Pines Charter Pulls Away Late Against Fort Lauderdale
Derick Garcia tossed five shutout innings and delivered two big RBIs to lead the Jaguars to victory.
Fort Lauderdale and Pembroke Pines Charter will not let an FHSAA realignment come in the way of a good friendly rivalry. Saturday night at Flamingo Park’s Sean Tropeano Field in Pembroke Pines, these two former district foes continued a match up they have both come to love in the HSBN Broward Game of the Week.
Derick Garcia led a strong charge, earning the win on the mound while setting the tone with some clutch RBIs to pave the way to an 8-2 victory for the host Jaguars.
It was exactly the type of performance they were hoping for in their first HSBN Game of the Week appearance.
“This is a great opportunity for the kids to play under the lights and be able to perform and have a good game,” said Pines Charter Manager Carlos Iglesias. “This is what you play for, is to have an opportunity to show who you are. They were ready to play. Fort Lauderdale is a well-prepared team; Terry Portice always has their players well prepared. So this was a good win for us.”
When the district realignment split these teams up, the two clubs decided to keep the match up on their schedule and maintain the history. These two squads always bring out the best from one another, and they enjoy playing against each other. Upon learning that Jaguars Pitching Coach Andy Moser will be retiring at years end, Fort Lauderdale Manager Terry Portice was even more pleased to know they got one last chance to say goodbye.
“Coach Carlos Iglesias is a class guy, and he’s one of the guys I have the utmost respect for. He always brings a well disciplined team to the table and it’s always a competitive team,” Portice said. “I want to wish Coach Andy Moser the best. All 12 years he’s been there we played them twice a year and he’s been a class guy with their pitchers and getting them prepared. This is fun. I don’t like to lose, but they outplayed us tonight.”
Both clubs brought a strong presence to the mound, as Matt Freeman took the hill for the Flying L’s (2-1-1) to counter Derick Garcia. Freeman was able to work out of some jams and keep things close, before the Jaguars (3-1) broke things open with a five-run fifth inning that helped seal the victory.
Flying L’s starter Matt Freeman struck out three in four innings of work in the loss.
After setting the tone from the rubber by punching out the first two batters of the contest on strikeouts, Garcia was able to stake his own cause with the bat in the bottom half of the first inning. Alex Monge-Rodriguez ripped a shot past third base for a leadoff single, and two batters later Garcia connected on a shot deep to centerfield for a double that brought Monge-Rodriguez all the way around to score the first run of the night.
“Derick hit a double that I scored from first on, and that was a good way to start,” said Monge-Rodriguez.
The speedy leadoff batter went against the conventional approach from his spot in the order, instead jumping on pitches early to pave the way for a 3-for-5 performance. The junior second baseman scored twice and also drove in Micah Baxter-Miller on a fielder’s choice groundout in the sixth.
“They usually throw me a fastball down the middle first pitch, so I just try to jump on it and do what I can as the leadoff batter,” said Monge-Rodriguez. “Lately I’ve changed my batting stance because I was struggling, and I just have to focus more on line drives. Jump on the first pitch if that is what they give to me, and just get on base. That is what leadoff hitters are supposed to do.”
With guys on base nearly every time he came to the plate, Garcia was there to deliver. After Monge-Rodriguez singled to start off the fourth, Jake Jacobs sliced the ball past third to set up a scoring opportunity and bring their starting pitcher to the plate. Garcia responded by sending a slow roller up the middle to bring Monge-Rodriguez home for a 2-0 advantage.
“Derick Garcia had a great game,” said Iglesias. “He pitched five strong innings and he gave us good at bats. Starting in the first inning with a double and then he came the second time around with two outs and he got a base hit in the middle and we scored another run. So he basically was a one-man show. We have confidence in our pitching staff and Derick is just one of those guys who is very competitive, so we know whenever we give him the ball we have a good chance to win the game.”
Garcia tossed five scoreless frames, finishing with five strikeouts on 77 total pitches.
Danny Rodriguez drives a pitch to the left side.
Freeman was able to match him and keep the Flying L’s in the contest, working his way out of some early jams to minimize the damage done. Anthony Gomez and Baxter-Miller both singled to lead off the second, and Peter Dourvetakis dropped down a nice sacrifice bunt. But Freeman was able to snag the ball and fire to third base to erase the lead runner, before following that up with a strikeout and flyout to escape the threat unscathed.
The Jaguars loaded the bases an inning later on a pair of walks and a hit batter, but were unable to scratch any runs across.
But for most of the night, Pines Charter was successful in hitting with runners in scoring position. The Jaguars batted around the order in the fifth to break the game wide open.
Anthony Nogueiras got things started by singling to left field and then stealing second, before coming in when Gomez lined an RBI single to center. This also ended the night for Freeman, who went four innings on 88 pitches and had three strikeouts. Baxter-Miller was hit by a pitch and Dourvetakis delivered a two-RBI single. Dourvetakis scored later in the inning on a passed ball, and Ryan Smith reached base and also scored in the inning.
The Flying L’s had some chances of their own, putting runners on base in each of the last five innings. But they were unable to break up the shutout until the sixth, putting up a pair of runs to pull within 7-2. Lucas Berken laced the first pitch he saw to lead off the inning, Corey Stern was hit by a pitch and Chase Navarro sent a slow roller past third to load the bases. Trevor Jones then plated Lauderdale’s first run with a fielder’s choice groundout to second base.
Chivalry was evident from both teams, who have earned so much respect for each other over the years.
Stern later scored on a passed ball, before reliever Brett Alayon induced an infield groundout to end the inning. But after loading the bases in third and fifth and coming up empty, the late runs were too little to overcome the deficit.
“Our sticks have not been dynamic, and again they were not tonight,” Portice admitted. “I remember at least 10 guys we left on base, and we’re just having trouble delivering in a big situation right now. It’s one of the things we have to work on. Against South Plantation the other day we left seven guys in scoring position and we were 1-for-10 with guys in scoring position. So obviously we need to be a little more focused and use more of the middle of the field when we’re in position to drive somebody in.”
While Portice was not happy about the lack of timely hitting, he admitted he was more upset about the defense. The Flying L’s pride themselves on defense, and it is something the team will also focus on going forward.
As neither club has played a district contest yet, Saturday’s showdown was a chance to face a quality and respected opponent to better prepare for those games. Meanwhile, it was another chance for two old rivals to keep an important series alive for their programs.
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