Seibold Shines as Heritage Beats South Dade at Marlins Park

Playing on the same field as major-leaguers is a rare opportunity for high school baseball players. On Tuesday, Marlins Park hosted two games, allowing four teams from South Florida to now have such memories.

In the second game of the day, two of the top programs from Miami-Dade and Broward counties squared off in a low-scoring pitchers’ duel. The American Heritage Patriots were able to shut down the South Dade Buccaneers 3-0 behind the strong performance from starting pitcher Alex Seibold.

Both teams were excited to play in front of hundreds of friends and family that came out to watch them in the new Marlins Park.

“The kids earned the opportunity to play here as they sold $12,000 worth of tickets,” South Dade head coach Fred Burnside said. “So my main focus was to make sure we got everyone an opportunity to play and get everyone in the ball game.”

Seibold set the tone early on the mound for the Patriots. He got through the first inning quickly, striking out the side. His success continued in the second as he struck out three more hitters, but one batter was able to reach first after a passed ball on the third strike. Seibold kept his composure and forced the next batter into a routine groundball to the third baseman Danny Zardon to end the inning. Seibold was dominant in his three innings of work as he struck out seven and kept South Dade hitless.

“Pitching in a park like this is awesome and its a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Seibold said. “I was hitting my spots, and I think the excitement from pitching here got me focused and helped me out a lot.”

Buccaneers starter Josh Marin played well in the big game for his team as well. Marin worked through the first inning quickly and recorded two strikeouts. He found himself in a little trouble in the second inning but worked his way out of it and got some help with a great defensive play from third baseman Anthony Dowling. Dowling tracked down a high foul ball down the third-base line and reach way over into the seats to come away with a big out. Marin pitched three innings and allowed just one hit to the Patriots.

“Marin had not seen a lot of innings this year, but he battled and did a great job against a great line-up for Heritage,” Burnside said.

The Patriots finally broke the 0-0 tie in the top half of the fourth inning. Brandon Vicens, David Villar and Brandon Zacco were patient at the plate and drew consecutive walks to load the bases. Then eighth-grader Jose Natera came up with one of the biggest hits of his life with a line-drive single to left field to drive in two runs. Gabe Aurrecoechea knocked in another run to make it 3-0 with a single to right field.

“We needed to break the ice,” Heritage coach Bruce Aven said. “I was thinking about pinch-hitting for him, but I didn’t and sometimes the moves you don’t make end up being the best ones.”

South Dade made some noise in the fifth. Shane Castro led things off with a single. Then Adam Roush and Sergio Lopez walked and loaded the bases with two outs, but Patriots reliever Domenick Mancini shut the door with his third strike out of the inning.

“I would’ve liked to put the ball in play a little more today,” Burnside said. “But that starter (Seibold) they had was tough, and we couldn’t get the ball out in front.”

South Dade will play Killian on Thursday to decide a game that ended in a tie earlier in the year and will play a big role in seeding for the district tournament.

The American Heritage players and coaches likewise will never forget this game. The Patriots are on a three-game winning streak and will play another tough opponent next week in Coral Springs Charter.

“The whole experience is unexplainable,” Aven said. “This is the Marlins’ stadium, and I was happy these kids just went out there and just played baseball, so we tried to get all the guys that have been with us the whole year in the game to get the whole experience.”

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