Springs Charter Extends District Dominance In Win Over University

When Coral Springs Charter and University School met for the first time this season back on Feb. 22, the Suns kept the Panthers scoreless and took their third district win within a week.

Fast forward five weeks to Friday night, and the result was decidedly different as Charter turned the tables and continued its dominance in District 4A-13 by defeating University 8-1 behind Colton Rogers’ complete-game performance.

Rogers struck out six and allowed four hits as the Panthers (14-4) improved to 7-2 in the district and bounced back from loss the previous day to city rival Coral Springs Christian. The Panthers, whose only other district loss is against Pine Crest, remain at the top of the district.

The injury-plagued Suns (11-5) dropped to 7-5 in the district to remain in second place.

“We’ve lost more than a third of our starters through various reasons,” Suns coach Rich Hofman said. “We don’t have the depth to compete in this district. We’re just a little overmatched right now.”

Rogers stymied the Suns lineup primarily with his fastball, but he also was effective with his curve ball.

“My curve took a little time, but it started to get better,” he said.

Asked how it felt to have his team at the top of the district, Rogers smiled broadly and said “it’s amazing. It feels really good.”

But Rogers tempered his eurphoria with pragmatism.

“Anyone in this division can beat anyone,” he said. “Each is good enough to beat anyone else. It’s a mystery.”

Rogers said the Panthers went into the game knowing “we had to get them. It was a must-win. This was our biggest challenge.”

The Panthers came out of the gate hot, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. Christian Khawly, who finished 3-for-4 with two runs, led off with a triple and came home on a wild pitch. Jorge Solano followed with a double and scored on an error. Rogers added another run as he came in on Brandon Laboy’s single.

Charter extended the lead in the bottom of the second when Khawly singled and scored on Stephen Kerr’s base hit.

Sebastian Diaz, who tripled in the first inning, led off the top of the fourth with a double and scored on an error for the Suns’ only run.

Coral Springs Charter plated two more in the bottom of the fifth on Newil Guzman’s single and capped the scoring in the sixth with another two runs as Jorge Solano and Matthew Fierman scored on Laboy’s single.

“Colton did an outstanding job, and I was just glad to see the way we came out and swung the bat,” Charter coach Mike Higgins said.

Higgins said the team had been working on its situational hitting lately. “It’s good to see things transfer into the games,” he said.

Higgins said he didn’t foresee his team sitting in first place in the district at this point in the season.

“There was no way of seeing this,” he said. “We have seven very good teams. Every team has at least one good pitcher. We’re blessed to be in this position, but there’s a lot of baseball left.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!