Better Plate Execution Helps South Broward Edge Royal Palm Beach

In a game that featured solid pitching and good defense by both teams, South Broward took advantage of the few miscues by Royal Palm Beach to defeat the Wildcats 5-4 on Wednesday.

Better plate appearances make a difference for the Bulldogs, who scored the decisive run in the fifth and held on for the win.

“Our approaches at the plate were much better tonight. We struck out only once,” Bulldogs Manager Joe Giummule said. “If you put the bat on the ball, good things will happen.”

Good things did happen for South Broward in the bottom of the first. After two outs, third baseman Matt Cohick lined a shot to left field for a base hit. Pitcher Colin Tindall drew a walk, putting Cohick in scoring position. Second baseman Kenny Rasor hit a shallow pop-up to right field that was dropped, allowing Cohick to score.

With two outs and runners on the corners, the second Bulldog run came in courtesy of a first-and-third trick play. Then, with a runner on second and two outs, Rasor tried to take advantage of a wild pitch, only to be thrown out at third by catcher Jessie Stebbins to end the inning.

The Bulldogs’ next two runs were scored in the bottom of the third with two outs and two on base, thanks to an infield error and a walk. Tindall helped his own cause by driving a two-run base hit to left-center.

Royal Palm would not go out quietly into the night, and in the top of the fifth inning, the Wildcats pounced on South Broward. Leadoff hitter Jessie Stebbins was hit-by-pitch before Sean Maylin hit a single to left-center. With two on and no outs, second baseman Bryant Miranda put a bunt down the third-base line and reached first safely to load the bases. After a strikeout, right fielder Justin Douglas hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring in a run.

Later in the same inning and with two outs and runners at the corners, shortstop Brandon Hernandez hit a rocket down the third-base line that went into left field for a double, scoring the Wildcats’ second run.

With a new pitcher on the mound for the Bulldogs, and runners on second and third, center fielder Cruz Alcazar drew a walk to load the bases before Chris Rodriguez singled up the middle, driving in two runs for the Wildcats.

Pinch-hitter Dalton Harbinson was hit by the first pitch to start off the bottom of the fifth for South Broward. Makana Gilliland hit a double that one-hopped the fence, leaving runners at second and third. John Maginnis singled to left-center field to bring home Harbinson, but Gilliland was thrown out at the plate.

Giummule was content with the Bulldogs’ performance and the win, but not entirely satisfied.

“We talk about four aspects of the game: pitching, defense, base running and hitting. We did three of the four things well tonight, we need to continue working on our baserunning,” Giummule said. “We have a good ball club. We’ll continue working on the little things.”

Tindall had a solid outing on mound and helped himself out offensively, topping it off by making a diving catch in the outfield for the last out of the game.

“I felt great out there tonight,” Tindall said. “My pitches were on.”

Tindall left the game with the Bulldogs up 4-2, but two runs that came in after that were charged to him. Cody Behr, who relieved Tindall, got the win.

The Wildcats had a good performance overall, featuring solid pitching and outstanding defensive play. In the bottom of the sixth, two back-to-back diving catches were made by both the pitcher on an attempted bunt and by the center fielder to rob first baseman Bryan Mugione of what would have been an extra-base hit.

“We made a few mistakes, and they capitalized on those mistakes. Good teams will do that,” Wildcats Manager Bart Wible said. “Offensively we didn’t make the adjustments. We need to work on limiting our mistakes. If we limit our mistakes, we win ball games.”

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