Flanagan Rebounds To Blank St. Thomas In Tournament

After opening the season Monday with a loss to Calvary Christian to start its tournament, Flanagan came back in a big way Wednesday night, defeating St. Thomas 10-0 to earn a spot in the championship of the Falcons/BSN Baseball Challenge.

Flanagan will take on Killian in the final at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Falcons pitcher Gentry Fortuno and St. Thomas ace Alec Byrd each found themselves in tough situations early on but got out of trouble to keep the game 3-0 through the fourth inning before Flanagan broke it open in the fifth with a seven-run inning.

St. Thomas quickly loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning, but Fortuno struck out two and got another batter to fly out to end the threat.

Flanagan also loaded the bases with two outs in the second, but Byrd struck out two in a row to get out of the inning.

“I knew it was going to be a big matchup between me and Alec,” Fortuno said. “I just gave it my all. First inning was a rough start and then I started finding my zone throughout the game.”

Fortuno said St. Thomas loading the bases in the first inning “was rough. I wasn’t expecting them to get on base at all. I thought I’d get out there and have a 1-2-3 outing, but things turned out differently and I got out of it.””My curve ball was a little shaky. My change-up was on, it was perfect, and my fastball, I was leaving it a little high, but I came through with it.”

Flanagan got to Byrd in the third as Daniel Oliveri doubled in AJ Munoz and scored on Eric Rivera’s base hit. Rivera, a freshman, finished 2-for-2 with a run and two RBIs.

The Falcons tacked on another run in the fourth. Brandon Melendez hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Andres Rios.

Ray Apruzzese came in for Byrd in the fifth, and the Falcons took advantage of the pitching change, banging out four hits in the inning, including a triple by pinch-hitter Andres Visbal.

After surrendering back-to-back hits in the first, Fortuno settled down to allow just one hit through the fifth inning.

“Gentry is a horse,” Falcons Manger Ray Evans said. “He had a great freshman year, and he’s coming on right now.”

Evans also had praise for Byrd and the way he handled himself Wednesday night. Byrd struck out eight in his four innings on the mound.

“That’s one of the best pitchers in Broward County bar none. Good lefty, good matchup, going to FSU. Can’t take anything away from what he did. We just did a good job today making him throw pitches. His pitch count was up, and they took him out. We try to do that. We just did a good job all around.”

Flanagan’s effort Wednesday left Evans pleased.

“I’m real proud of these guys bouncing back after we lost that 4-3 game the other night, and we did a good enough job where it’s almost like last year, same scenario. We lose the first one in a tight game, we win against St. Thomas and the next thing you know we’re in the championship Friday night and playing against Killian.”

Rivera said he saw a change for the better in his teammates following the loss Monday.

“I saw the fight in us. I saw courage, more enthusiasm,” he said. “I saw a lot of good things from Gentry and a lot of good things from our outfielders, our infielders. We hit the ball good. We just took that loss as something to lead us on and get better.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, the loss Wednesday and a close call against Calvary Christian the day before leaves St. Thomas with some work to do.

“We’re got to hit the ball better. We’ve got to play better baseball,” Raiders Manager Troy Cameron said. “We’re not playing good baseball. We didn’t play good baseball yesterday, and it continued over to today. We’re not going to beat good teams playing bad baseball. We’re certainly not that good.”

St. Thomas will try to rebound today as it takes on Monsignor Pace at 4 p.m. Douglas plays Calvary Christian at 7 p.m.

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