First-Ever HSBN Game Of The Week Goes To St. Thomas

Manager Troy Cameron wanted this type of game and atmosphere when he took over the Raiders program this past summer. For too long, St. Thomas had played second fiddle to other Broward programs, and Cameron was looking to take the Raiders back to the top.

In order to achieve that goal, Cameron set up a tough schedule in year one that included some high-profile games. On Saturday night, the Raiders played one of those games, the first-ever HSBN Broward Game of the Week. The Raiders rose to the challenge of playing in the spotlight in front of a packed house, scoring early and often in a 11-0 win over rival Cardinal Gibbons.

The night began with St. Thomas legend Ed Waters throwing out the first pitch for the Raiders. Waters was the manager at St. Thomas for 22 years before moving into an assistant role with the team. Waters was joined in the pregame festivities by Dave Monteil, an assistant for Cardinal Gibbons, and the starting center-fielder for the 1987 Chiefs team that became the first Broward team to win a state title.

Once the first pitch ceremonies were complete, it was on to the action, and the Raiders wasted no time showing off in front of the crowd. After Raiders starter Frank Rubio shut the Chiefs down in the top of the first, the St. Thomas offense posted a quick four spot in the bottom half of the inning.

Alec Spano hit a one-out double, and after Gibbons starter Mark Nowatnick struck out his second batter of the inning, it appeared as though Spano would be stranded. A walk to Christian Demby set up an RBI single off the bat of Alec Byrd, followed by a two-run double from Teddy Meissner. Suddenly a quick inning had turned into a tough start for the Chiefs.

“We were one pitch away from getting out of that first inning with no runs scored,” said Chiefs Manager Frank Pisani. “We just couldn’t make that pitch. If we had, this may have been a different game.”

Despite the four runs in the first, Nowatnick settled in and shut down the Raiders into the fourth inning. On the other side, Rubio was in control from the start, and never let up, shutting down the Gibbons offense while waiting for the Raiders to add insurance runs.

“The atmosphere tonight was great,” said Rubio. “Coach wanted us to bring intensity right from the start, and we did that.”

When asked when he knew he had good stuff on this night, Rubio spent little time with his answer.

“Right when I was warming up,” he said. “I felt good, and when we scored those four runs in the first, I was able to relax and work on hitting my spots. It was a good game for us to get back on track.”

The Raiders extended their lead in the fourth with a pair of runs. Brady Acton, who was on base four times on the evening, started the rally with a walk. A Demby triple brought in Acton, and an error later in the inning allowed Demby to score.

In the fifth, St. Thomas opened the game up with three additional runs. Alec Spano and Peter Nicoletto had a single and double, respectively in the inning.

In the sixth, the Raiders ended the night with a two-run double from Acton. The offfensive explosion was a welcomed sight for Raiders players and fans, who saw the team start slowly with the bats this season.

“Last week we struggled with the bats,” said Acton. “So all week, we worked on hitting, coach talked to us about approaches and the mental part of hitting. All that work really paid off tonight. This is the type team that we can be when we play to our capabilities, and this is the game that hopefully we can look back at and say, ‘That was the start of our run.'”

Cameron agreed. After watching his team give up 28 runs in their first four games, and be outscored 28-10 in that time, the Raiders manager was proud to see a complete performance.

“Frank was tonight what we expected him to be for us this year,” said Cameron. “Our pitching is the strength of our team, so it was good to see that get back on track. Offensively, this was the first game where we really squared some balls up. Is it the start of something? Maybe, but we won’t know that until we repeat this performance again and again and become consistent on a game-by-game basis.”

St. Thomas improved to 2-3 on the young season, will face Plantation on the road and Pembroke Pines Charter on the road next week. Gibbons will begin to prepare for a seven-game district stretch that could define their season, starting with Chaminade-Madonna next Saturday.

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