Kaminer Dazzles As Douglas Edges North Broward Prep

Mix fire with fire, and you’re bound to get more fire. Add Stoneman Douglas lefty Brandon Kaminer’s heat on the mound to the mix, though, and the results are one that opponents never want to see.

With his team needing strong pitching after the loss of teammate Jesus Luzardo earlier in the week, Kaminer showed that Douglas may be all right without their star senior.

Kaminer carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning on a hot day in South Florida and looked flat-out dominant, allowing Douglas to hold off North Broward Prep for a 5-2 win in HSBN’s Broward Game Of The Week.

Throwing 62% of his pitches for strikes and walking just two, Kaminer was just three outs away from baseball immortality — something the left-hander was well aware of.

“I knew I had a no-hitter going from the start of the game, but I really tried not to think about it as time went on,” Kaminer said. “The heat didn’t bother me; I actually prefer pitching in the heat. I think knowing that there’s a lot of pressure on us now that Jesus is out helped too. There’s even more pressure on Cole and I with the bat, but we really have to do this for Jesus and get our team a championship.”

The loss of Luzardo, a beloved senior captain and one of the most recognizable faces on a now 11-1 Douglas team definitely stings. But manager Todd Fitz-Gerald has faith in his team.

“Obviously, we took a big hit and lost Jesus Luzardo earlier in the week, but our guys all around really responded,” Fitz-Gerald said. “I told our guys today you’re facing a good arm in Evan McKendry, who hadn’t walked a single guy all year, so be aggressive and swing the bats. We saw that in the first inning, jumping on them early and really setting the tone. We’re going to get on base, we’re going to make some big plays, and we’re going to be better.”

Fitz-Gerald was particularly pleased with the pitching performance.

“Brandon had a heck of a day today, throwing six no-hit innings for us,” Fitz-Gerald said of his pitcher. “He wasn’t outstanding, but he was very gutsy and gritty out there, making the big pitches when we needed them most. I thought Brandon did a great job locating the ball. He matured a little bit today; he wasn’t trying to throw it by guys and he did a really good job. We’re going to really need games like this from Brandon as the season goes on.”

Stoneman Douglas broke through early with a three-run outing in the bottom of the first inning. After third baseman Brady Norris singled to start the frame, shortstop Colton Welker brought him home with an RBI double and later scored himself on a wild pitch, as would teammate Alex Pino later in the inning. Welker’s bat also made a key appearance in inning number five, as the senior captain drove a ball over the left field fence to give his team a 5-0 lead.

“McKendry is a fastball thrower and I knew he was going to throw a fastball, so I got my foot down early after getting behind in the count,” Welker said of his home run. “It’s always a great feeling hitting a home run, especially in such a big win against a team that is ranked so highly. We knew that this was going to be a close game, a dogfight, and we won the fight.”

Starting for North Broward Prep and taking the loss was Evan McKendry, who threw 71% of his 83 pitches for strikes and struck out four in his five innings of work. While McKendry did give up all five runs, he pitched extremely well after the first inning and didn’t allow a single walk, displaying excellent command against an offense that came out firing early.

North Broward made a comeback attempt in the seventh inning, starting with pinch-hitter Nick Bohrer breaking up Kaminer’s no-hitter and continuing with Dylan Ogozaly’s two-run double which scored both Bohrer and Stender Von Oehs, who had reached on a fielder’s choice.

Unfortunately for Brian Campbell’s team, though, the rally was cut short as reliever Brady Norris induced a groundout to end the ballgame.

“Obviously, we need to do a better job at the plate,” Campbell said. “We got out-played, out-coached, and we got beat. That’s it. On all levels of the game, we got beat. But I was happy with Evan’s performance, especially after that rough first inning, and I was really proud of the way he battled today.”

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