4A-13 Playoff Preview: Blinded By The Suns

4A-13
Host: Broward College

Monday, April 22nd

1PM – Game 1 – (5) North Broward Prep vs. (4) Chaminade Madonna
4PM – Game 2 – (6) Pine Crest vs. (3) Cardinal Gibbons
7PM – Game 3 – (7) Somerset vs. (2) Coral Springs Charter

Tuesday, April 23rd

4PM – Game 4 – Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner
7PM – Game 5 – Game 1 winner vs. (1) University School

Wednesday, April 24th

Rain Date

Thursday, April 25th

7:30 – Championship – Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner

Full stats for 4A-13 can be found on the 4A-13 Stats Page!

Overview: – There is one goal that 4A-13 teams have had the past two regular seasons, earning the top seed in the district playoffs. In a district where all seven teams make the playoffs, only the top seed earns a bye in the first round, allowing the luxury of throwing their ace against another team’s number two in a district seminfial match-up.

This year, all of the teams have taken turns beating each other. Well, all teams except one. University School has ran over district opponents to the tune of a 10-2 district record, three games better than their closest competitors. The Suns will have a bye and will await their Tuesday opponents.

The other six teams will all be i action on Monday, and even the best prognosticator could not guess which teams will survive and advance. Coral Springs Charter, Cardinal Gibbons, Chaminade-Madonna, Pine Crest, North Broward Prep, and Somerset will each have to win two games to advance to regional play. Here is a look at each team heading into district week…

1. University School – The Suns have been about as steady a team this season as any in the county. The team has stumbled a bit down the stretch, but possesses a strong one-two punch at the top of the rotation with
Michael White and Shane Wise combining to go 10-1. White holds an ERA of 2.58, and has 49 strikeouts in just over 43 innings. Wise has only thrown 19.2 innings, but carries an ERA of 2.14. He also leads the team with three saves. Freddie Sultan and Andrew Denis have also spent a significant amount of time on the mound for the Suns.

Offensively the Suns have scored more than 100 runs on the year. Sebastian Diaz and white are tied for the team lead with seven extra-base hits. White has been one of the most dominant players in the county, leading the Suns in runs, hits, RBIs, and doubles.

The team batting average of .320 is impressive, but an even more telling stat is that University hitters have reached base at a .435 clip. The biggest speed threats are Diaz and Denis, with nine and eight stolen bases, respectively.

One of the biggest obstacles the Suns have had to deal with this season is a changing of the guard at the top. Eddie Tisdale took over for Rich Hofman before the season began, and the team resaponded well, winning their first three games, all in the district, while setting the tone for the season.

The toughest game of the year for University was a 21-0 loss to Benjamin. The Suns will have to figure out how to play outside their district if they are going to make a state run. This season, University went 10-2 in the district, but only 4-4 against teams outside 4A-13.

2. Coral Springs Charter – The Panthers are another team that had to deal with a coaching change this season. For the third time in three years, the Panthers had a new manager. After picking up his 100th career win early in the year, former Manager Mike Higgins turned the program over to his groomed successor, Dan Rovetto.

The Panthers have been a somewhat streaky team in 2013. They began the season winning five straight, followed by a four-game losing streak. Lately, however, the Panthers have been as hot a team as any in South Florida. CS Charter has won 11 of their last 12 games, and have beaten some quality opponents along the way. Their run started with a win against #1 American Heritage. The streak also contains wins against Nova, St. Thomas, and West Broward.

Senior leadership has been the key to the Panthers season. Coming into the year, the Panthers picked up Luis Guillorme, who transferred from Chaminade-Madonna. Guillorme, along with Stephen Kerr, have formed one of the top middle infields in the state. Guillorme has put together an All-Star season, hitting close to .600, while Kerr (.340) is second on the team with 16 runs. Cody Woodburn (.357), Brandon Laboy (.389), and Jorge Solano (.446), Joe McChrystal (.383), and Matthew Fierman (.304), have all contributed to a .378 team batting average.

The team ERA of 3.76 and WHIP of 1.76 has kept opposing teams in most games. Offensive slugfests have become the norm for the Panthers, although CS did have six games in which they held their oponents to two runs or fewer.

To get out of the district, the Panthers will have to beat Somerset, a team many figured would compete for the district crown, and then the winner of Cardinal Gibbons and Pine Crest.

The Panthers advanced to the regional-semifinals last season before losing to Monsignor Pace.

3. Cardinal Gibbons – The Cheifs have been a hard team to figure out this season. They have had their share of big wins, but have also lost some puzzling games. Gibbons is as dangerous as any team in 4A-13, with a pair of arms that can shut down opponents on any given day. That is assuming, of course, that the Chiefs can string together enough hits to put a few runs on the board.

It has been a tale of two vastly different facets of the game for Gibbons in 2013. The offense hit .248, and scored 81 runs, both low by county standards. On the mound, however, Gibbons has been lights out, compiling an ERA just above three, with 133 strikeouts in 129.2 innings.

The team has followed an eerily similar statistical path to the 2012 version of the Chiefs. Last year, the team hit .254, while the pitching staff had 133 strikeouts in 139 innings.

The offensive leader for Gibbons has been David Pedraza, who currently has the ninth best batting average in the district at .404. Pedraza is also tied for third in the district with nine stolen bases. Tyler Norris has also been solid for the Chiefs with a .344 average. Nathan Pawelczyk is tied for the team lead in RBIs with Norris.

Norris, Mark Nowatnick, and Chris Williams have done most of the heavy lifting on the mound, combining for 104 of the 129.2 innings pitched on the year. Norris leads the team with five wins, while Nowatnick has been somewhat of a tough-luck arm for Gibbons. While he does not have a win on the season, he has an ERA of 2.70 and 32 strikeouts in 36.1 innings. Williams leads the team with 39 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.31.

Gibbons has received a good draw for the districts as far as how they have fared against their opponents this season. The Chiefs are 2-0 against their first round opponent, Pine Crest. If they can beat the Panthers, they would match up with a Coral Springs Charter team that they played tight in both meetings, losing the two games by a combined four runs.

4. Chaminade-Madonna – No team turned around their season more in 2013 than the Lions. The team lost their first four district games, spelling what many believed would be doom. Instead of going in the tank, the Lions rebounded by defeating top-seeded University School in early March. They then went 3-3 over their final six district games, and when University defeated Pine Crest on Wednesday, the Lions found themselves in fourth place heading into the playoffs.

Chaminade had several reasons why they started slowly, the main of which was injuries. As the season progressed, the team started getting players back and have been formidable ever since. Their biggest win of the season may have come this week when they took down Miami powerhouse Belen Jesuit 4-1.

Mitch Moormann, despite hitting .262, has been the catalyst for the offense. His 14 stolen bases leads the district. Julian Pino (.322) Mike Ramunno (.361), and Jose Colina (.361) have supplied the power, combining for five home runs and eight doubles. Colina leads the team with 14 RBIs, while Ramunno leads with 13 runs.

The team has had some trouble keeping runners off base, with a team WHIP of 1.72. Jordan Spicer has come on of late, with an ERA under three and 15 strikeouts in his 21.2 innings. Adam Toombs leads the team in wins and innings pitched.

Chaminade will have to defeat North Broward Prep in their opener on Monday, and then will be faced with the task of taking down the top seed, University School. Should the Lions make it to the semi-finals, they would go in knowing that they are one of only two 4A-13 teams to defeat University this season.

5. North Broward Prep – When the Eagles defeated Coral Springs Charter back in February, it looked like they may be the team to beat in the district. They received a stellar pitching performance that day from Chad Fleischman, a complete game, nine strikeout effort.

After rolling off five more victories, the Eagles started to slide, losing five straight district games. That put the team in a hole they could not get out of even after beating Gibbons and Somerset late.

Now the team will have to go into the playoffs as the fifth seed. The road to the regionals goes through Chaminade and University for NBP. This season they lost to Chaminade twice, by identical 5-2 scores. They also lost both games to the Suns, but the last of which was a thrilling 12-11 HSBN Game of the Week match-up earlier this month.

The teams runs this season have come in bunches and via the long ball. The eagles have scored just under 100 runs, but have hit 12 home runs and 17 doubles. Mack Nathanson leads the team in hitting with a .405 average. Drew Rangel (.309) leads the team in RBIs, while A.J. Fidalic has scored 21 runs on the year.

Team speed has not been a strong suit in 20133, with the club stealing 16 bases in 19 attempts.

Fleischman has been the go-to guy on the mound with 29 innings pitched. Overall the team ERA is not where they would like going into the playoffs, but Kevin Thomas (2.28) and Will Simpson (1.29) have been pleasant surprises.

Eagles Manager Brian Campbell will draw on some of the wisdom that helped carry North Broward Prep to a state appearance just two seasons ago.

6. Pine Crest – The Panthers came into 2013 riding the momentum of going to regionals last year. The team got off to a hot start, winning four of their first five games and seven of their first nine.

District play has not been kind to the Panthers, who finished with a 5-7 district record. Tiebreakers dropped Pine Crest down to the number six seed, and now they will have to defeat a Cardinal Gibbons team in the first round that they have gone 0-2 against this year.

Offense is never a problem for the Panthers, and this year was no exception. The team put up the most runs in the district, with 171. Three Pine Crest hitters, Steven Goldberg (4), Zach Kone (4), and Matt Rothenberg, supplied the power, with Alex Perez and Chris Koppenhaver contributing three homers each. Overall, the Panthers hit .325, with 22 home runs and a whopping 47 doubles. Rothenberg led the team in runs with 29, and was tied with Koppenhaver for the RBI lead with 24.

For a team with that much fire power, the Panthers also produced runs with some speed. The team stole 20 of 28 bases, with the 20 stolen bases spread out across eight players.

If there is an Achilles heel for Pine Crest it is on the mound where the team had an ERA just under four. The 1.66 WHIP contributed to the 122 runs the Panthers have given up. Adam Saks had a respectable 3.21 ERA, and Goldberg led the team with nearly 40 innings pitched. Goldberg struck out just under a batter an inning, and led the team with five wins.

7. Somerset – That brings us to the most intriguing team in the district. Somerset came into the season with a world of expectations after a strong Fall. The Panthers returned their top two pitchers from last year in Brandon Acevedo and Etienne Latour, and were expected to compete for the top spot in 4A-13.

A regular season crown was not to be as the Panthers started slowly and spent much of the year playing catch-up with the rest of the district. Starting with Spring Break, Somerset showed everyone the type of team they can be, and made themselves the most dangerous team in the playoffs. They won eight of their last 10 games, including a win over three-time state champion Archbishop McCarthy this week.

Acevedo and Latour have shown to still have dominant stuff, despite higher than expected ERAs. Acevedo has struck out more than a batter an inning, and Latour has 29 punch outs in 28 innings. The team ERA of 4.41 is indicative of the struggles Somerset has had stopping teams from scoring.

Offensively, the Panthers hit just under .300, but they made their at-bats count, scoring 138 runs. Israel Santana led the team’s starters in hitting at .366, and Chris Medina was close behind at .328. Medina also led the team in RBIs with 20, and extra-base hits with 13, including 12 doubles.

Yoni Rodriguez provided the speed on the basepaths, stealing 12 bases. Overall, speed was a big weapon for the Panthers as they went 47 of 52 on stolen base attempts.

To get out of the district, the Panthers will have to beat second-seeded Coral Springs Charter, and then get by the district semi-finals on Tuesday.

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