Falcons Dominant In 17-0 Shutout Over S. Plantation in Regional Quarterfinal

Flanagan sent a message to the remaining teams in the Class 6A playoffs on Tuesday night.

The defending state champions have every intention of repeating.

The host Falcons went right to work and never took their foot off the gas, pounding out 13 hits and cruising to a 17-0 victory over South Plantation in a shortened five-inning 6A regional quarterfinal.

Flanagan (23-2) will host West Broward (11-12) on Friday in a regional semifinal.

This was not a South Plantation team that found itself in the regional playoffs by accident. The Paladins (11-13) had gone 6-2 down the stretch with four shutout victories.

The offense had scored 56 runs during those games.

Paladins’ starter Brandon Burgess (7-5) had won his last four outings.

None of that mattered as the Falcons proved to be just too dangerous. Every starter reached base, as each hitter was patient at the plate working the count and waiting for their pitch and then finding the hole with the ball.

Senior Mike Melendez put Flanagan on the scoreboard with a first-pitch double that scored seniors Ricky Santiago and Robert Collin with no outs in the first inning. Melendez also singled to plate two in the bottom of second inning.

The Falcons put the game away in the second, with seven runs total following a grand slam by junior outfielder Gabby Aurrecoechea that made it 10-0.

Starter Michael Emigh improved to 7-0 while making his eleventh appearance of the season. He struck out three and walked only one on 46 total pitches.

Collin took over to close out the final inning, needing only ten pitches to end it while striking out two batters.

Senior catcher Kyle Schmidt helped complete a perfect strike-out-throw-out combination in the final inning, managing to throw back to first base in time to pick off Paladins senior Matt Fuller following a strikeout.

Burgess recorded three strikeouts in his final start, throwing 47 of his 71 pitches for strikes.

The Paladins were hurt by five fielding errors, and they were hit-less with runners in scoring position.

Flanagan is 16-1 at home this season.

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