McCarthy Falls To Coral Gables In Marlins Park Matinee
The Mavericks enjoyed a rare opportunity to play a spring game at Marlins Park Tuesday morning.
The Miami sunshine glowed down on the gorgeously manicured grass. The diamond had perhaps never looked better, and the field never quite so large and magnificent. The dimensions had not changed, but it was a stage unlike any other.
Tuesday morning brought an exciting cross-county showdown between Coral Gables and Archbishop McCarthy, in a contest played on the grand stage of Miami Marlins Park. The Cavaliers caught fire early on and rode that momentum to a strong 8-3 decision, ending a 10-game winning streak that dated back to last season for the four-time defending state champions.
“I asked the team, how does it taste? Did you forget?” said Mavericks Manager Rich Bielski. “It has been a while and you have to give Coral Gables credit. They came to play. They are a high-energy team, they came out and they were aggressive on the bases and they did a real good job today.”
Moments like these are cherished forever, but for now the Mavericks would likely prefer to forget about it. The Cavaliers (3-0) were aggressive right out of the gates, and they were able dictate the tempo and maintain momentum throughout.
Gables Manager Phil Wisser knows that the togetherness with his club this year is what is making everything click. They have talent and ability, but it is the way they drive one another that is bringing it out in them.
“Everybody is on that one goal, that one mindset, and that is to come out and win,” Wisser said. “We were facing one of the top teams in the country. You have a team as solid as the Archbishop McCarthy program and we have so much respect for them. When we had this opportunity to come out here and play McCarthy in this setting, we said let’s make a statement. Not that we’re trying to prove people wrong and put a bullseye on us, but it was definitely our opportunity to see how good we are.”
Leadoff hitter Raymond Gonzalez got things going for his club right out of the chute, as he blooped a 1-2 pitch into shallow left field for a leadoff single. He was aggressive on he bases and used a strong first-jump to steal both second and third base to move within ninety feet of home plate. Rolando Rodriguez completed that trip by stroking a blooper to left to give Gables an early 1-0 edge.
Gonzalez went 4-for-4 on the day, scoring each time while also swiping three bases.
“I knew they were throwing hard so I just tried to get my foot down, get my hands out and hit the ball hard,” said Gonzalez. “Coach gives me the green light so I went for a good jump and took off. We really wanted this game and to know I was helping my guys out by playing good and playing hard was great.”
Michael Gigliotti connects during the fourth inning.
The Mavericks (3-1) answered right back in the bottom of the first inning. Brian Gonzalez worked a full count and then jumped on a pitch and drove it deep off the left field wall, falling just short of a home run and rewarding him with a standup double. Gonzalez was replaced by courtesy-runner Alex Carballo, who scored two batters late on an RBI single from Eddie Silva.
Cavaliers starter Andrew Cabezas ran into trouble again in the second, as Alex Toral and Dylan Bautista btoh singled to right field. But the right-hander settled down and recorded consecutive outs to strand both runners.
Coral Gables put three on the board in both the third and fifth innings, to take a commanding 7-1 advantage into the bottom of the fifth. But the Mavericks showed they can handle such adversity by battling back to chip into the lead. Michael Gigliotti walked and stole second, and Aaron Soto connected for a shot deep to right field for an RBI single. Soto had come in as a reliever at that point in the contest, and therefore gave way to courtesy runner Daniel Federman. Silva singled to center to move Federman along, and Alex Rodriguez followed with an RBI single to center to send him home and cut the deficit to 7-3.
The Mavericks were unable to get any closer, instead suffering their first defeat since April 17th, 2013.
Coach Bielski knows that his team has lost between three and five games in each of these past four seasons that compiled this historic run they have enjoyed. The sting of a loss is something this club despises.
“If you’re going to lose, you want to lose early anyway,” said Coach Bielski. “The best thing about this is we always learn from it and we get better. That is what we’ve got to do again today.”
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