Flying L’s Blank Deerfield Lions 5-0 Behind Smith’s Complete Game

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Fort Lauderdale coach Terry Portice always looks to get sufficient pitching, fielding and baserunning from his team.

The Flying L’s covered ground on all three Tuesday as Brad Smith worked a complete-game shutout, the defense played error free and baserunners took an extra base when they could in a 5-0 victory against the Deerfield Lions in a Group 4 game of the HSBN/Perfect Recruits Fall Classic.

Smith, a junior who went 6-3 last season, allowed six hits and a walk, and struck out eight. Smith worked in a laborious manner by allowing a runner to reach in each inning. After he walked a batter in the first inning, he hit a batter in the second and then allowed a single in each inning from the third through the seventh.

Each time, he buckled down and left eight stranded. Only one runner reached third.

“He’s an silent assassin,” Portice said. “He doesn’t make much noise. He doesn’t say too much. He lets his work talk for him on the mound. Notice he doesn’t get too rah-rah out there. He doesn’t hang his head if there’s a hit. He goes about his business and moves on to the next thing. Tonight, he had a lot of first-pitch strikes and was ahead on most of the hitters.”

Junior catcher Kenny Miggins aided Smith’s effort by halting a couple of rallies with his arm. He threw out a baserunner attempting to steal in the first inning, and then picked off a runner at first base with a snap throw in the second.

At the plate, senior center fielder Alexander De La Cruz went 2-for-3, including a driving double into the right-center-field alley to plate Alex Honner in the first. Third baseman Ryan Romash also went 2 for 3 with two singles and a RBI.

Portice also commended clean fielding by first baseman Alec Bryant.

“I thought he had a great night at first base,” Portice said. “On that last play, he went all the way over in the hole. That’s something that we’ve worked hard with him on. He’s played tentative before, and tonight, we made two nice plays by getting those outs.”

For the Lions, who won just five games last year, it’s almost an entirely new bunch with only four returners and 11 new players. The young Lions have two seniors and three juniors. The remainder are underclassmen.

Leadoff hitter Manny Rojas went 1-for-2 with a single and a walk, and was hit by a pitch. The sophomore demonstrated the best plate patience of any batter on either side by drawing 18 pitches in his first three plate appearances and 20 overall.

Another bright spot for the Lions came from catcher Zak Thompson, who batted 2-for-3 with a double in the gap to left-center field, a single and a stolen base.

“It all comes down to execution,” said third-year Deerfield Lions coach Jose Piedra, who previously coached at Deerfield Beach High School in the early 2000s. “I can only give the signs, but the players have to execute. Just a rough night tonight. We just have to bounce back. Steadily, but surely, we will get to where we need to be. We’re a very young team.”

Although Piedra was disappointed with the lack of baseball smarts his team showed tonight, he knows his kids have the brain power to rebound.

“We average a 3.7 grade-point average as a team,” Piedra said. “We have several kids that are 4.0. We’re talking honors classes and advanced-placement classes. They need to do it in the classroom, too. For me, they have to maintain a 3.5 or above. Otherwise, they’ll be watching games.”

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