Flanagan Edges McCarthy In Game Of The Week Classic

In the history of Broward County, only two baseball programs have ever won three state championships.

On Saturday night in the final HSBN Broward Game of the Week, those two teams finally met in a showcase of baseball at its finest.

Host Archbishop McCarthy has won three consecutive state titles, and visiting Flanagan won the third of its crowns the same year that McCarthy won its first.

With only three miles separating the two schools, Saturday evening’s tilt came as a long-awaited reward for many of the diehard baseball enthusiasts who packed Mavericks Stadium for a game that also supports the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Foundation.

The epic billing did not disappoint, as the visiting Falcons broke a seventh-inning tie to pull away with the tough 5-2 victory over the Mavericks.

“It was really fun, really exciting with all of the fans and how it tied it all in. I’ve never had an experience like that,” Flanagan winning pitcher Gentry Fortuno said. “We played a private school and they were a great ballclub. I can’t say anything bad about them; they gave us a good opportunity to push ourselves until the end. This is by far the toughest team we have played and we had a good fight with them.”

While the discussion regarding the pairing of a private school against a public program is an interesting topic, the end result was two terrific teams played a phenomenal game that held a captive audience with every pitch.

“It was a good game, it really was,” Mavericks Manager Rich Bielski said. “They were well prepared and they are a well coached, good ball club. We’ve got to take our hat off to Flanagan; they are a very talented team. I’m sure they are going to do well come playoff time.”

With the district playoffs a little more than a week away, both teams got an early taste of what playoff baseball feels like.

“It’s a big win because of the type of program that we played,” Flanagan Manager Ray Evans said. “They are very talented. Whenever you come here and play you know you’re going to have a very well-played game. There’s not going to be many mistakes made. For us to be in a 2-2 tie in the seventh, that’s exactly where our program should be with their program. We’re knotted.”

Evans knows that a victory over such a high-caliber squad helps his team to peak as it heads into the playoffs, and the momentum gained was also not lost on the players.

“We just beat the three-time state champs. Not many people can say that,” said Kharlin Sued. “Hats off to McCarthy, they played a great game, as expected. At the end of the day we came out on top and you can’t ask for anything more.”

The starter Fortuno fought his way through six strong innings on the mound to hold the Mavericks (18-4) to a pair of earned runs, and his team rewarded his effort with a rally in the seventh with their final moves on this game-long chessboard.

“It feels great that I don’t really have to do all of the work on the mound. If I keep us in it, they have me on defense and the hitting was phenomenal,” Fortuno said.

The Falcons (15-4) opened the top half of the final frame by putting two runners on when AJ Munoz walked and Andres Rios singled through the left gap. Both runners then advanced when Miguel Presno was able to drop down a perfect sacrifice bunt even despite a nice defensive maneuver by the Mavericks.

With both runners now in scoring position, McCarthy drew in its defense as Flanagan’s Oscar Rodriguez flirted with the notion that he may be dropping down a suicide-squeeze bunt attempt.

But then Rodriguez drew back in his stance and swung away to rifle the ball past a diving infielder for the winning RBI single that brought home Munoz.

“I said if they crash, that’s the play,” Evans explained. “I told him ‘I’m not going to give you the call, that’s what you’re going to do’. He stroked it hard.”

Eric Rivera kept things going with a bit of good fortune as he drilled the ball straight off the mound between the defenders to allow him to beat it out for an infield RBI single.

Ryan Dodge then finished things off by lining a shot that landed just short of the left fielder to push Rodriguez in for the three-run cushion.

Dodge also had an RBI double on a shot deep to the wall that scored Andres Visbal in the top of the fourth, before coming around as well to put Flanagan up 2-0 on a fielder’s choice RBI groundout from Sued.

“He got me to two strikes and I was battling, but then he made a mistake and threw me a fastball down the middle and I didn’t miss it,” said Dodge. “My approach was just stay in the center of the field; hit it to the V from left-center to right-center.”

The Mavericks helped to avoid any further damage in the fourth even after the Falcons again threatened when Daniel Oliveri doubled and Munoz walked to extend the inning.

Presno slapped a blooper into shallow center field that could have spelled an early doom for the Mavericks, but instead represented just one of many highlight-reel plays they made as Brandon Vicens came directly in and dove out to snare the ball with a very impressive and difficult grab.

Two innings later Vicens again dove out and snagged a liner to rob Oliveri of a big hit, which came just after catcher Michael Hernandez picked off a baserunner on a pitch-out throw from home.

“We had some diving catches and we really played well,” Bielski said. “We were smoking the ball all night long too. There was one inning we hit three line drives and got nothing out of it. That’s baseball, and I’m just glad it happened tonight and not in the playoffs. They hit the baseball hard all night off a really good pitcher.”

Fortuno improved to 7-0 on the season after picking up the victory, and he also recorded eight strikeouts while issuing just one walk on the night.

Righty Chris Rodriguez pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning to earn his third save of the season and close the door on a game that saw big moments in nearly every inning.

The Falcons threatened in the second when Sued singled on a liner to center field, but Mavericks starter Andres Nunez induced a groundout and then followed it with his third and final strikeout.

McCarthy then executed a 6-4-3 double play to end the third inning after Presno and Oscar Rodriguez both walked.

Meanwhile, the Mavericks also came away empty-handed early on.

Vicens singled and stole second only to be stranded in the bottom of the first inning. Eddie Silva singled with one out in the second, but then Fortuno picked up back-to-back strikeouts to escape that threat.

Jonathan Quintero nailed a shot to the right field corner for a one-out double in the third, but then he was doubled off when Rios hauled in a liner and stepped on second base to double him off.

Silva finally put the home team on the boards when he scorched a liner to the right field wall for an RBI single that brought in Vicens, who was fortunate to score just ahead of the play at second base as Silva was gunned down trying to stretch for a double.

But the lead was now cut to 2-1, and reliever Aaron Soto gave the Mavericks two scoreless innings on the hill to keep them in it before they tied it up in the sixth.

Quintana opened the sixth with a gritty, eight-pitch joust before he connected square with a pitch to deep left field and then raced around the bases for a leadoff triple. Michael Gigliotti then lined up the middle to allow Quintana to trot home with the tying run.

But after battling all the way back, the Falcons managed one last punch in the seventh to secure the well-earned victory.

“We’ve been playing great as a team the whole year,” said Dodge. “It was a team environment today. We put it together and got the win. It was a great environment to play in and I really enjoyed playing in this game.”

What Falcons Manager Ray Evans appreciates the most with the victory, is how his team was able to play in the moment.

“Take your game and reduce it from a whole game to innings; and from innings to outs; and from outs to pitches,” Evans explained. “Especially tonight it showed. Every pitch was so important in the end when the game was on the line.”

In less then two weeks, every game will be on the line, something neither team dares to forget. The Falcons will not celebrate this game long, nor will the Mavericks allow themselves even a moment to hang their head from the loss.

“I don’t think there’s time to celebrate right now,” said Sued. “We’ve got Park Vista and Dwyer coming up, and then we’ve got the playoffs. So there is no time for that; we just get back at the grind on Monday.”

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