Atlantic Shocks Nova 4-2, Earns Berth In Class 7A State Tournament

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.

All season long, the Nova Titans have teetered on the brink of perfection, dominating much of their competition and seeming to be unstoppable and lacking any flaws.

Nova had been beaten but once all season, and even that one defeat had not come easily.

But in Friday’s Class 7A regional championship, it seemed like all the magic was gone as the Titans were shocked by Delray Beach Atlantic 4-2 at Pat McQuaid Field.

Every starter for Atlantic (22-7) reached base in the contest, and the Eagles made sure not to waste any at-bats nor squander any of their golden opportunities.

“We knew we had to play a perfect game to beat them, and we played about as close to that as we could imagine. This is an incredible feeling,” Eagles starting pitcher Rigo Beltran said, after earning the complete-game victory.

The impressive left-hander limited the Titans (23-2) to three hits and three walks. Of the 107 pitches Beltran threw, 70 of them went for strikes, and he finished with seven strikeouts.

Atlantic advances to the state semifinals to play Venice on Thursday. The Eagles, who went to state in 1976, 1979 and 1988, have never won a state title.

The Eagles took Nova out of its comfort zone right away in jumping to an early 3-0 lead with runs in each of the first two innings leading off the game.

For a team that was one run away from being perfect coming into the regional championship, playing from behind is not something the Titans have grown accustomed to doing this season.

“They put the ball in play, and they play hard,” Titans coach Pat McQuaid said. “We faced a team that was a little bit better then us tonight.”

It was Beltran who got things going with two outs in the first inning, with a sharp single to left field. Courtesy runner Bruce Thomas came in for Beltran, advanced from first to third on a throwing error, and scored on an RBI double from Brad Myott.

It was one of three errors on the night for Nova.

“We haven’t made three errors all year. That is very uncharacteristic of us,” McQuaid said. “We’ve got to field 19 balls and get 19 outs. The kids did a good job of keeping it close. Their pitcher had control of the ballgame, and he wasn’t walking guys.”

Nova answered back in the third with both their runs.

Tom Corey drew a leadoff walk, then advanced to second base on a balk call against Beltran, and Lee Kinsel and Matthew Zanis reached to load the bases.

Trent Monaghan grounded into a fielder’s choice that pushed courtesy runner Ruben Diaz across the plate to get the Titans on the board.

C.J. Chatham then crushed a shot to deep center field for an RBI double that scored Kinsel and pulled Nova within 3-2.

But following Chatham’s big hit, Beltran settled into a groove and retired the next eight batters in a row, and allowed only one more baserunner the rest of the way.

Meanwhile Atlantic had runners on in every inning, chasing starter Dean Pelman after only two innings.

Chatham came on in relief and went the rest of the way, allowing one run while scattering six hits and issuing two walks and recording two strikeouts.

“C.J. kept us in it,” McQuaid said. “He held them to one run in five innings. But we struggled to hit. We had to make a couple of great plays just to keep it where it is.”

Nova did bounce back from its early defensive struggles, recording two double plays and stranding 10 Eagles players in all.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!