North Broward Prep Moves On After Jecid Tarazona’s Grand Slam

Jecid Tarazona hit a grand slam for NBP to give them a 5-3 lead in the sixth

The Eagles of North Broward Prep combined good pitching with good defense and timely hitting to rally past the Raiders of Gulliver Prep 7-3 last evening. As a result they will advance to next week’s State Tournament in Port St. Lucie.

Gulliver Prep’s ace southpaw Chris Diaz got off to a shaky start when Eagles lead-off batter Kevin Fagan was made the beneficiary of a mental error by the Raider’s first baseman Chris Santisteban. He allowed Fagan’s slow, foul grounder up the first base line to curl back into fair territory before touching it, thus allowing the fleet-footed Fagan to reach first base safely. However, after clean-up hitter Mike Vigliarolo was carefully pitched around, receiving the intentional, ‘unintentional’ walk, Diaz got out of the jam by inducing a harmless ground out to end the early threat.

Things didn’t look much better for Diaz in the next frame when Sarkis O’Hanian legged out an infield single up the middle leading off for NBP. He advanced to third when Jecid Tarazona bounced a double over the bag at third and down the left field line. O’Hanian came home to score the games first run when Anthony Valeo grounded out to shortstop.

The Raiders wasted little time in getting that run back and one more in the bottom half of the second inning. They loaded the bases with no outs on a pair of infield hits sandwiched around a hit batter. A sacrifice fly to right by Henry Hernandez knotted the score at one apiece and a third-to-first fielders choice ground out by Ramsey Diaz gave Gulliver Prep the early 2-1 lead entering the third inning.

The Raiders’ Chris Diaz settled into a good groove, retiring 13 of the next 14 Eagle batters he faced. But with one away in the top of the sixth inning, North Broward clean-up batter Vigliarolo laced a sharp single to right field. After Christian Correa was awarded first base, having been hit by a pitch, a key error by Gulliver Prep’s catcher Chris Chinea loaded the bases for Tarazona.

The North Broward Prep center fielder didn’t fail his loudly cheering teammates and fans. He came through with what turned out to be the game-winning grand slam home run that traveled fast over the fence in right-center field. The grand slam gave his team a 5-3 lead after five and a half innings.

In the meantime, the Eagles ace right hander, Josean Lazaro got through the fifth and sixth innings, stranding three runners in the process.

In the top of the seventh, looking to tack on some insurance runs, Vigliarolo came through with another big hit, smashing a two-run single to left giving the Eagles a 7-3 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh Lazaro went out to the mound to finish what he had started. And he finished the game with a flourish, striking out two of the last three batters he faced for the complete game win.

Josean Lazaro pitched a complete game to carry NBP to the state tournament.

When asked how he felt after such an important victory, the senior pitcher Lazaro responded enthusiastically, “This was by far the biggest win of my career. I’m going to be sore tomorrow, but I just want to give my team a chance to win every time I go out there.”

Winning Head Coach Brian Campbell was so choked up by his team’s success in their first-ever Regional appearance, he actually needed a moment to gain his composure before commenting on their successful run toward what he hopes will be a state championship.

“I knew we had a good shot at winning. What I was worried about the most all season long was that our roster was kind of thin. I said if we can keep everybody healthy, we’re going to have a shot and we were able to do that. We were just lucky to go through the season relatively injury-free,” Campbell said.

When asked to comment on his team’s timely hitting, Coach Campbell didn’t hesitate, stating, “I knew Jecid [Tarazona] was going to have a game today. He was locked-in all week during practice.”

And as far as his clean-up hitter’s production is concerned, Campbell had this to say, “Mike’s two-run single in the seventh was huge. He’s been doing it for us all season long.”

As far as next week’s game(s), there was no doubt in the coach’s resolve. “We’ll start preparing tomorrow. Our season won’t be over until we hang that championship banner at our field.”

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