Fitz-Gerald Wins 300th As Douglas Tops Taravella

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Trojans Manager Alan Clark called it a “rivalry renewed.” That’s exactly what it was when Taravella and Douglas took the diamond for the fourth and final time this season Tuesday afternoon, as the Eagles hosted The Trojans in a do-or-die game in a Class 8A regional semifinal.

The week before when the two teams met, it was for a district title and both teams had already clinched a spot in regional play. Tuesday’s regional semifinal winner would find itself one game away from a spot in the state tournament.

In what ended as a historic afternoon, it seemed only fitting that “Zeus” would be on the mound for Douglas. Sophomore Jesus “Zeus” Luzardo brought his A game Tuesday afternoon and led Douglas past Taravella 3-0 for Eagles Manager Todd Fitz-Gerald’s 300th career victory. The win puts Douglas in a regional final Friday at Park Vista.

Luzardo started in the regional quarterfinal against Cooper City last week but was unable to get out of the second inning after surrendering five runs. In the regional semifinal Tuesday, Luzardo didn’t even give up five hits the whole contest, as he pitched a complete game.

“I wanted to come back and prove a point,” said Luzardo. “Last start wasn’t going to be the end of the season. The team rallied around me and told me I was going to do good. The coaches helped me big time. Mainly my mindset, coming back out and showing I could do better, everything played a huge part.”

Chris Verardi, who was perfect this season for the Trojans and led the county in ERA, also threw a complete game. Working quickly and swiftly, both pitchers forced batters to groundout and flyout all afternoon in a game that took just over 90 minutes to determine a winner.

Douglas took the lead in the first on three walks and a couple of groundball outs. In the second, Matt Fierman singled for the first hit of the game. A sac bunt and the second balk of the game moved Fierman to third with one out. Daniel Ruiz flied to left to drive across another run and give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.

In the fourth, the Eagles put together their first and only two-hit inning and manufactured another run with contributions from Devin Conn and Yorvis Torrealba.

“When we had the opportunity to hit and had guys on, we couldn’t get them across today,” Clark said. “Anytime we had the opportunities on offense, Luzardo made the pitch he needed to make to get out of it.”

Luzardo ran into his first sign of trouble in the sixth when he walked three straight batters to load the bases. A quick meeting on the mound and a few deep breathes later, Luzardo found his zone and ended the threat with a strike out and ground ball.

“What a difference from last week to this week. I can’t say enough about him. He walked the bases loaded right there and got out of the jam with one out,” Fitz-Gerald said about Luzardo. “Jake’s been throwing really well lately and Tyler is a little tired, but I didn’t want to use Jake if I didn’t have to. Zeus said he could finish, and I believed in him. His change-up was really good today, and I think that was his best pitch. I am extremely proud of him and what a way to bounce back.”

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