Sharkey Drives In Five As Colts Beat Trojans 10-3

The Coral Springs Colts have gotten the better of their rivalry with crosstown foe Taravella over the past couple of years. On Tuesday night, the Colts again claimed bragging rights by defeating the Trojans 10-3 in a District 10-6A match up.

Last year, the Colts established themselves as one of the most fundamentally sound teams in the county, on their way to a regional finals appearance. This season, Coral Springs still has the ability to play small-ball, but their young hitters have now matured and can go deep as well. The two phases of their game were both on display in the first inning Tuesday.

Dylan Ebel led off the game with a walk. Alex Demicco then laid down a perfect bunt to move Ebel over the second. Lewis Brinson was hit by a pitch from Trojans starter Andrew Forest. Clean-up hitter Alan Sharkey followed, by driving a 2-2 pitch over the center field fence, giving the Colts a 3-0 lead.

Coral Springs struck again in the second. Ebel walked for the second time in two at-bats, moved to second on Demicco’s ground out to first, and Brinson beat out an infield hit. That put runners at the corners for Sharkey, who delivered a scorching line drive off the right center field fence, scoring both Ebel and Brinson. In the middle of the second, Coral Springs held a 5-0 lead. On the night, Sharkey was 3-4 with five RBIs.

“Alan is a very good hitter,” said Coral Springs Head Coach Frank Bumbales. “We put him in the four hole this year to protect Lewis, teams seem to want to walk him. So hopefully we are going to put an end to that, cause now, if they walk Brinson, they’re going to have to pitch to Sharkey, and he’s a pretty good stick.”

While the Colts offense staked the team to a big lead, starting pitcher Brett Schneider tossed the first four innings, yielding only two earned runs on four hits. Schneider had been working his way back early this season from a broken elbow, and Bumbales proclaimed after the game, “He’s just now starting to come around.”

The top of Taravella’s lineup did their part to keep the Trojans in the game. Lead-off hitter Jordan Gleisher was on base three times. Greg Feinberg had two hits from the two-hole, and Matt Robertson reached base safely three times. Unfortunately for the Trojans, none of the three scored a run in the game, as the middle of the lineup failed to produce timely hits.

The 4-1 Colts will play district games against Coconut Creek and Deerfield at home in their next two games, before a looming showdown with Douglas a week from Thursday. Taravella gets a chance to put the Colts game behind them quickly when they host Deerfield this evening.

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