Flores, Nader, Lead Chaminade Into Fall Classic Championship

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Chris Flores and Kevin Nader know what it is like to be in pressure situations. The Chaminade-Madonna players were both integral parts of the Lions team last season. On Tuesday night, new head coach Mike Moss got to see first-hand what Nader and Flores could do.

Flores threw four shutout innings, working out of several jams, and Nader had two doubles to provide the offense the Lions needed to defeat Douglas 8-1 in their semifinal game of the 2011 HSBN/Perfect Recruits Fall Classic tournament.

When the tournament began, Moss was hoping to get a grasp on just how good his team would be heading into the spring. The first two rounds of the tournament, plus a strong performance Tuesday have given the Chaminade coach a belief that his squad could be a major factor when the spring rolls around.

Chaminade came ready to play yesterday, jumping on the Eagles in the first inning. After a lead-off double, Mitch Moormann drove in the game’s first run with a single. Luis Guillorme reached on an error, and Nader delivered the first of his two RBI in the game with a sacrifice fly to center. By the end of the inning, Chaminade had all the runs (three) it needed.

“It makes it much easier,” said Flores, when asked about being given a three-run cushion before he even took the mound. “All you have to do when they (offense) give you that kind of lead is just hold the other team down. My game plan was to get ahead. I know they are a fastball-hitting team, so I had to mix it up a little. I did that, and we got them.”

Once they had the lead, the Lions turned the game over to Flores, who by his own and his coaches admissions, did not have his best stuff. After a relatively harmless first innings, Flores worked out of his first jam in the second. Alec Dowell singled but was then picked off first by Flores. After a second out, the Eagles loaded the bases on back-to-back singles by Jonathan Lipinski and Nick Leyva, and a hit-by-pitch. Flores then induced an inning-ending ground ball from Eagles lead-off hitter Colton Bottomley.

“Chris got a “W” with no strikeouts, and he battled,” Moss said. “Tonight was one of those games where he really had to be a battler. He didn’t have great stuff, or his command, but he got two big pick-offs, and he got a big double play in a key situation, and that’s the kind of thing you have to do when you don’t have your best stuff. I give him a lot of credit.”

In the third, the Chaminade offense tacked on two more runs, and Flores took to the hill with a six-run lead. The lead-off hitter of the inning reached base, but Flores immediately picked off his second runner of the game. Douglas then worked a couple of base-runners, but stranded two in the inning. On the game, the Eagles offense stranded 10 runners.

The win moved Chaminade into the championship game of the tournament, a feat that was not lost on Moss.

“I was really happy with our performance today,” Moss said. “We did the little things, we played defense, we bunted a little and put the pressure on the defense.

As for the Eagles, they had their sites set on playing district-rival Coral Springs in the final, but they fell short, perhaps with their eye on the next game and not on the day’s opponent, Chaminade. That was a learning point that new coach Todd Fitz-Gerald drove home throughout the week to his team. In the end, Fitz-Gerald was pleased with his team’s performance this fall, and he gave credit to his opponent.

“I think we had a good fall from where we started. Tonight, I thought Chaminade did a great job. Their pitcher did a good job early. My hat goes off to them. They did a good job, and they beat us. Obviously, we’d like to be playing tomorrow, but I think our kids will learn from it and we’ll get better.”

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