St. Thomas Holds Off Nova Rally For 3-2 District Victory

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Standing on the pitcher’s mound with the game on the line is a tough place to be.

Leading 3-2 in the top of the seventh with Nova’s James Spatafora representing the tying run at second base, St. Thomas Aquinas closer Kevin Balfour stood on the hill needing just one out to finish things off. Playing to a packed house in an ageless rivalry against a dangerous opponent, Balfour seemed to be on an island all his own.

“You have a lot of adrenaline going through you,” Balfour explained. “You get nervous at first, but then you realize the team you have behind you to help, and how hard they have been working. You’re actually pretty relaxed by that and then it feels great. It’s just all confidence. The family bond we have is that we know we will get the outs.”

The Raiders did just that, as Balfour induced an infield ground ball to record the final out and earn the Raiders the narrow victory over the rival Titans, in their first meeting of the season Friday night at St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale. St. Thomas (8-3) improves to 5-0 in District 7A-15, with just three district contests remaining on their schedule. As always, the match up still remaining at Nova is circled on that schedule.

“I think it’s what high school baseball is all about. You’ve got a team that you’re rivals with and it’s something to look forward to. Tonight didn’t let anyone down with that,” said Raiders Manager Troy Cameron. “I’ve got the utmost respect for Pat McQuaid and what he has done over the years. As a player, I remember it being a heated rivalry. The game is more exciting that way and I know the Nova guys look forward to it just like I know our guys look forward to it.”

When Cameron took over as the manager last year, he noticed that the rivalry did not seem to have that same focus on it. That changed quickly, as the two clubs met four times last year, the final coming when St. Thomas ended the Titans’ season in the regional semifinals. That game was a close contest that came right down to the wire, just as Friday’s chapter did.

“We competed and it was a nice high school baseball game. Both teams played hard,” said Titans Manager Pat McQuaid. “We hit the ball that inning and they had to make the plays, and that’s what you want the kids to do. I’m proud of them, and I can’t wait to play them again.”

Nova (8-1) suffers it first loss of the season, while settling in at second place in 7A-15 with a 4-1 mark. Things came just a few feet away from a different ending, however.

Down to their final swings and trailing by two, the Titans battled to make one final push. Ben Torres drew a leadoff walk and, after fouling off a few pitches, Frankie Graf moved the runner over on a groundout to the pitcher. After Balfour responded to record a strikeout, Titans catcher Michael Majer nearly changed the outcome with one swing. Majer connected on a shot that flew deep to right field, just staying in the yard and instead hitting off the fence for an RBI double.

“Coach always tells us it’s not over until it’s over,” said Majer. “We had to show that, so with two strikes I still went up there and battled and put the ball to the fence. I thought it was gone, but the wind was blowing in. Any other game at St. Thomas it was going out, but there was also two other ones that they hit that the same thing happened. The wind was a factor tonight.”

Spatafora replaced Majer on the bases, before Balfour closed things out to earn the six-out save. Even despite being given a great scare right to the very end, the Raiders senior couldn’t help but appreciate the intensity that accompanies every meeting between these two clubs.

“A game like this, it’s almost like Zeus verse the Gods,” said Balfour. “We look forward to this, we prepare for this and it’s awesome. We look forward to the next time we play them too. They’re going to be good games.”

Nova came into the game having outscored their opposition by a combined run total of 78-9. But the season never seems to really begin until once they’ve had the chance to see their rivals on the field for the first time. The Raiders came in with a few more losses on their record, while playing a brutal schedule that is intended to make them more prepared for nights like these.

Once these two squads take the field, nothing else ever matters. The players on both sides always seem to find that extra bit of magic it takes to win one of these games. Each pairing is a grind and a battle, with a fair share of heroes on both sides.

If not for a choppy wind that accompanied this unseasonably cold night, Michael Majer may have been the latest such guy to add his name to the history attached to this rivalry. At the same time, the Titans acknowledged that this same wind helped keep a shot from Raiders first baseman Christian Demby in the yard as well.

“Any other night with the wind blowing in that’s a home run,” said McQuaid of Majer’s hit. “But then, Demby would have had a home run in the inning before that on that ball that went off the fence. Both those balls were hit hard. We competed; we just have to clean up a couple of things. We got picked off at first base and we got thrown off of third once, so we’ve got to make sure we don’t give them outs. One time we had runners on first and second with no outs, and we’ve got to be able to put the ball in play there.”

For the Raiders, it was their ability to make those plays that made all the difference. Aquinas dropped two tough road contests last weekend in Orlando, and some of the hard lessons they learned from those losses worked to help them on Friday.

“We did the little things tonight, and it certainly helped since we didn’t do those things in Orlando,” Cameron admitted. “The other teams did then, and it was nice we made the adjustments tonight. The games that we lost in Orlando, the other teams executed situational stuff, getting a guy over, hitting a ground ball with a man on third base and the infield back. Tonight we did that, and it’s nice to be on the winning side of a close baseball game.”

No one better understands being on both sides of things better than Raiders junior starter Nick Marchese, who transferred to St. Thomas this year after previously playing at Nova. While neither side spent much attention focusing on this factor, the fact remained that it was an emotional outing for Marchese. Even though both Nova and St. Thomas have too much respect for the game to taunt or jeer any player, Marchese still took the rubber with the responsibility to get out all of his friends and former teammates.

“It feels good playing for both teams, and I still love all those guys,” Marchese said. “They have been part of my high school career and they’re not going to leave that, but tonight I had to do the job. I threw strikes and got ground balls and it was fun, as much business as it is. It’s a great rivalry and I love this.”

Marchese proved very much up to the task, putting in a quality start on the hill and also coming up with the biggest hit of the night. After the first baseman Demby just missed a home run to right field for a two-out double in the third, Marchese sat back on a pitch and rolled it up the middle of the field to bring Demby home with the deciding run and a 3-0 lead at the time.

Marchese put in five shutout innings of work, scattering four hits, two walks and two hit batsmen while picking up four strikeouts on 79 pitches. The right-hander improved to 3-0 on the season, already matching his win total from a year ago while picking up a crucial victory for his ball club.

“It’s a ‘W’ at our field and it gives us momentum to go into their field. It gets the confidence up for the next one,” said Marchese.

Momentum was something the Raiders rode all night, as they were able to get things started early on to excite the home crowd and put all the energy in the home dugout. Not only did the Raiders put the first runs on the scoreboard with their first swings to take the early lead, but they were also able to execute with two strikes on the count in the process.

The first three batters all came down to their final strike, but then each delivered. Gary Mattis led off by ripping a shot over first base to start the frame off with a double. Rafael Amanau then sent one up the middle to push Mattis home, before advancing to second when Ross Thibeault put the ball on the ground to the right side. A passed ball allowed Amanau to move to third, and catcher Teddy Meissner followed by grounding a high chopper that Titans third baseman Cole Habig had to leap high in the air to get into his glove. Habig had no play other than to throw Meisner out at first, while Amanau was able to cross the plate uncontested.

“We got a good jump at third and scored on it,” said Cameron. “We had a man on second and Ross Thibeault hit him over to third, and then Teddy Meissner came up and hit that high chopper to third. Then Nick came up later in the game with two outs and got another big hit to score a run for us. Those runs were huge in a 3-2 ball game.”

Cameron admitted that his guys did not make adjustments at the plate, and they struggled as Nova starter Nick Martinez settled in to pitch a solid game against them.

The turning point for Martinez’s outing came in the second inning. Carter White and Alex Dickinson both singled, and Mattis was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs. Thibeault connected on the first pitch he saw, but Titans shortstop Kyle Pangallo was right there to make the catch and end the threat.

Martinez (4-1) recovered to pitch into the sixth, holding the Raiders to six hits and one hit batter while not issuing any walks. The left-hander featured several tough pitches in his arsenal, and he picked up four strikeouts while 54 of his 86 pitches found the strike zone.

Nova worked its first run in the top of the sixth. Martinez walked and gave way to courtesy runner Marcos Villanueva, Pangallo singled on a grounder to the left infield gap, and Brandon McCalla walked to load the bases. Cole Habig worked a 2-0 count to then connect for a sacrifice flyout to right field that drove Villanueva home and put the Titans on the scoreboard.

Habig was 2-for-2 with a double on the night.

While the Raiders drew first blood this year, both sides walked away content just for the chance to get their first looks at one another. There is much season still to play, including a looming rematch on April 4th at Pat McQuaid Field. These two squads always bring out the best in one another, and that makes it some of the greatest baseball they can play.

“It’s always fun to play the first game with them,” said Majer. “They’re a good team, we’re a good team, and we’re both very good district teams. We’ll see who can come out first in the district.”

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