Douglas Cruises Past Coral Glades In Game Of The Week

After a heart-breaking loss in their opening district contest a couple of weeks ago to Taravella, the Douglas Eagles knew they had to come back and make a statement in their next two 8A-11 games.

Consider the statement made.

Friday night, the Eagles took care of Coral Springs 14-1 in five innings, and they followed that up with another mercy rule win in Saturday night’s HSBN Game of the Week.

Propelled by a 10-run fourth inning and a solid outing by starter Tyler Norris, Douglas cruised to a 13-0 defeat of Coral Glades.

“We swung the bats hot and the kids are focused,” said victorious Manager Todd Fitz-Gerald, whose team has put up 36 runs in the last three games. “We have a tough schedule and I don’t think our record is indicative of how good we’re playing. I like our effort and our intensity; the kids are doing a great job.”

Norris, mixing in some great curve balls with his high-80s fastball, held the Jaguars to just one hit and struck out five over his three innings of work. He also went 2-for-4 with a double and RBI, while Colton Welker and Kyle Shay drove in three runs each.

The Eagles (6-3, 2-1) opened the scoring in the first inning with two outs. Dominic DiCaprio was hit by a pitch, and then when Welker hit a tame grounder, it appeared the Jaguars would get out of the inning unscathed. A high throw to first resulted in DiCaprio coming all the way home on the play.

Coral Glades (2-6, 1-2) managed to put runners into scoring position themselves in each of the first two innings but could not get them across the plate.

Jaguars starter Christian Dominguez fared well up until the third inning, when, with two outs, Norris cracked a double to deep left. After an intentional walk to DiCaprio, Welker brought both his teammates home with another hard-hit two-bagger.

Douglas then exploded offensively in the fourth. Matt Fierman led off with a walk, Max Boling cracked a line-drive single to left-center, and Devin Conn reached on a fielders choice to load the bases.

Shay then stepped up and promptly cleared the bases with a laser double down the left-field line to give his team a 6-0 cushion. An RBI single from Norris was followed by the same from Welker, and then a two-run double by Blake Bottomley.

Fierman, who was the first batter of the inning, would end up being the first out in his second time up, and after all was said and done in the top half of the fourth, Douglas led 13-0.

Relievers Derek Jacobs and Jake Miednik combined to strike out four batters over the final two innings to close things out.

“Offensively we’re young, but it’s just a matter of confidence,” said Fitz-Gerald about his teams recent fine hitting. “We swung the bats OK in Key West and it’s all about comfort, confidence and reps.”

Fitz-Gerald also had plenty of good things to say about his starting pitcher.

“Tyler had good tempo, attacked and pounded the zone, and his fastball looked lively. He also had a very good feel for the breaking ball. He did a good job, and I liked his presence out there, especially in a district game.”

As for Coral Glades skipper Jorge Miranda, he was honest about his young Jaguars.

“Varsity baseball is just so much faster,” said Miranda. “We’re so young and we’ve been unlucky with injuries, and many of these kids don’t have two years of junior varsity experience. This Douglas team is very good and tonight we just didn’t hit or field very well.”

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