Coral Glades Holds Off St. Thomas Aquinas In 8A Quarterfinal

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All season long Coral Glades manager Mike Goulette has encouraged his team to pull together and play up to their full potential together. In its biggest moment all year, the Jaguars did just that. Behind a relentless offensive attack and just enough pitching to finish the job, Coral Glades prevailed with a 6-4 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas in an 8A regional quarterfinal at Ed Waters Field in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday night.

The Jaguars (13-12) advance to a road meeting with district rival Atlantic in next week’s regional semifinals. The Eagles won 10-3 over Piper in the other quarterfinal on Wednesday, and since they won the district the Eagles earned the right to host next week’s playoff meeting.

“I knew it was a matter of time,” Goulette said. “This is why we stuck with the saying ‘Seven Strong’ since the day I got here. They were saying it tonight and they pulled it out. They did seven strong. We worked and talked about this moment from day one. We came a little short of our goal to win a district championship, but at the end of the day we know how good we can be. Now they are starting to believe in everything we are saying. It took some time, but now they are starting to buy in to the system. Everything we do is quality, and that is what you saw tonight.”

Goulette pointed particularly towards an offense that delivered quality at bats in essentially every plate appearance. Hitters were aggressive on the right pitches and in the right counts, but also managed to see a lot of pitches, to fight and foul things off and to strike when the right offering arrived.

“We just tried to hit the ball as hard as we could, get our base hits and get the runs in on those situations,” said designated hitter Juan Rodriguez, who led the way with a 3-for-4 night. “That’s what we did, and thank God we got our runs in and we got the win. It’s a hype when it is hit after hit, and we finished the game strong; seven strong.”

Coral Glades jumped out to the lead with its first swings and never trailed the rest of the way. Alex Lara singled to right field and Joe Juliano doubled to center to put both runners into scoring position. Preston Vegotsky followed with an RBI single that plated Lara for the 1-0 advantage.

An inning later the Jaguars added two more to increase the pressure. Jon Hook and TJ Densmore both singled and then advanced thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Nik Donatucci. Lara then reached on an error that brought in Hook and Rodriguez followed with a high chopper over first base for an RBI single that scored courtesy-runner Casey Shifrel.

A three-run fifth inning accounted for the deciding runs. Rodriguez was the spark once again with a lead-off double to the right field corner, before moving to third thanks to a sac-bunt from Juliano. Vegotsky delivered another RBI single, and Coral Glades loaded the bases after that as Stephen Godoy and Densmore both singled. Donatucci came through with a liner into the shallow left field edge to drive in a pair, including Vegotsky crossing home for the winning run.

Densmore earned the victory with four full innings of work and a two-run lead when he came off the mound. Although the Raiders (19-5) managed base runners in each of his four frames, the right-hander succeeded in minimizing the damage and keeping his club out in front. Densmore surrendered four hits and three walks for two earned runs, while striking out one. The senior also did a solid job of backing himself on the hill with two hits and two walks at the plate.

“We knew their guy threw pretty hard, so we just went out there looking for fastballs and we hit them,” Densmore said. “When I’m out there throwing on the mound I know those guys have my back with the hitting and I just feel like I am on top of the world. I can throw whatever I want and they’ll make the plays and we’re still going to be in the lead.”

Trailing by three heading into the bottom of the second, the Raiders responded to get on the board. Kyle Benson singled to center field and advanced around to third following a throwing error and a wild pitch. Drew Davis then crushed a shot to deep right field for an RBI triple.

An inning later St. Thomas pulled within a run. Ryan Stadler singled up the middle and Earl Semper and Anthony Mulrine both walked to fill the bases. Daniel Lowry got under a pitch to drive it deep to center for a sac-fly RBI that plated Stadler.

Vegotsky took over on the hill in the fifth, working his way out of trouble over the next two innings to bring things to the seventh. With one out the Raiders made their final comeback push, as Semper singled and Mulrine followed with a drive over the left field fence for a two-run home run.

“Home runs happen; I’ve hit home runs and other people have hit home runs,” Vegotsky said. “Being a pitcher is all about keeping your composure. I know me and all of my teammates wanted to win this ball game badly, and when you want it that bad you need to keep your composure and keep on pushing. That was what I did and that is why we got the final two outs.”

Vegotsky collected himself and recorded the final two outs to finish off the win and ignite the Jaguars’ celebration. The left-hander allowed two hits and two walks and struck out three.

“This is the best feeling in my life,” Vegotsky said. “I’ve never been in a dogpile before.”

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