Nova Edges West Broward To Win Titans Classic Title

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Whenever Nick Martinez has pitched lately he has begun to find that his curveball is becoming very unhittable.

On Wednesday night West Broward found out the same thing. With a heavy dose of curveballs from Martinez and a midgame rally Nova held off West Broward to secure a 2-1 victory in the championship game of the 31st Annual Titans Classic Spring Break Tournament, played at Pat McQuaid Field at Doug Amos Stadium in Davie.

It was a tight contest that has become the norm when these teams face one another. Both clubs came into the game on lengthy winning streaks with a combined record of 18-3, and the game also featured a rematch of the 2012 Titans Classic championship. Just like two years ago, one run was the difference in a tight and well-contested battle befitting this match up.

“It feels good to beat a quality team; Coach Ambros does a great job with those kids and it was a playoff atmosphere,” said Titans Manager Pat McQuaid. “Our last seven or eight games before the playoffs, these are the type of games we need to play. We made a few mistakes, but all in all when you get in these kinds of ball games the kids are going to make some little mistakes. Beside those, we played a good game defensively and Nick did a great job on the mound.”

Martinez nearly went the distance for the victory, throwing all but the last four pitches while holding the Bobcats to just three hits and three walks. The left-hander struck out six and was effective at keeping the bases empty, as Nova (16-1) faced just six batters over the minimum.

“Whenever I come out and pitch the curveball seems to be a pitch that is really unhittable at the moment, so I was just going up there and throwing curveballs in counts that they did not expect it,” Martinez said. “I practice the curveball a lot at practice and in bullpens, and I work at it a lot and get a good grip on it. Getting it down for a strike is really effective and it’s helping me get batters out in innings when I really need to get them out.”

While Martinez had his curveball working for him, across the diamond the Bobcats (13-3) confidently rode the strong arm of their ace in Michael Schappell. The right-hander has been dominant all season, and on Wednesday he continued that trend. Schappell was incredibly efficient with his pitches, attacking batters and pounding the zone on 55 of his 89 total pitches. The senior allowed just two hits, a hit batter and a walk while picking up four strikeouts. He surrendered one earned run, the first he has allowed all season.

“I can’t get too upset because the team has been playing really well,” said West Broward Manager Sergio Ambros. “We played a similar game last week and came up on the winning side of it when we beat Douglas, but today we just came up on the short side. We made a couple of mistakes defensively but only gave up two hits, and one was a bunt hit, so Michael did his job. This is why we come to play in these type of tournaments is to face a quality team like Nova, a great program under the lights in their park. It’s a playoff atmosphere and it gets us ready for that week when we’re playing the districts.”

Although the Bobcats saw their six-game winning streak snapped, the team can walk away knowing they put in a great fight in a quality ball game. While the moral victory is not nearly as rewarding as a tournament title feels hoisted in one’s hands, both teams are well aware that the trophy they are all gunning for is waiting in the district playoffs. The Titans have now won eight straight and are gaining steam heading towards the postseason. Coach McQuaid likes to build his club up to those challenges, and Spring Break has always felt like the right time to aim for that next level of focus.

“It’s Spring Break and the kids could be doing anything else, and this is when you find out if your team is going to play when it’s important,” McQuaid said. “In a tournament you’re going to play some quality games, so this is the beginning of that last third of the season where you want all your games to be competitive and have a purpose. This Spring Break fits perfectly into that and tonight was a game that gets our attention a little bit. That is what makes the tournament special, is to get them to focus on baseball when all of their friends are doing so many other things.”

Both sides certainly exhibited that focus in Wednesday’s title game. West Broward was aggressive at the plate and threatened early and often, while Nova was quick to answer each time. Samyr Santos reached on an error in the first, only to watch Nova counter when Martinez made a nice pickoff move to trap the courtesy runner on the bases. Dalton Brockman put a nice sting on a Martinez offering in the second, but this time it was right fielder Ben Torres who answered with a nice diving catch to rob the hit. Then the Bobcats loaded the bases in the third, only to see the inning end on a ground out to first baseman Brandon McCalla.

Santos lifted his team again when he led off the fourth by lining a shot into the left-center gap for a single, before giving way to Brandon Jenkins to run the bases. Richie Garcia displayed his heart and will by racing down the first baseline and beating out the throw on an infield roller to put runners on the corners, and this time Brockman found a hole to line an RBI single to center field for a 1-0 lead.

Martinez managed to stick a finger in the hole in the dam, needing a total of 15 pitches to retire the next two batters to get out of the inning.

“Going out there, it’s not like I get down because I know we have a good team and they’re fired up,” Martinez said. “I know they want to get hits and steal bases and get that extra run back so that it’s a nothing-nothing game again. They did more than that, they scored two runs and helped me out a lot. That was all I really needed to get the extra momentum to use when I was pitching.”

Nova answered right back in the fourth for all the run support it could muster against the tough righty Schappell. As happens so often on this Titans squad, it was shortstop Kyle Pangallo who sparked things off with a great display of talent and effort. The senior connected on a 0-1 offering and sent the ball rolling deep through the left side of the infield past the third baseman but into the glove of Jordan Martinez, who did a great job of backing up the play to track the ball down. Pangallo streaked down the first baseline like he was on fire and beat the throw for the leadoff single that ignited the rally.

“He plays the game right and his heart is in every play,” McQuaid said of Pangallo. “He is just a good player and he’s going to give the game everything he has. We were down 1-0 and he beat it out, then we had the bases loaded and beat the ball out on the double play. The difference in the ball game was the two ground balls that we hit that the kids hustled and beat it out. So it was nice to see the kids hustle and play the game right.”

After McCalla reached on an error on a potential double-play ball, Cole Habig laid down a superb bunt that teased its way up the sideline but remained fair to load the bases on the bunt single. It was Torres who hustled for the second pivotal play of the frame. After Shayne Fox drove in the tying run on a base on balls, Torres sent the ball up the middle and raced to first just ahead of the throw on the backend of a double-play attempt. In reaching safely Torres allowed pinch-runner Marcos Villanueva to cross the plate with the deciding run.

It was a pivotal moment that went on to hold up as the difference. Martinez followed with two 1-2-3 frames, before running into trouble one last time in the seventh when Brockman reached on an error and Jordan Martinez walked to put the go-ahead run on base. Louis Pugliese came on in relief to record the final crucial out, following the encouragement of his pitcher to attack and end things with a big strikeout.

Pugliese not only earned himself the save, but was also rewarded with the tournament MVP trophy. Martinez added a defensive trophy to go with his victory on the mound, while McCalla took home the offensive trophy. Schappell also won the defensive trophy for the Bobcats, while Santos earned the offensive award.

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