Douglas Tops Coral Springs In HSBN Game Of The Week

Whenever Coral Springs and Douglas meet up, more often than not, fans are going to be treated to a good ballgame between two teams playing with energy and desire.

The fired-up fans who came out to Saturday’s HSBN Broward Game of the Week at Douglas High School saw no less as the Eagles beat their 8A-11 nemesis Colts 4-2.

It’s Douglas’ second consecutive win over its rival since the 2010 season. Backed by a strong pitching performance from freshman ace Jesus Luzardo, the Eagles took advantage of good opportunities to get on base and executed once on to improve to 10-2 and solidify their spot at number one in the district at 8-1.

“Since last year, we’ve had this hunger to beat Springs,” said Luis Silverio, who finished 2-for-3 with a run. “Last year we lost three games in a row to them. We lost the district championship. This year we have a much better team. We’re closer together as a family as a team, better chemistry. We’re hungry. We came here this morning very hyped. We were very hungry for this win and we got it.”

Before the action on the field started, each team had someone throw out a ceremonial first pitch as part of the HSBN Game of the Week festivities. Coral Springs selected Dr. Gary Bofshever, who has been a major part of Coral Springs baseball over the past three decades, first as a player then as a supporter of the program. He has sponsored many teams at both Coral Springs and Douglas.

This season, he has become a partner of the High School Baseball Network by generously sponsoring the Player Profiles here in Broward County. These profiles are helping hundreds of players be seen by colleges around the country.

Douglas’ first-pitch selection was newly sworn-in Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who has been in law enforcement for 30 years. Israel, a devoted husband and father to three children, has coached football at Douglas High School and in 2008 won the Brian Piccolo Coach of the Year honor for his lifetime achievement in youth sports.

Once the first pitches were thrown, the Colts and Eagles got right to it.

The Colts (8-4, 6-3 district) broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth when leadoff batter Justin Mixon scored on Vinny Cerullo’s base hit.

Douglas came back for two runs in the bottom of the inning. Luis Silverio walked, stole second and got to third on an error. Dominic DiCaprio followed with a walk before Josh Koebel drove in Silverio with a single, advancing DiCaprio to third. Max Boling’s sacrifice fly brought in DiCaprio for the go-ahead run.

“We took good pitches, had good at-bats, got some walks, stole a lot of bases, which gave us the advantage to just hitting the ball in the air and scoring some runs,” Silverio said.

Knowing a one-run lead may not be enough to get past the Colts, the Eagles kept it going in the fifth. KJ Mayo walked to lead off the inning, stole second and third and scored on Derek Fritz’s base hit. Silverio followed with a double to bring in pinch-runner Tony Gallo and extend Douglas’ lead to 4-1.

“We ran the bases. We stole five or six bags to put us in position to get some runs that we probably normally wouldn’t get,” Douglas Manager Todd Fitz-Gerald said. “Josh Koebel came up with a big hit. That was huge. We just capitalized. We were aggressive on the bases.”

Coral Springs, which is in third place in the district, had a chance to potentially even the score or go ahead in the top of the sixth. Justin Mixon walked, Colton Smith lined out and Tre Dingus struck out to opening the inning. Cerullo walked and Davis Alessio, who went 2-for-3, singled to load the bases. Mixon scored on a wild pitch before Luzardo recorded a strikeout to end the threat.

“Jesus did a phenomenal job, kept us in the game,” Fitz-Gerald said. “He struggled there a little bit at the end, but he told me he wasn’t coming out. I felt good with him out there. He felt good. I let him go if he wants to go. He’s our number one. He’s going to get the ball. We have some other guys behind him who are going to have to step up and fill in the other games, but he’s going to get those games. He’s got great composure on the mound as a freshman, pounds the zone. He knows what he’s doing. He’s not timid. I couldn’t be more proud of him as a freshman. He’s going to do a lot of good things. We’re excited.”

Luzardo improved to 4-2 on the year. He walked five and struck out three.

“I threw my curve ball for strikes a lot, and my fastball was going pretty good,” Luzardo said. “Good defense behind me helped me out.”

The Eagles will look to keep alive their three-game winning streak when they compete in the Selective Recruiting Invitational next week. Douglas has games against Mater Academy (12-0) on Monday, Chaminade-Madonna (4-7-2) on Tuesday and Ferguson (9-4) on Wednesday with a potential fourth game to be announced.

“I think [Saturday’s win] gives us a good psyche going in,” Fitz-Gerald said. “We know we can win a close one. I think we beat a good team today. They came ready to play. My hat goes off to them. Frank had those guys ready to play. It’s going to be a grind this week. If we get out of there 2-2 I’ll be happy, and if we go 4-0, that’s even better. However it goes, it goes. It’s Spring Break, get some other kids some opportunities to play, rest some guys and get them ready for the home stretch and be firing on all cylinders going into the playoffs, so that’s our goal and we’re going to go out and compete the best we can this week, learn a lot about some guys and see how it goes and go from there.”

The Colts, meanwhile, will be hosting their own Spring Break tournament next week, with their first game against Santaluces (9-6) on Monday.

Coral Springs Manager Frank Bumbales said his team put itself at a disadvantage by walking too many batters.

“I feel we’re making improvements,” Bumbales said. “Last time they beat us pretty good. This time it was a good battle. We had a few too many walks. Those runs that they scored were walks. If you put people on base where they don’t have to hit the ball, it’s going to make a difference in the ballgame. Credit to them, they took advantage of the walks, and we didn’t. We had bases loaded and the tying run at second base, and we couldn’t get them in. We couldn’t get that hit. They were able to put the ball in play and we didn’t. Credit to them. They got one on us. Hopefully we’re put it together and meet up with them in the districts and hopefully it will be a different ballgame.”

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