman Jack Bello both went deep with solo home runs to lift the offense.

The Crusaders opened the scoring in the bottom of the second. Nick Groover had an infield single with one out. Louis Paolillo walked and Grant Hugus was hit by a pitch. Vance Sheahan stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and had a sacrifice fly to left.

Feliz drilled a leadoff home run to left in the bottom of the third to extend the lead to 2-0.

Bello crushed a solo blast to left with two outs in the bottom of the fifth to push the lead to 3-0.

Melbourne Central Catholic had a runner at second with no outs in the second, but Flowers fielded a bunt and fired a throw to third to catch the lead runner. Flowers later escaped the jam with runners at first and second.

Cardinal Newman defeated Benjamin 11-4 in the opening round. They have now won 14 of their last 15 games and reached the regional final for the first time under the direction of Edwards.

“It’s extremely special and the guys have worked really hard and we have a lot of support from the school,” Edwards said. “It’s a really good feeling. We still have unfinished business at this point.”