Hollywood Lions Top Colts In Game Three To Reach Semifinals

The Hollywood Lions and Colts were supposed to decide the winner of their HSBN Fall Classic series Friday night with a game three, but Mother Nature had other ideas.

Rain halted the game going into the sixth inning, causing the teams to come back Saturday afternoon to finish it with the Lions ahead by two runs.

Hollywood came in on a mission, plated two more runs and turned back the Colts 6-2 to advance to Monday’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal at Flanagan High School where they’ll face a familiar foe, the Panthers Baseball Club. The winner will be in Tuesday’s championship.

The Lions opened the game strong. In the bottom of the first inning, the Lions’ Mitch Moormann walked to lead off the inning. He was followed by a Danny Vitello double, putting runners on second and third with no out. The next two hitters were retired before Jose Colino delivered a two-run single to make it 2-0.

The Lions manufactured a run in the top of the second inning. After reaching on a fielder’s choice, Shane Stockelman stole second, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a single by Moormann.

Trailing by three runs, the Colts went to work in the top of the third to cut the lead to one. Justin Nixon singled and Matt Messina reached on a bean ball to put runners on first and second with no outs. The next hitter, Trey Dingus, reached on an error, allowing Mixon to score and Messina to advance to third. Messina then scored on an RBI groundout by Andrew Rohloff.

The Lions answered in the bottom of the fourth. Consecutive hits by Joey Baez and Stockelman set up runners on first and third with one out. With the next hitter up, the Lions executed a double steal to score their fourth run of the game.

The Lions came back Saturday with the same determination they had Friday and withstood a bases-loaded situation in the top of the sixth. A fly out ended the threat.

Lions pitcher Rashad Flerismond, who threw two innings Friday and finished the game Saturday, said he tried to be calm with the bases loaded.

“I was just thinking throw strikes, breathe, concentrate, and it worked out for the best,” Flerismond said. “Yesterday I pitched really well and today I just had to come back out here and do the same.”

Flerismond said he was just hoping to do better than his previous effort against the Colts.

“They were fighting all week,” he said. “The first game I pitched against them, they beat us, so I felt I had something to prove.”

The Lions scored two in the bottom of the sixth for the final runs of the game.

“That really just made it a little more comfortable,” Lions manager Mike Moss said. “A two-run game is always tough. Rashad pitched yesterday and had to come back today, so giving him a little comfort was important. And he felt a little more relaxed in the last inning, so that was really big.”

The Colts didn’t threaten in the top of the seventh, going down quietly.

Stockelman said the team is looking forward to Monday’s game with the Panthers but knows it has a challenge there.

“We know they’re a good-hitting team and they can swing the bats, so we need to bring our defense,” Stockelman said.

Playing in a tournament such as the Fall Classic has give Moss a chance to evaluate his team further and see how the younger plays do in key situations.

“When you look at fall ball and what it’s all about, trying to develop your team and get them ready for the spring, this has been very valuable,” Moss said. “We’ve been able to get a lot of young guys in situations they wouldn’t normally be playing in. So that’s a good thing for the program because we’re getting young guys comfortable playing in big games already. It pays off a little later when they’re older. So it’s been very productive for us as far as that goes. We’ve seen a lot of things offensively that we can do, bunting the ball, running the bases. We’re hitting the ball pretty well, so it’s been good for us.”

Colts manager Frank Bumbales said his team didn’t have the arms to compete for the win.

“Our problem was we were totally out of pitching,” Bumbales said. “We have five arms down and six guys in a school play, so we just ran out of pitching. We really didn’t come out and hit like we should have. We’ve got a bunch of guys hurt, but that’s no excuse. They out played us and they beat us, that’s all there is to it. My hat’s off to them, and I wish them good luck.”

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