Coral Springs Ends Douglas’ Perfect Season With 10-3 Win

Lewis Brinson is greeted by teammates after a first inning homer against Douglas.

The Douglas Eagles season-long sixteen game winning streak came to an end last night when the Colts unleashed a long-ball attack that left their crosstown rival on the short end of a 10-3 score. The outcome left both teams with identical 13-1 District 10-6A records as the regular season draws to a close with district playoffs just around the corner.

In a much anticipated match-up between staff aces, the Colts Aaron Maller bested the Eagles Jonathan Lipinski, handing Lipinski his first loss, while extending his own unbeaten season to 7-0.

The crafty southpaw was in command right from the start, almost. He escaped a scary first inning in which the Eagles put runners on second and third with only one down, thanks to a pair of infield errors. He got out of the early jam by inducing a pair of ground ball outs to end the inning.

Perhaps inspired by their pitcher’s composure and grit, the Colt offense showed their appreciation by waisting no time in getting on the scoreboard first.

Lead-off batter Dylan Ebel ripped Lipinski’s first offering back through the box for a single. Alex Demicco drew a walk, putting two runners on for the ever dangerous Colts center-fielder Lewis Brinson. Brinson electrified the crowd by depositing a clutch three-run homer over the left field fence, staking Springs to an early 3-0 lead.

With their unbeaten streak on the line, Douglas came back quickly, scoring two runs in the second as both Chris Pannell and Louis Silvero each drilled RBI doubles to left. Scoring on the extra base hits were Patrick Kulick and Evan Leyva, each of whom had singled earlier in the inning.

Colts catcher Ian Delamadrid homered off Lipinski to lead off the bottom of inning two. After a walk to Austin Nelson, Justin Mixon laid down a sacrifice bunt. When Eagles catcher Leyva fired a strike to second, the umpire called Nelson safe on a bang-bang play. Douglas Head Coach Dean Florio was ejected after arguing the call.

Demicco then drilled a single to right field and the Colts lead was back up to three, at 5-2 after two innings complete.

After a scoreless third and fourth innings, Douglas’ Colton Bottomley delivered an RBI single to left field scoring Danny Payton, cutting the Springs lead to 5-3.

Exhibiting no signs of pressure, the Colts Alan Sharkey hit a two-run round-tripper in the home half of the fifth, stretching the lead to 7-3.

A pair of sixth inning defensive errors, combined with three walks, a base hit and suddenly the Colts had a 10-3 lead heading into the final inning.

Maller was touched for two singles in the final frame, but the Springs pitcher gained his composure and finished the complete game victory after Brandon Raaf grounded to second for the last out.

Maller ran his record to 7-0 with the win by finding a way to pitch out of several tight situations on the evening.

As for Douglas, their run at an unbeaten season came to an end. The two teams will now turn their attention to the district playoffs, where they will be the top two seeds in the tournament.

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