St. Thomas Aquinas Blanks Piper To Reach 8A-14 Finals

The 2018 playoffs arrived to District 8A-14 with a pair of semifinal games at Fort Lauderdale High on Tuesday evening, amidst an excellent baseball atmosphere and on a perfect night for baseball. The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders were close to perfect themselves, earning a smooth, 9-0 decision over the Piper Bengals in the matinee contest.

The Raiders (21-3) advance to Thursday’s championship, where they look to earn their sixth straight district title. St. Thomas will take on the site host Fort Lauderdale, after the Flying L’s also won and advanced with a 7-2 win over South Plantation in the other semifinal.

Blake Hely took care of business on the mound for the Raiders, going the distance for the complete-game shutout. He allowed one hit and struck out 11, and did not issue any walks.

St. Thomas jumped out with all the offense it ultimately needed in going up 3-0 in the bottom of the first. While Hely did his part, the batters continued to chip away with added insurance. Andres Antonini supplied a solo home run , Nick Vera was 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and Cade Fergus was 2-for-2 with two runs. Gabriel Terry also drove in two runs with a pair of sac-fly RBIs, and Caleb Roberts went 1-for-3 with an RBI double and two runs.

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