Taylor’s Walk-Off Sends Douglas Back To 7A Title Game
Baseball is where we escape to happiness. When you are at the baseball field and caught up in the action, the rest of the universe outside of that diamond seems to no longer exist.
It has been a challenging time off the field for the Douglas baseball family of late, but baseball has had their backs. Eagles Manager Todd Fitz-Gerald’s wife, Colleen, and also the mother of one of the players are both battling cancer right now.
As this team has weathered the rewards and the challenges that come with being a record-holding five-time state champion, the pressures on the baseball field seem tiny compared to the everyday challenges faced when the stadium lights turn off.
On Friday night these Douglas players showed that their heart, determination and love for each other is stronger than any fastball, any tough call and any doubters who felt their window had finally closed.
From the outside it looked like a risky gamble, but from the inside it proved true as the greatest showing of trust and faith a coach could ever have in his players.
With star ace Gio Rojas never taking the mound, the Douglas Eagles battled to a 9-8 victory over the Hagerty Huskies, in the Class 7A state semifinal at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers. Down to their final out in the tie ball game with the deciding runner on second base, Jackson Taylor lined a single into left field and Ander Elorriaga raced around third base and across the plate to send the Eagles back to the title game.
“They did it for my wife,” Coach Fitz-Gerald said. “That’s all I can tell you is that it has been a tumultuous year, it has been a rough year for all of us. We’re playing for her, and I just couldn’t be happier. Another mom is going through it as well, and these guys are just so tight and pulling for each other and fighting for each other. I’m proud of the resiliency that they showed tonight, and the intestinal fortitude.”
The Eagles (27-6) survive and advance to the state championship with a chance at an unprecedented sixth straight title, in a showdown against the top-ranked Venice Indians (32-1). They will now have their ace, Gio Rojas, ready to go in the marquee showdown, which was what the team wanted and asked for.
The players backed, and even promoted, the decision to save Rojas, in the relentless charge to win this semifinal battle, and prove that you have to get past all of the Eagles if you want to dethrone them, no matter who is on the mound.
The Douglas family tree has many members. To see the guys who stepped up and played the heroes turns this night into a very special chapter in this historic odyssey the team remains upon in chasing title after title.
“They love their coach,” Fitz-Gerald said. “My wife is fighting hard, and I am sure she is jumping up and down in the chair because we just walked it off. I wish she was here with us, but she watched the game at home. Now we’ve got another tomorrow.”
So many players shined in their chances, while Jackson Taylor led the charge. By delivering the winner he already did enough, but his overall performance is a testament of his love for his team and his coach.
“I did everything that I could for my team to the best of my ability, just trying to win for my team,” Taylor said. “I’ve never been here before and this is my first time at states, and I was just doing this for my team and for Fitz, and for everyone here who came out to see me and the team. It’s hard to put into words how amazing it feels to do this for the team. I believe in my team more than anybody else in this world.”
Taylor was 3-for-4 overall, first delivering an RBI single with the bases loaded in the second, while also coming up clutch to tie the game at 8-8 with an RBI single that plated Sean Torres in the bottom of the fifth.
“Coach Fitz was in the hospital room when I was born, being my dad’s best friend,” Taylor said. “Being able to play for him, and being able to do this for him, and keep our team going at states for a six-peat just feels incredible. I never thought that I’d be doing anything like this.”
When news got around that Gio Rojas wasn’t going to start, there were others that also thought the Eagles would never accomplish anything like this. To go into battle with your season on the line, you want to have your best. But the Eagles have always gotten here by everyone being their best, when their best was being called upon, from Kyle Shay to Santiago Ordonez to Cayden Freels to Tyler Stertzbach.
The players knew it was dangerous to face a tough team like Hagerty without their ace on the mound, but the reward would be to have him ready to go in the title game against the number one ranked team in the entire country.
“Sometimes you’ve got to roll the dice and sometimes you’ve got to take chances,” Fitz-Gerald said. “I’ve always been a little bit of a risk taker, and I couldn’t be happier for all of them. I’m so proud of these guys.”
Things did not follow the desired plan at the start, as the Huskies jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning that provided plenty of fuel for any doubters still questioning the big decision. Although the Huskies likely had not game-planned for Eagles starter Reid Dadic, they managed to get the bats going right away.
Nate Rhodes walked and Isaias Torres reached on an outfield error that allowed Rhodes to race around the bags and score on. Aiden Kearney then lined an 0-2 pitch to center for an RBI single, and Shaurya Bhosale followed with an RBI double down the right field line.
Rather than get down, Coach Fitz-Gerald and the staff continued to believe in the guys.
“In the first inning, if we catch a fly ball than maybe it’s a ten-pitch inning and it’s a different story and they don’t score three,” Fitz-Gerald lamented. “But I didn’t say a word to him about it, and later he got a great bunt down for us to get the bases loaded and answer back. You’ve just got to make the kids feel relaxed in that situation.”
Dadic settled down and delivered a 1-2-3 second inning, aided by a 4-6-3 double play turned by the defense. The Eagles then went to work in the bottom of the frame to rally for the lead in this tug-of-war battle. Lorenzo Laurel was hit by a pitch, Dadic walked and gave way to courtesy-runner Brody Gargiulo and Angel Rodriguez loaded the bases with an infield single. Matthew Toback got the Eagles on the scoreboard with an RBI single to first that left the bat at 102 miles per hour.
The runs kept coming. Taylor next got his big day started by plating Gargiulo on a base hit to left, Rodriguez and Toback both scored on consecutive errors, and Randy Ruiz made it 5-3 with an RBI ground out that scored courtesy-runner Sean Torres.
But Hagerty did not wait long to respond, jumping back in front with four runs in the top of the third. Jalin Copeland walked, Rhodes singled to left and Torres followed with an RBI base hit to right. Kearney next had a single to right that filled up all the bases with Huskies.
Douglas went to the bullpen there, bringing sophomore right-hander Tyler Stertzbach into the high-pressure situation. Bhosale then jumped on the first pitch and crushed it deep to center field, resulting in a bases-clearing RBI triple that moved Hagerty back ahead with a 7-5 advantage.
Despite the unfriendly greeting, Tyler Stertzbach was unfazed. He settled in quickly and went to work, and he saved the rest of his bullpen by taking the ball the rest of the way.
“He can really pitch,” Fitz-Gerald said. “They ambushed a heater, and we probably should have thrown a slider there. That’s his best pitch. But he hung in there, and he came to me in the fifth inning and said he was not coming out of there and that he’s got it. I believe in him, so go get it and let’s go win this thing.”
Once again, that family connection held strong. Tyler is the son of Eagles Assistant Coach Von Stertzbach. Stertzbach rung the cowbell for five full innings to finish the game, allowing one earned run on seven scattered hits and a walk, while he piled up a career-best eight strikeouts.
“It was great, just amazing,” Stertzbach said of the opportunity he was trusted to deliver. “The defense behind me was incredible, and I don’t think they had an error all game. I had full trust in my teammates the whole time to try and get that job done, and we did. Coach Fitz is like my second father, and I’ve known him forever. He’s taught me the game and the ups and downs, and I love him. He’s got trust in me and I’ve got trust in him, so whatever goes with him it goes with me.”
Douglas got one back in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to an RBI double from Ruiz that drove in Jake Rizzo. Hagerty quickly answered back when Carlos Cruz lined an RBI single to left to plate Colton Beams for an 8-6 lead in the fifth.
Yet here came the Eagles yet again. Laurel walked and Toback singled for runners on the corners in the fifth, before a wild pitch allowed Laurel to score and Toback to advance into scoring position for the hot-hitting Taylor. He wasted no time in jumping on the next pitch for a game-tying RBI single.
After Stertzbach held the line with two more scoreless frames of relief work, the Eagles capitalized on their final chances to walk it off and set up the Primetime match up against the Indians. Elorriaga worked a one-out walk, advanced to second on a 5-3 ground out from Toback, and then scored the winning run when Taylor delivered one final time.
Now at last, Douglas can focus on the next task in taking on a Venice team that is as dangerous and challenging as any in the nation. History will happen, one way or the other. But for those few precious hours the game will cancel everything else around it, the rest of the universe outside of that diamond seeming to no longer exist.
“It’s the number one team in the country and we’re the underdog. We embrace it,” Fitz-Gerald said. “We were the underdog all year and everybody said we were done, and it just goes to show you the culture and standard of the program.”
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