Broward State Tournament Preview: Heritage, McCarthy Vying For Titles

To beat the best, you have to play the best. It may be cliché, but there’s a certain level of truth to that statement. Archbishop McCarthy and American Heritage believe in that philosophy and will be using it their advantage this week as they vie for state titles.

The teams have played arguably the toughest schedules in the county, and all of those intense games are paying off. The battle-tested squads will be playing in state semifinals today at Digital Domain Park in Port St. Lucie.

Heritage (25-4) will face Tampa Jesuit (28-1) at 4 p.m., and McCarthy (25-4-1) will square off against Lakewood Ranch (22-6) at 7 p.m.

Heritage is seeking its first state title since 2008 when the Patriots finished as national champions, and the Mavericks, who were named the national champions after last season, are going for their third title in a row.

Back-to-back state championships and the designation of national champion gets your program a lot of attention, especially from the long line of teams wanting to take you down.

“We’ve had a big target on our back from the very beginning (of the season),” McCarthy coach Rich Bielski said. “Everyone threw their ace at us. This team was similar in the fact that they were extremely determined to get back to state tournament to defend their title. They’re extremely hard-working kids and great kids, not just great baseball players, but great kids.”

Among them are the team’s senior co-aces, Andre Martinez and Nick Travieso. Martinez, a lefty, is 10-1 with a 0.93 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 60 innings, and right-hander Travieso, whose fastball reaches the upper 90s, is 7-1 with a 0.47 ERA and 94 strikeouts in 59.1 innings.

At the plate, the team is led by Jason Morozowski, who is hitting .466 with 25 runs and 25 RBIs. Nick Basto leads the team in RBIs with 38 and is hitting .345. Brandon Roberts has a .384 average with 27 runs and 23 RBIs.

Bielski said the fact that McCarthy is up for a third consecutive title says a lot about the school’s program and the expectations it has for its players, especially after the graduation of nine seniors from last year’s team.

“The kids on the freshman and jv teams know there’s always big shoes to fill, and they’re up for a big challenge every year,” Bielski said. “It says a lot about our brand of baseball, our togetherness in the offseason with the offseason workouts and the winning tradition. We want to stay at that level all the time.”

Confidence is high for success today because of the caliber of opponents McCarthy has faced all season. The list includes a few out-of-state powers (Jenks from Oklahoma and Calvert Hall from Maryland) as well as most of the toughest teams from Miami-Dade, including St. Brendan, American, Barbara Goleman, Florida Christian, Killian, Hialeah, Westminster Christian, Belen Jesuit, Columbus and Monsignor Pace. Two of those teams — Pace and Columbus — will be playing for state tiles of their own in the next week.

Bielski said the team has played many close games that has it ready for the type of competition it will face this week.

“We feel very prepared because we just loaded our schedule with the toughest teams we could find,” he said.

Up the road at American Heritage, the same could be said. Heritage likewise played many of the the region’s toughest programs and also participated in the National High School Invitational at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C. Heritage went 2-1 in the tournament.

The Patriots are led by a trio on the mound. At 8-0, senior right-hander Alex Seibold leads the staff in victories. He has 63 strikeouts and a 1.83 ERA in 46 innings. Shaun Anderson, a junior right-hander, is 5-1 with 66 strikeouts and a 0.87 ERA in 56.1 innings. Domenic Mancini completes the trio with a 7-2 record, 61 strikeouts and 1.22 ERA in 46 innings.

Anderson led the Patriots to a 1-0 win over Estero in the regional championship. The win ended Estero’s 25-game winning streak.

At the plate, Heritage boasts four players hitting above .400: Zack Collins (.443, 27 RBIs, 23 runs), Brandon Lopez (.422, 33 runs, 18 RBIs), Danny Zardon (.419, 29 runs, 28 RBIs) and Gabe Aurrecoechea (.408, 25 runs, 10 RBIs).

Experience winning titles outside of high school on summer teams gives the Patriots a good shot this week, Heritage coach Bruce Aven said.

“A lot of these guys have played on teams that have won championships,” he said. “They just find a way to win. What I like about them is they have a lot of ways to beat you. And we have the defense.”

Aven is expecting the team to face Jesuit ace Lance McCullers (12-0, 0.11 ERA), whom Aven said throws in the mid-90s. The Patriots will have to be on the top of their game and make the most of any opportunities to be successful against McCullers and Jesuit, ranked first in the nation by Baseball America and whose only loss came against Gulliver Prep on March 17.

“We have to capitalize on any walks and have quality at-bats and put the ball in play,” Aven said.

Although reaching the state tournament is a grand achievement in itself, Aven said the team isn’t satisfied just yet.

“I’m happy that we got to the final four, but we’re looking for the championship,” Aven said. “Our goal is to win a championship and not just get to the final four.”

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