Seibold, Mancini Help Heritage Stymie Miami-Dade Power Gulliver Prep

Florida International University played host to a clash between two perennial powers from Miami-Dade and Broward counties Saturday night. The American Heritage Patriots made the trip down to take on the Gulliver Raiders, and the Patriots’ trip was a successful one.

American Heritage got key contributions from pitchers Alex Seibold and Domenick Mancini to hold the Raiders off the bases and limit them to only six hits on the night. The Patriots also had a good offensive performance from first baseman David Villar, who went 2-for-4 with two RBI doubles to help take down the Raiders 6-1.

Early on, it seemed as if Gulliver was off to another fast start at the plate. After a big 8-3 victory earlier in the week, many believed the bats may have carried over. Lead-off man Adrian Marin knocked a single to left field to start the game. Ricky Eusebio followed Marin at the plate and reached base safely after a fielder’s choice by the pitcher to get the lead runner out at second base. Eusebio advanced to second after a balk by the Patriots starting pitcher, Alex Seibold. Next at the plate was catcher Christopher Chinea, who got a hold of pitch to drive in Eusebio with a triple.

After the first few batters, Seibold settled in at the mound as he managed to force the next batter into a routine groundball and struck out the next hitter to get himself out of the jam.

“Every game, I go out there and try to keep my team in it and give them a chance to win the game,” Seibold said. “Its always a good game and a little rivalry to play Gulliver, and it’s a good win for our team going forward.”

The bottom of lineup for American Heritage came to play on Saturday. In the top of the second inning, Brandon Diaz hit a two-out double to left. Then came David Villar with his first RBI double of the evening to tie things back up at one run apiece.

“The bottom half of the lineup was big for us today,” American Heritage head coach Bruce Aven said. “With our pitching staff and if the top half of the lineup keeps hitting how they have, we should be in good shape.”

Gulliver started to make some noise again with their bats in third inning as Marin and Eusebio got back-to-back singles. Chinea came up with runners on first and second and hit a rocket. However, it was right to the third baseman, and he was able to execute the double play and throw out Marin before he could get back to the base.

In the fourth inning, Gulliver brought in pitcher Ivan Palaez after Christian Santisteban started the game and held his own against the tough opponent.

Again, it was the bottom of the Patriots lineup to come up big and get on base. Diaz got on base for the second time with a bunt single, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Brandon Vicens drew a walk to get two men base with two outs.

Gabby Aurrecoechea came up as the Patriots were back to the top of the order and loaded the bases after he was hit by a pitch. Brandon Lopez drove in a second run for Heritage with a single to left, but Vicens was thrown out at home by Gulliver left fielder Eric Neitzel for the third out of the inning as he attempted to score from second base on the hit.

The game became a pitchers’ duel as Palaez had a nice fifth inning, striking out two batters, and the Patriots brought in reliever Domenick Mancini. Mancini dominated on the mound as he pitched the final three innings for Heritage and allowed only one base runner.

Then in the top of the sixth inning, the bottom of the line-up gave the Patriots another spark, but this one lead to a big rally that allowed them to get out to a big 5-1 lead. Villar got another RBI double to left field and drive in teammate Brandon Diaz for the second time in the game. Heritage scored another run and loaded the bases after getting consecutive singles from Vicens, Aurrecoechea and Lopez. Zack Collins drew a walk that brought in Vicens from third.

“I just told the guys the whole time to keep swinging the bats and battling,” Aven said. “When we get the opportunity, we just need to take advantage like we did that inning.”

The Patriots were not done yet. Diaz scored again in the seventh inning on a Vicens hit that caused some confusion to the Raiders defense and put the game out of reach at 6-1.

“We put runners on and didn’t play as good as we could have,” Gulliver head coach Javier Rodriguez said. “We came out flat against a good team like them, and we just need to step it up in the next couple of weeks.”

The Raiders have some time off now to get over the loss as they do not have another game until April 5th when they play the Doral Academy Firebirds.

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