Brinson, Delamadrid Power Colts Into Fall Classic Semifinals
Coral Springs defeated Pine Crest 8-1 Thursday night.
Lewis Brinson has been walked more than five times already in the HSBN/Perfect Recruits Fall Classic tournament. The number 17 high school prospect in the nation, according to Baseball America, Brinson should get used to making the best of his opportunities when teams do decide to pitch to him.
On Thursday night, in game two of the Colts’ best-of-three series with Pine Crest, one of those opportunities arose in the third inning, with Coral Springs down 1-0. Brinson, who had struck out after being fooled by a curve ball in the first inning, made sure to make the best of his chance, driving a fastball for a three-run, opposite-field home run to put the Colts in front to stay. Coral Springs ended up winning the game 8-1 and advance to the semifinal round of the tournament.
“I thought I would probably get another curve ball, maybe one in the dirt,” Brinson said when asked what pitch he was looking for when he hit the home run. “But he threw me a fastball, and I reacted to it. I was kind of surprised when he threw it to me, after I had looked so foolish in the first at-bat on the curve ball.”
In Wednesday’s win, it was Alan Sharkey who hit behind Brinson and protected the Colts’ third hitter by driving a home run of his own out to right field. Thursday night, Sharkey was out of the lineup, and the responsibility of protecting Brinson went to catcher Ian Delamadrid. His opportunity came in the sixth, with the Colts clinging to a two-run lead.
After Dylan Ebel had his fourth walk of the game to lead off the inning, Tre Dingus also walked, and after a wild pitch, Brinson was walked intentionally. Delamadrid then stepped up and delivered the crushing blow to the Panthers’ series chances when he laced a triple into the left-center field gap, clearing the bases and giving the Colts an insurmountable 6-1 lead.
“With Sharkey not here tonight, he (Delamadrid) filled that hole,” Brinson said. “He came through with the big hit. He’s come through with big hits when I’ve been intentionally walked multiple times in the past, so it really was no surprise that he came through tonight.”
Colts pitcher Aaron Maller delivers a pitch during his team’s game with the Panthers.
On the mound for the Colts, Aaron Maller bounced back from a shaky start to pitch five strong innings. In the second, the Panthers had their biggest threat against the Colts’ lefty when they had second and third with one out. Maller locked in and got Pine Crest lead-off hitter Alex Perez to strike out to end the threat. From there, Maller did not give up another hit the rest of the way. Joe Silvani pitched the final two innings to secure the victory for Coral Springs.
The Colts will move on to Monday’s semifinal game against top-seeded West Broward at 8 p.m. at Coral Springs. The Bobcats advanced after winning game three of their series with Monarch on Thursday night.
As for the Panthers, head coach Glen Pierson was pleased with the way his team performed in the tournament. Pine Crest has a young team heading into the spring and one of the toughest districts in the county to deal with when it returns from Winter Break, but Pierson believes his team will be among the elite in the district.
“We played some pretty big schools with a lot of talent in the tournament,” Pierson said. “I’m really glad we got the chance to do that. We are so used to being in a really tough district. As a coaching staff, we know what it takes to prepare our guys to be competitive. It is a tough district, and I’d like to think that we’re one of the pieces that make it a tough district.”
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