Patriots Win Streak Reaches Six With Comeback 7-6 Win Over Namesake Stallions

It’s the kind of win every successful squad needs to get at some point.

It’s the exact environment that any team would want to do it in.

For the American Heritage Patriots, Tuesday’s 7-6 win over their Palm Beach County namesake, the American Heritage Stallions, could turn out to be one of their most important of the season.

The Patriots (7-1) overcame an early 6-2 deficit to fight all the way back for the victory in a game that was played at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

“It was two schools that played hard and represented American Heritage nicely,” Patriots coach Bruce Aven said. “This is a nice victory and a good game for us. We are not playing from behind very much.”

The Patriots benefited from multiple miscues from the Stallions (4-3), who committed six errors in all, and also drew six walks.

They took the lead for good in the fifth inning when Zack Collins reached on an error, moved to third when Esteban Puerta and Brandon Diaz drew walks and scored on a wild pitch. Collins scored the last run to complete the comeback and break a 6-6 tie, one inning after the Patriots had evened it up when Dallas Perez came in on a perfectly-executed double-steal after he led off the inning with a single.

The Stallions overcame an early deficit with a monster six-run second inning in which they batted around the order in sending 11 hitters to the plate during the frame.

But the Patriots had plenty of time to come back, as they tightened defensively and slowly chipped away at the lead by scoring in each of the next three innings.

After taking the lead in the fifth inning, the Patriots turned the ball over to Diaz to close it out and earn the save. The senior left-hander inherited a runner on first but responded by recording the side. Save for one runner which reached on an error, Diaz was also perfect over the final two frames.

“I felt the pressure but my team backed me up, I knew the defense would back me up,” Diaz said. “This was a great game; they are a good team and it was really challenging.”

Patriots starter Alex Seibold (1-0) earned the victory in his first start of the season. The senior right-hander threw 74 pitches over four innings, allowing nine hits and three walks while fighting throw the tumultuous second inning to also finish with five strikeouts.

Danny Zardon was 2-for-4 with a run and Gabby Aurrecoechea was 2-for-4 for a Patriots lineup that got hits from seven of its starters.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!