Fortuno Goes The Distance As Falcons Move On

At 6-foot-3 and pushing 200 pounds, Flanagan’s Gentry Fortuno doesn’t look like a normal sophomore, there’s no question about that.

And he certainly doesn’t pitch like one, either, as proven yet again in Tuesday night’s 8A regional semifinal against Douglas.

Fortuno threw a shutout, allowing six hits and striking out 10, as the Falcons blanked the Eagles 3-0, advancing to the regional finals for the eighth time in the past 10 years. Flanagan will host Jupiter at 7 p.m. Friday. A win would put the Falcons in the state final four for the first time since their title run in 2010.

“He’s something special,” Manager Ray Evans said about his young starter after the win. “His arm is in great shape, and he did what he had to do tonight.”

“I struggled a little bit in the beginning, couldn’t find my curveball,” said Fortuno, who is 9-0 this season and 17-0 in his high school career. “But I found most of my pitches throughout the game and felt more confident once we picked up the extra runs.”

Fortuno, who doesn’t hit himself, got a big assist from the bat of fellow big man Ryan Dodge, as the 6-foot-2 first baseman went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI doubles.

“We haven’t been doing real well offensively the last few games,” Evans said. “Dodge has been on fire the whole year, though. He’s having a great season, and if we can get guys on base, he’s going to drive them in.”

The Falcons (20-5), who are 4-0 against Douglas in all-time postseason play, took an early lead when Dodge’s first two-bagger of the night scored leadoff man Oscar Rodriguez, who had reached after being hit by a pitch. Two runs could have scored on the play, but Andres Visbal’s effort to cross the plate was thwarted when he was nailed at home, 7-6-2.

Fortuno’s main bit of trouble in the entire contest came in the next inning, when he allowed a one-out single to Mike Greenberg and then a double to his opposite number, junior Max Boling, one of two hits on the night for the Eagles starter. Gentry got out of the jam, however, striking out Zach Johnson looking and then getting Devin Conn to ground out to second base.

While he took the loss and his outing was a little overshadowed by Fortuno’s, Boling (3-1) had a superb night, allowing just for hits over six innings with only two of the runs being earned.

Despite getting six hits off Fortuno, Douglas just couldn’t get timely base knocks, and clearly missed one of their best hitters, FSU commit Derek Fritz (broken thumb).

However, thanks mainly to Boling’s efforts, the Eagles (19-5) remained down just a single run going into the bottom of the sixth, when Visbal reached for the second time via catcher’s interference.

Dodge then crushed his second double to left center, scoring Visbal, and courtesy runner Alex Sarmiento would make it 3-0 when he scampered home on a deep sac fly by Daniel Oliveri, who hit a home run last year in a 6-1 win over Douglas in the regional quarterfinals.

Fortuno then finished things off in the seventh, striking out a pair to finish with six strikeouts in his final three innings.

After the loss, Eagles manager Todd Fitz-Gerald was understandably disappointed, but optimistic considering the amount of young pitching he has returning next season.

“Fortuno made some big pitches when he had to, and we just didn’t execute when we had to,” Fitz-Gerald said. “Missing Derek was huge, just not having his presence there. But I told the kids, they put Douglas back on the map. No one thought we would be where we’re at, and we just fell a little short. I’m excited for next year.”

Now the attention turns to Friday’s regional final, where the Falcons will enjoy being at home.

“It’s huge,” Evans said about the fact his team will be the home team in the next round. “To not have to take a trip and have a big crowd at home under the night is big, but Jupiter is very talented.”

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