Monarch Falls To Coral Glades 8-2 In District 10-6A Match Up

On a cool, cloudy, and dreary afternoon, Coral Glades posted a five spot in the fourth inning en route to an 8-2 triumph over Monarch.

It looked as if the Jaguars would take an early lead in the top of the first, when with one down, a pair of infield errors on consecutive pitches put runners on first and second. However, a nice 6-4-3 double play ended the threat.

The Knights, feeling somewhat relieved, started a rally of their own in their half of the first. Lead-off hitter Bobby Jakubek laced the first pitch he saw from Jaguars starter Austin McMahon back up the middle for a single. After a successful sacrifice bunt by Josh Mila, Monarch’s Michael Stokes blasted an RBI double to deep left center, scoring Jakubek, giving the Knights an early 1-0 lead.

Monarch’s starting pitcher Andrew Pierson settled into a nice groove, retiring the Jags in order in the second and third innings.

Not to be outdone, McMahon started a string of scoreless innings, getting through the second and third without incident. Despite the strong performance on the mound, McMahon was still on the short end of a 1-0 score heading to the fourth.

Jaguars batters, who were held hit less through three, woke up in the top of the fourth. A lead-off walk to designated hitter Austin Holzknecht was followed by Oliver Christensen’s drive to the right center-field gap. Monarch’s freshman right fielder Andrew Roloff made an outstanding play in holding Christensen to a long single. Clean-up hitter Frank Rodriguez then grounded an RBI single through the vacated spot at short on a perfectly executed hit-and-run play.

With runners at the corners, the Jaguars then pulled off a successful delayed double steal, putting Coral Glades up 2-1. Greg Farber singled, and stole second, putting runners on second and third, setting the stage for Brandon Texiera’s two-run single through the right side, upping the lead to 4-1. The Jaguars added one more in the frame, taking a 5-1 lead to the bottom of the fourth.

“After my guys got down early,” said Coral Glades Head Coach Jorge Miranda. “I was really proud of them when they put a five spot on the board in the fourth. They did it the old-fashioned way, hitting the baseball, a lot of hit and runs, and good execution.”

The Jaguars McMahon closed out his five inning stint, allowing just one run on three hits, while chalking up four strikeouts.

Both teams went scoreless in the fifth and sixth inning, leaving the score at 5-1 heading to the seventh.

Three unearned runs were scored by Coral Glades in the top of the seventh, making the score 8-1 heading into Monarch’s last at-bat. The Knights pushed across one run in the seventh, but that was not nearly enough as the Jaguars claimed the district win.

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