Fort Lauderdale Rallies To Win Colts Classic

Fort Lauderdale is known for battling and never quitting no matter the situation.

Thursday night in the championship of the Colts Spring Break Classic, the Flying L’s flashed their scrappiness and got a strong effort from a pitcher with no varsity experience to defeat Santaluces 7-4.

The Flying L’s rallied from a 3-0 deficit with a three-run fifth and a four-run sixth as they held off the Chiefs for their fifth win in a row.

“We came out here and we wanted to win the game,” said Lauderdale catcher Kenny Miggins, who went 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs and three RBIs. “We knew we could win it. We played hard. Our defense is always solid, and our offense came through when we needed it to.”

Santaluces broke up a scoreless game in the top of the fifth, as the top of the order, Sean Steele, Cody Wager, Justin Tworek and Stephen Patti hit consecutive singles. Patti’s hit scored Steele, and the Chiefs (10-7) got two more runs on a wild pitch and a first-and-third trick play.

Fort Lauderdale (7-7) tied it up in the bottom of the inning as starting pitcher Jason Jeffrey opened with a hit. Pinch-runner Chase Navarro scored on Miggins’ two-out double, and hits by Alec Bryant and Alex Honner scored Miggins and Matthew Gibson, who advanced with a base hit.

Santaluces went ahead in the top of the sixth as Joseph Strzelecki scored on Tworek’s double, but the Flying L’s remained resilient, scoring four runs in their half of the inning to take the lead for good. Miggins hit a two-run double, Gibson drove in Miggins, and a wild pitch allowed another run to score.

“I thought the intensity was real good,” Flying L’s Manager Terry Portice said. “I really liked how we came back. When they went up by three, we immediately came back and scored three runs. From that point on, everybody was loud, everybody was in it. The got fans in it. It was a plus for both teams, and they showed well tonight.”

Portice said his team followed through on the lessons he and his coaching staff have worked to teach all season.

“We harp on the kids all the time that if you do nothing else and you bust your hump, then people will respect you,” Portice said. “If you go out there and bust you hump on every play, you’ll walk out with respect, if you walk out with nothing else. We try to drive them to win every inning and take every pitch and play every ball like its your last ball. You never know how many more games you have. So play hard all the time.”

Chiefs Manager Nick Franco is among those who respect Fort Lauderdale.

“[Portice’s] teams, no matter who’s on their team, they are scrappy as heck,” Franco said. “They always fight hard. I had the opportunity to play them two years ago in this tournament, and it was the same type of game. It was close early. They take advantage of mistakes made by the other team. It was a good pitching matchup. Their kid threw well. Cody Wager threw well. And they took advantage ultimately of our mistakes, and we didn’t capitalize on the ones they gave us.”

The Flying L’s got a big contribution from Matthew Freeman, who pitched every game for the junior varsity team last year but has been in a utility role this season. He pitched for the first time as a varsity player Thursday night, relieving Jason Jeffrey in the sixth, and after giving up the go-ahead run, kept the Chiefs at bay.

“There was a lot of intensity going into that last inning,” Freeman said. “I struggled a little bit in the sixth and gave up the lead, but then my teammates came behind me. I led off the bottom of the inning with a walk and then Kenny had the big hit and everyone started bringing the bats out. And then I went into the seventh inning with a lot of energy and a lot of fire in me. The whole team was behind me. So I went out there and pounded the zone and got the win.”

Portice said he liked what he saw from Freeman, who’s being called on to help deal with a lackluster relief-pitching situation.

“We haven’t been pleased with some of our relief, and Matt’s got a decent arm, so we put him in the pen and told him he’s going to get his opportunity, and tonight, he got his opportunity,” Portice said. “I thought he did a real nice job. He came into a critical situation tonight and gave up the one run there but then came back in the seventh and did his job really well.”

Since beating Taravella 5-2 on March 13th, the Flying L’s have been on fire.

“Defensively we played real well up until tonight — I was a little disappointed in our defense tonight — but our sticks were letting us down,” Portice said. “Tonight, our sticks came through when they had. What I’ve liked about this little streak and this game is that it was a team victory. It wasn’t one guy going 4-for-4 and doing everything, it’s been up and down the line-up. And same way defensively, and on the mound. I think we need [the win tonight]. It’s like the Taravella game. I felt we need it even though we’re on a little streak here. I think we needed this tonight.”

Freeman said his team has the proper mentality to continue being successful.

“I think our team has grown a lot over the season. Now we’re back up to .500. This tournament was big for us because if we win, it’ll bring us back up to .500. We’ve got a little bit of a stretch here. And going into the last part of the season with the districts, we’ve got a lot of fire with us.”

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