Gutsy Performance By Denis Leads University to 3-1 Win Over Somerset

Any given night. That has been the mantra in District 4A-13 this season. The seven-team district has Coral Springs Charter out in front, and the other six teams all within two games of each other. When any team other than CS Charter has taken the field, it has been a coin flip over which team will come out on top.

Wednesday night at Nova Southeastern University, it was the University Suns’ turn to shine. Andrew Denis pitched out of trouble created by his defense several times en route to a key 3-1 district win over Somerset. The win puts University at 6-3 in district play, good enough for second place at this point in the season.

Denis stranded Panther runners in the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. For the game, the junior allowed zero earned runs, while giving up only six hits. It was a performance that University needed to keep its position in the district race. Denis pitched to contact the entire night, and the strategy paid off when his defense turned double plays to end threats in the third and seventh.

“Our game plan coming in was no walks, get ahead of hitters, and just let my defense behind me play,” said Denis, the emotional leader for the Suns. “This was a big game for us. We’re happy with the win, but we still need to get better.”

University scored the runs it needed to win the game in the first two innings. A two-out single by Sebastian Diaz and a Denis triple plated the first run in the opening frame. Freddie Sultan’s triple in the second, coupled with an error and a Diego Perez single upped the score to 3-0.

In the fourth, Somerset rallied, scoring one run on two hits. Clean-up hitter Chris Medina hit a ground ball to second that took a bad hop and turned into a double, and designated hitter Luis Mercado singled to center. When the ball was misplayed in the outfield, Medina scored.

The Panthers tried to rally again in the sixth, putting runners on first and third with two outs, but Denis again showed his toughness on this night by getting Mike Van Degna to fly out to center, ending the threat.

“He’s probably the toughest competitor that we have,” said Suns head coach Rich Hofman, when describing his junior pitcher. “I love the guy, but he hadn’t been getting it done on the mound, so we talked about if he threw strikes tonight, we could win. This by far was his best performance this year, and it was a real booster for us.”

University has three games left in the district, and even Hofman can’t predict where his team will finish, with four teams tied with three district losses each.

“You never know what’s going to happen in our district,” he said. “Any team can beat any other team on any given night. Every district game is almost like a playoff game. That’s how tough the district has been this year.”

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