Raiders Top Falcons To Advance To Semifinals

On a night when both teams had several chances to execute, the Raiders made the plays necessary and took advantage of situations on offense to defeat the Falcons 4-1 Friday in the decisive game of their best-of-three series and advance to the championship round of the HSBN Classic.

The Raiders secured a spot in Monday’s semifinals, where they’ll face the Pembroke Pines Panthers, who moved on after a wild finish against the B-Cats in which they scored five in the bottom of the seventh to win 9-8.

The Falcons left 14 men on base, had at least two runners on in every inning except the fifth and failed to capitalize on bases-loaded situations in the third and fourth. The Raiders, too, left men on base but made the most of their chances in the third when they put three runs on the board to take a lead.

The top three hitters in the lineup — Rafa Amanau, Brady Acton and starting pitcher Christian Demby — got on base and scored for a 3-0 lead in the third. Acton’s RBI double and a bases-loaded walk accounted for two of those runs.

Raiders manager Troy Cameron said the solid pitching and defense made the difference for the Raiders.

“It’s kind of how we played on Tuesday,” he said. “We played a sound, fundamental game. We still had a couple of errors, but for the most part, our pitchers came up big. Richie Naylor, with two men on and their number four hitter up, made a great pitch and got out of that situation. That just showed what kind of pitcher he is and the gamer that he is to go after him like that. That was a hell of a pitch. It was kind of a momentum-turner. Even though we were winning, it gave us some momentum with getting some guys on base.”

Andres Visbal singled and scored in the fourth for the Falcons’ only run of the game.

The biggest missed opportunity for the Falcons came in the sixth. With Andres Rios and Visbal, who had three hits and scored the lone Flanagan run, on second and third after a sacrifice bunt by Brandon Melendez, Raiders reliever Richie Naylor got number four hitter Ryan Dodge to strike out to end the inning.

“The boys behind me had my back. I just got it done,” Naylor said. “It was a big at-bat, the number four hitter. I threw him a curve ball and he hit it down the line and it missed by inches. I came back and threw him a fastball and struck him out. It was a great feeling.”

That was how the night went for the Falcons, who also had a chance to put runs on the board with two men on and no outs in the seventh, but the Raiders’ defense again stopped them.

“We have a big situation with the hitter we wanted up,” Falcons manager Ray Evans said. “He hits a line drive to second base. It got in just enough where it did get up the middle. He fought it off, line drive, OK we’re out there. And then we have the four-hole come up and you expected him to do something. He takes strike three on a fastball. He needs to swing. He needs to be a big bat in that situation. And he didn’t get it done. We had several situations, but that stands out. We had the right guy, right spot. We have to do a better job with runners in scoring position. It’s as simple as that.”

Evans praised his pitchers Dakota Doyle and Alex Sarmiento, who kept the game competitive for the Falcons and limited the Raiders to three runs going into the seventh, where they scored their final run.

“Our pitching did well,” Evans said. “Dakota, a sophomore, comes out. That hurt them right there. He’s doing a decent job. He ran out of gas. He leaves the game 3-0. Alex came in, and he’s been shutdown for a while. He did a great job. He got loose and went out there and did what he’s capable of doing. He’s still a little rusty, but he showed when he’s going to be good, he’s going to be good. He did a very good job of shutting them down.”

Demby and Naylor corralled the Falcons for six innings before Andrew Colangelo came in to close.

Demby said he “just wanted to come at them and put it on them right from the start. Don’t give them any room to get any runs, keep them down.”

Naylor said the Raiders have their sights set on winning the tournament and are getting ready this weekend to do that.

“We have batting practice [today], and after that, we’re just going to rest up and get prepared for Monday and come out with the same intensity,” he said. “We’ll just try to win a championship.”

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