Murray Dominates As Everglades Tops Cypress Bay

Start a discussion on 8A-12 baseball, and the conversation invariably centers around Flanagan and West Broward. It used to be Flanagan and Cypress Bay.

It’s never been about Everglades.

The Gators just might get a mention or two these days when word gets around about their 6-1 start, the best in school history. Everglades punctuated its strong showing this season with a 2-0 win over Cypress Bay on Friday as lefty ace Adam Murray showcased his big-game dominance in a complete-game, 12-strikeout performance.

Murray, who has struck out 31 so far this season, improved to 3-1 as he allowed three walks and three hits while throwing 101 pitches.

Asked to talk about his ace’s performance, Everglades Manager Oddibe McDowell said the stats speak for themselves.

“I don’t have to say much: 12 strikeouts,” McDowell said. “He’s getting ahead of hitters, coming out of bases loaded no outs, striking out three. That says it all for itself.”

Senior third baseman Andrew Hernandez, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI, said Murray displayed the leadership qualities that he’s used to guide the team this season.

“The lefty, Murray, he really led us today,” Hernandez said. “He’s a captain, whether talking or not, he’s a captain and he led us.”

The win moved the Gators into second place in the district at 3-1 behind Flanagan, which is 4-1 after defeating West Broward 6-0 on Friday. Cypress Bay (4-2 overall) dropped to 3-2 for third, with West Broward in fourth place also at 3-2. Everglades hosts Flanagan on Thursday.

“We played with fire,” Hernandez said. “Words can’t express how we played today. We executed. We did the things we do in practice. We bunt, we hit-and-run and do the little things to help us win the game.”

McDowell put Friday’s win into perspective.

“I think it’s big,” he said. “Beating Western and tonight, it’s big. It gives the kids more confidence. It shows them that they’re capable of playing good baseball. And I think it’s just a big plus for us.”

Hernandez said part of the team’s success this season is not overlooking anyone and performing at a top level at all times.

“Every game is important no matter who we’re playing — Cypress, Flanagan, Coconut Creek, Blanche Ely.” Hernandez said. “We come out here and we do what we have to do, win or lose. Today was really important. Getting this win could help us play them again in the playoffs. We’re confident that we can beat them, and we’re confident that we can beat other teams, any team in our district, but I think when we play like we did today, we really have fun playing the game.”

Everglades, which competed in the district tournament for the first time last season, took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Brandon Del Pozo hit the first of his two base hits of the day to lead off, and his pinch-runner, David Gamero, came in to score on Hernandez’s single.

Cypress Bay got to Murray in the fourth, loading the bases with no outs after singles by Ji Woo and Danny Cepeda, and a walk by starting pitcher Tommy Quintero. Murray delivered with three consecutive strikeouts to get out of the jam.

“I just beared down. I threw my strikes,” said Murray, who was most effective with his two-seam fastball and curve ball. “They were just missing them. I was throwing really hard.”

Cypress Bay Manager Mike White said loading the bases with no outs was major.

“You get an opportunity like that against a good pitcher, and you’ve got to take advantage of it,” White said. “We didn’t, and that was the ballgame right there.”

Everglades tacked on another run in the fifth, again getting a leadoff single, this time by Alan Ruiz, who scored on Kristopher Taveras’ single to right field.

Getting off to the best start in the program’s history along with big district wins over Western and Cypress Bay has the Gators mentally prepared for anyone.

“It does wonders,” Murray said. “The school feels good. You feel good. We feel like we can beat anybody.”

McDowell attributes the strong start to the time the Gators spends working toward their goals.

“I think it’s the work ethics. The intensity level is really good. The guys are working hard on things. They’re executing. They’re really anticipating and playing the game of baseball.”

White credited his pitcher for making the game competitive and said the team knew what it was going to get against Murray.

“Tommy, our starting pitcher, has been pitching like that,” White said. “He’s been grinding it out. He finds ways to get the big strikeouts. He kept us in the game, but not too many games are won with zero runs. We just didn’t put the ball in play. We know Murray’s one of the best pitchers in the county. We faced him enough times last year. We knew what we could do. We practiced all week for him.”

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