Archbishop McCarthy Represents Broward With 10-0 Win Over Pace

The rivalry between Broward and Miami-Dade County high school baseball teams never seems to fade. No matter the year, top teams that face each other in these tow counties always seem to get more amped to play when county bragging rights are on the line.

Thursday night, with a list of motivational factors at hand, Archbishop McCarthy defeated Monsignor Pace 10-0 in a mercy-rule shortened game. The Mavericks used the same formula that has worked all season long, starting pitchers keeping the game close until the offense figures out the opposing pitcher.

High school baseball players can somewhat sense when a game is important to their coaches, and playing Pace had a significant meaning for two Mavericks coaches. Head Coach Rick Bielski and Pace Head Coach Tom Duffin roomed together in pro ball. The Mavericks Alex Fernandez played his high school ball at Pace.

Right from the start, Archbishop looked to be tuned in to the task at hand. Starting pitcher Andre Martinez was throwing darts, striking out the first two batter he faced on his way to a perfect first inning.

Martinez cruised for much of the night, striking out seven and giving up only a single in the second, on his way to a complete game shutout. For as good as he was, Martinez did not feel he had his best stuff on this night.

“I feel like I had my best composure that I’ve had all year, but my stuff wasn’t really there,” said Martinez. “I was able to get a lot of one pitch outs, and that helped me with my confidence.”

Martinez, as seems to be the case with all Mavericks players, has a complete respect for his opponent, and understands that on any given night, the tables could have been turned.

“That team over there (Pace), their a great team. Tonight we got them, but they’ll be back, they battled and I give them credit.”

Martinez may have had his work cut out for him had the Mavericks offense not woke up in the third inning. A couple of walks to Garrett Kennedy and Brandon Roberts started the inning. A balk plated the first run, and a triple by Jose Brizuela drove in Roberts with the second run of the inning. Chris Thompson later drove in the Mavericks fourth run of the frame.

Three more runs came across in the fourth. Again the rally was started with Kennedy and Roberts reaching base, this time with a walk and a hit batsmen, respectively. Adam Duerte, the nine-hole hitter, then dropped a perfect bunt single, and when Pace pitcher Brenden Mosquera threw the ball down the first base line, two Archbishop runs scored.

Kennedy and Roberts combined for four walks, and reached base five times. It showed that McCarthy is not just a top of the lineup heavy team.

“Any time you get production from the bottom of the lineup like that, it’s huge,” said Bielski. “We work on that with all hitters, one through nine, that their job is to get on base, and they did a great job of that tonight.”

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