McCarthy Blanks Somerset In Game Of The Week Showdown

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The Archbishop McCarthy baseball team has been a part of a large share of big games on big stages in recent years. The team has always performed well under such circumstances, and on Friday night that trend continued.

Playing in the first 2014 Broward High School Baseball Game of the Week, the Mavericks rose to the challenge to shut out a dangerous Somerset Academy squad 9-0 in front of a large crowd at their home field in Southwest Ranches. McCarthy rode the momentum of a big five-run third inning, and also capitalized on several uncharacteristic miscues by the Panthers to run away with the victory.

The Mavericks’ program has won an unprecedented four consecutive state titles, and the club continues to prove that they respond well when pressure is put on them.

“That’s the thing at McCarthy; you’re going to play in big games, and when people come in here they expect a big game,” said Mavericks senior starter Brian Gonzalez. “When it’s the high school Game of the Week it’s even bigger. We enjoy it, we love the Friday Night Lights and we really take it in and hone in on it to make it enjoyable and as fun as possible.”

Gonzalez did his part in the victory, setting the tone with three solid shutout innings in which he struck out seven batters on just 48 total pitches. The big left-hander was also instrumental in putting his team ahead early as he reached on an error in the bottom of the first inning to extend a frame in which the Mavericks (3-0) eventually scored when Eddie Silva drew a bases-loaded walk to drive home Michael Gigliotti.

Walks and errors doomed the Panthers (0-2) throughout, as the club allowed several of both to a club that is far too dangerous to survive against such crucial miscues.

“You can’t give a team like McCarthy 14 guys on base and expect to win,” said Panthers Manager Onel Garcia. “That third inning killed us there. The ball didn’t even leave the infield and we just couldn’t make the plays. That’s not normal for us, because I think we’re a better defensive club than that. They threw three D-1 guys and we didn’t have good at bats against them. We can hit the ball better than that. Basically we didn’t pitch, we didn’t hit and we didn’t catch the ball. When you don’t do any of those three you’re not going to win. I don’t know what happened tonight.”

Somerset has a strong squad this season, and one that has aspirations for great success. But Coach Garcia admitted that he intentionally scheduled two very tough teams right out of the gate so that he could humble his guys and let them understand what tough high school baseball teams are all about. The Panthers opened the season on the road earlier in the week at American Heritage, another perennial power that won by a large margin against them this week.

Six of the team’s top eleven players are only sophomores, and Coach Garcia does not regret the decision he made to throw his young guys into the fire against two of the toughest teams in all of South Florida.

“It’s always great playing McCarthy. They’re a class organization and I always like playing here because it has a big game feel,” said Garcia. “I’m glad my guys understand what playing in a big game is like, so later on there will be no nerves.”

Even with all the success that the Mavericks have enjoyed these last few years, the squad focuses on remaining humble and not allowing themselves to be overconfident and take any opponent lightly. Somerset is a team that beat them on their home field last year on their Senior Night, and the Panthers were the last club to beat them. Friday night was not about getting revenge, but rather about facing a worthy foe that is capable of giving McCarthy everything they can handle.

“We love the challenge,” said Mavericks Manager Rich Bielski. “Somerset is a very talented team this year and we know that they are the talk of the town. It was a great first Friday night of the season. I’m proud of them, and especially of our senior class for just working so hard.”

McCarthy was especially effective at working the count and putting pressure on the Panthers’ pitching staff. Hitters worked deep counts and waited on their pitches, while also taking walks as they were given and trusting in the next guy up to keep things going. The Mavericks have a tendency to build momentum with big innings, and then use that momentum to take control of the contest. Such was the case on Friday night, as the team used their big third inning to put themselves in the driver’s seat.

Aaron Soto and Eddie Silva both reached on errors leading off the frame, and Alex Rodriguez loaded the bases when he reached on an infield bunt single that the pitcher was unable to get a glove on. Ryan Sinzenich drew a walk to push Soto home and extend the lead to 2-0, before the next two batters connected to break things wide open.

Freshman first baseman Alex Toral had a great at bat to follow Sinzenich, working the count through seven pitches before he connected to drive a liner to centerfield for a two-RBI single.

“I saw a couple of fastballs and some good off-speed pitches,” Toral said of his big at bat. “The main thing I did was try to stay back and drive the ball to opposite field, especially because of the way they were throwing to me.”

Dylan Bautista kept things going by looping a hit over the leaping second baseman to drive home Alex Carballo, who came in as a courtesy runner for Sinzenich. Toral also scored in the frame when Blade Bielski drove him in on a fielder’s choice groundout to second base that made it 6-0.

McCarthy padded their lead an inning later, as Silva again reached on an error and then scored when Sinzenich blasted a shot deep off the right field wall for an RBI double. Toral then laced an RBI double to the left field corner to again send the courtesy-runner Carballo across the plate.

Although Toral is surrounded by a plethora of experienced and accomplished veterans on the McCarthy roster, it was his hits that helped to break the game open. Part of the lure that has come to define McCarthy baseball is to rise up in big moments, and the club was ecstatic to see one of their new young stars assert himself so quickly into his first season of high school baseball.

“There are a lot of veterans in this program and they help you out and guide you through the game,” said Toral. “It feels good when you have a lot of veterans on the team. It feels good to be part of the program and doing it in this fashion.”

The run support was more than enough for the Mavericks pitching staff. Gonzalez gave way to Andres Nunez, who tossed three shutout innings before turning things over to Aaron Soto to close out the final two frames. The staff recorded 12 strikeouts in all, while allowing just seven base runners on the night.

“Brian came out strong and struck out seven in three innings; he was locating well and he has that devastating changeup,” Bielski said. “That third inning propelled us, and after that Nunez came in and got his work in, and then Aaron Soto came in and shut the door. Everybody pitched relatively well and it helped us a little bit with their defense. But I’m sure Somerset is going to make a strong run this year in the playoffs.”

Although the final result was one that the Panthers would like to forget and move on from, there were some bright spots for the squad. Coach Garcia was especially pleased with the hitting performance from centerfielder Kenny Moreno-Costa, who went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles to account for two of the team’s three hits.

“Kenny was 3-for-3 against Heritage the other night too, so he’s hitting the ball real well,” Garcia said. “P.J. Ximinies threw well on the mound and he pitched with some heart, so I was really impressed with him as well.”

Ximinies came on in relief in the fourth inning, and the young right-hander allowed one unearned run in two-and-a-third innings while picking up three strikeouts.

The game was a nice local rivalry for two clubs in which so many of the players know one another, and have played baseball together since they were very young. As an example, seven of the guys who took the field Friday previously played together for the Miramar Canes youth baseball team.

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