Five Run Fourth Propels West Broward Past McArthur

Tyler Draughon closes the game out in the seventh for West Broward.

West Broward rallied back from two early three run deficits to defeat McArthur in the regional quarterfinal.  The Bobcats took the lead for good with a five run fourth inning and won by a final of 9-6.

McArthur jumped out to an early lead with three in the bottom of the first on two hits and a West Broward error.  Michael Ferretti had an RBI double and designated hitter Kody Swackhammer followed with a two-run shot to right.

Starting pitcher Tyler Henning escaped a bases loaded jam in the second but West Broward, with their patient approach, tied the game up in the third with three runs on two hits and a couple costly McArthur errors.  Danny Pardo and Mike Hoeft started the rally with back to back singles.

Pardo would come around and score on an error and Hoeft would score on a balk.  Mike Mordente reached base via error and later scored on another.

McArthur would quickly take the lead right back with three more runs in the bottom half of the inning on three hits and a couple costly West Broward errors.  Swackhammer hit an RBI double and Kevin Velez followed with a two-run double to make it 6-3 as they knocked out West Broward starting pitcher Alex Zapata in the process.

West Broward would take their first lead of the game in the fourth with five runs as they were able to chase Henning out of the game.  They sent ten men to the plate as and McArthur committed two more costly errors.  Erik Gonzalez and Mark McGinnity had RBI singles in the inning as the Bobcats took an 8-6 lead.

“They believed we were due to score some runs, we’ve had some struggles lately offensively,” said West Broward Head Coach Mike Moss. “We knew we were a better offensive team than that, we felt we could battle back and we were patient and things kind of snowballed for us.”

The Bobcats would add an insurance run in the fifth after another McArthur error led to another run.  Gonzalez had his third hit of the game driving in Hoeft with a single.

Tyler Draughon pitched the final four and two thirds innings of relief to pick up the win.

“Tyler is a crafty lefty and when he’s on and has the change up going he can be very tough” said Moss, ” We’re a young team and we have battled and here we are in the regional semifinal.”

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