Vigliarolo Powers Eagles To 9-2 Victory Over Suns

The most ironic thing about North Broward Prep’s convincing 9-2 win over University Saturday was that everyone in the starting line up hit safely with the exception of Christian Correa. The Eagles catcher was the only North Broward Prep player to hit safely in the 3-2 loss to Archbishop McCarthy on Thursday night. In that contest he was 2-2, with a game-tying last inning homer and two RBI.

In Saturday’s game, however, it was the rest of the Eagles that carried the load. North Broward’s lead off  hitter, Kevin Fagan started things off with a single in the top of the first inning.  Fagan proceeded to steal second and came around to score the first run of the game on Mike Vigliarolo’s RBI single up the middle. The scrappy second baseman reached base on all five of his plate appearances, going 2-2, while drawing three walks and scoring three runs.

The offense really got going in the second, scoring four runs, on four singles and a pair of walks, to take a 5-0 lead after 1 1/2 innings. The third inning started well enough with two ground singles threw the left side and a successful double steal by Josean Lazaro and Jecid Tarazona. However, three quick outs later the runners were left stranded on second and third.

As the sun beat down on this beautiful day for baseball, the Eagles bats were heating up.  They pounded out five consecutive hits in scoring four more runs in the fourth to up their lead to 9-0.  Sarkis Ohanian and Justin Bard each picked up their second hit of the day, as did Lazaro, who drilled an RBI double down the left field line.  Vigliarolo provided the big blow of the inning, belting a 380′ bases clearing triple to deep center field.

The rest of the game did not provide much more offense for the Eagles, but University did tack on some late runs. In the seventh, sophomore Jordan Budwig blasted a two-run homer to deep right center field, making the final score 9-2.

“I was very impressed by our defense today,” said Campbell, referring to shortstop Ohanian, first baseman Vigliarolo and catcher Correa,  each of whom made outstanding plays.  However, it was Bard in left field who topped the defensive gems with a long running catch of  Manny Silveira’s 340′ drive to left field in inning six.

When asked if  his team might be a little down after Thursday nights heart breaking loss to Archbishop McCarthy, coach Campbell claimed the team still had plenty of confidence.

“Absolutely not,” said Campbell. “They were upset as far as losing the game but they weren’t about to put their heads down and they came to practice pretty motivated, which made me happy.”

Starting pitcher Josh Steigelfest went the distance in picking up the win. He pitched a beauty, needing just 87 pitches (51 strikes) in limiting a young but improving University  School team to just three hits.  

“He started running out of gas at the end, but he put his head down and finished. He grinded out a good win and did an excellent job,” said Campbell.

Suns Coach Rich Hofman found a silver lining in the 9-2 loss with Budwig’s seventh inning home run.

“It was probably the only bright spot on the day,” said Hofman, “We’re very thin. I mean, we have only ten players. We have some kids who play both JV and varsity. We have no room for error. Everybody has to play well every game. They were just better than we were today. “

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