Douglas Stages Sixth-Inning Comeback For Victory

Sparked by Senior Daniel Ruiz, who drove a ball to the right-center gap for a three-run triple in the sixth, Douglas rallied late to beat Cooper City 6-5 in a regional quarterfinal at Coral Springs High Thursday night.

Douglas staged a comeback for the ages in the sixth as the Eagles’ bottom half of the lineup capitalized on patience. The six, seven, eight batters drew walks from Cutrone and loaded the bases with one out.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, Ruiz delivered the biggest triple in his high school career. The Eagles bench exploded as the ball found the right-center gap and rolled to the fence. Taking a grasp on the momentum, the Eagles used it as fuel to finish off the sixth.

“I’m a senior. I didn’t want this season to end,” Ruiz said. “I have been working on going opposite field during practice the last few days, and I just wasn’t going to let this year end.”

DiCaprio, with his biggest hit of the night, tied the game with a RBI triple of his own that was nearly robbed by left fielder Tyson Burch as he crashed into the fence.

“At first when I hit it, I thought it may be gone, then when he caught it, I said to myself ‘Oh my God,’ ” DiCaprio said. “Then he ran into the fence, and I was rounding second base. I was already going crazy. It was just one of those moments.”

Sophomore Colton Welker capped the comeback off with the go-ahead single and gave the Eagles their first lead of the game. Batting around the lineup, the Eagles scored five runs on three hits and were three outs away from their first one-run victory since the season opener.

A game that had fans on the edge of their seats all night started from the first batter up when Ethan Kraus singled up the middle for the Cowboys. The top of the lineup followed Kraus’ lead with a walk by Nicholas Saltare, then a head-first slide for an infield single from Phillip Tomasulo.

Eagles ace Jesus Lazardo was on the hill and faced a bases-loaded jam with nobody out minutes into the game. After two singles and a fielder’s choice, the Cowboys found themselves with a 3-0 early lead.

Getting the nod for the Cowboys was junior Joey Cutrone in another big start for his team. Tyler Norris led the home half of the first off with a walk for the Eagles. Dominic DiCaprio singled to left with the first of his three hits on the night.

Cutrone was a magician on the mound Thursday night, with the ability to get out of anything thrown his way. In the first of back-to-back double plays, Cutrone got Blake Bottomley to ground into a 5-3 double play to end the first.

The Cowboys rode the momentum into the second when Tyson Burch led off with a single. Kraus came to the plate with the intention of sacrificing the runner to scoring position, but with his speed and perfect placement of his push-bunt, Kraus was able to beat the tag of the first baseman and reach safely for his second consecutive hit.

After a four-pitch walk to Saltare, the Cowboys offensive backbone Tomasulo extended the lead to 5-0 with a two-run single.

Noticing Luzardo didn’t have his best stuff of the season, Eagles Manager Todd Fitz-Gerald went to the bullpen quickly. In complete agreement with his manager, Luzardo waited to greet relief pitcher Jake Miednik with words of encouragement and a high-five before leaving the mound.

“I had to stay focused and calm; not try to overthrow and stay within myself,” Miednik said. “The feeling is amazing honestly, just confidence I guess for that situation. Confidence within my teammates and the pitch calling coach, there’s really no other feeling like it.”

In the bottom of the second, Max Boling and Devin Conn led off with singles to get the Eagles started. Matt Fierman lined a rocket to first where Johnny Haney was perfectly placed. Quick reflexes allowed Haney to snag the line drive and tag first for the second double play in as many innings. Cutrone got another ground ball to end the inning and keep Douglas off the scoreboard.

In relief, Miednik gave the performance of his career and gave his team a chance to stay in the game. Striking out six of first eight batters he faced, Miednik silenced the bats of Cooper City and started to sway some momentum Douglas’ way.

“Our ace Jesus didn’t have his stuff tonight, but that’s how you win state championships, by picking your teammates up and that’s what Jake did tonight for us,” DiCaprio said.

Douglas broke through in the third with one run after they sent seven batters to the plate. Through the first three innings, the Eagles put six men on and failed to capitalize on their early chances.

Miednik and Cutrone took control over the next three innings, allowing just two base runners between the both.

“He was electric and outstanding tonight,” Fitz-Gerald said about Miednik. “He did the same thing in the back end of the bull pen against Taravella last week. When he’s in his zone he’s hard to beat. He keeps the ball down and changes speeds a little bit, pounds the fastball in, and he is gutsy and competes his tail off. That’s half of it right there. He thinks and knows he’s better then anyone and that’s the attitude he has, and I think that’s why he has a lot of success.”

Miednik, who closed out the seventh with back-to-back strike outs, threw five and two-thirds innings, struck out nine and allowed no runs on two hits. He was lights out for the Eagles in their road to defend their title.

Cowboys Manager Wayne Stofsky was pleased with Cutrone’s effort, but understood where it got away from them.

“At the end of the game when he walked those two guys, that hurt,” Stofsky said. “I tell our kids all the time the only way you let a team back in the game is base on balls or hits batters. Even if its a hit, one run when you’re up four or five, that takes a lot to get back in the game. You put them right back in the game with walks. But Joey got tired, he got sore, and I will never risk a kid’s health because of just one baseball game. He’s a junior, he’s got another year and he should be our guy next year. Unfortunately, he just threw too many pitches early in the game. His pitch count got high in the first three innings and it came back to haunt him.”

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