Long Ball Fuels North Broward Win Over Newman

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The North Broward Prep Eagles scored five runs via the long ball to beat the visiting Cardinal Newman Crusaders 7-2 on Thursday night and advance in the regional playoffs.

Although the power offense stole the show for the Eagles, their starting pitcher, Alex Ernestine, quietly turned in a masterful performance, keeping Palm Beach County’s best hitter, Bruce Steel, in check. Steel entered the game with a .518 batting average but was able to record only one hit in his three at-bats against Ernestine, who held the rest of the Newman lineup to four hits and gave up just one earned run while pitching a complete game.

North Broward’s home runs came courtesy of Anthony Masiello, affectionately referred to as “Moose” by his teammates, and Brian Fagan.

Fagan hit his, a 3-1 shot over the center-field fence, against Newman starter Tyler Krull in the second inning. It drove in Hernando Sierra, who had reached on a fielder’s choice, to kick off the scoring after a quiet first inning from both sides.

Masiello’s came in the sixth after he was robbed in the fifth by Patrick Foley, who leapt up to snow cone a ball that was headed over the right-field fence. This time, with Jared Schwait and Ernestine on base after being walked by Crusaders reliever Robbie Hoyt, Masiello teed off on the second pitch of his at-bat and sent it the other way, over the left-center field fence to expand the lead to 7-1.

“The bat before that, he robbed it,” said Masiello, who finished the game having gone 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run. “I was pretty aggravated by that, so I was like, ‘I gotta get it next time.’ It ended up that I got the right pitch, and I just barreled up and it went out. I was pretty excited.”

The Eagle’s other two runs came in the second and fifth innings. After Fagan’s homer in the second, North Broward kept right on rolling, bringing all nine of their batters to the plate in the frame. Kevin Thomas hit an infield single and moved to third when Max Tannenbaum reached on an error. Schwait then split the gap in left-center to bring Thomas home. In the fifth, Sierra scored his second run when he singled and was later driven in by Thomas.

Ernestine cruised through the first three innings on the mound, allowing just two hits and three base runners before Steel and Anthony Zaleski, the number three and four hitters for Newman, finally gave him a run for his money in their second trips to the plate during the fourth inning. First, Steel legged out an infield single on a grounder to shortstop. Then Zaleski snuck one through the left side of the infield for a single of his own. They both advanced a base on a throwing error to put them in position to cut into North Broward’s 3-0 lead. The threat was neutralized by a big double play by Edgar Badaraco later in the inning though, and the Crusaders came away empty handed.

Steel accounted for half of Newman’s run production in the sixth when he not only reached base, but also scored thanks to two separate throwing errors by North Broward.

Daniel Cole accounted for the other half when he became the third player to go long in the game, hitting a solo shot for the Crusaders in the top of the seventh with two outs.

“(Their) pitcher did a great job,” said Crusaders Manager Sean Comfort. “Had a lot of command tonight on the mound. Kept us guessing, made his pitches. Defense was behind him, they made some good plays. They were the winning team, so hat’s off to them.”

When asked to comment on his teams ability to perform so well in a do-or-die situation, Fagan, who hit the Eagle’s first homer, said they were used to it.

“We’re used to the pressure,” Fagan said. “We know when we have Ernie on the bump, it’s lights out and we just gotta hit. Here, it’s really easy. Small ballpark. Just let loose.”

The win is North Broward’s sixth in a row dating to the regular season and sets up a rematch next week in the regional semifinal against Chaminade-Madonna, which it beat in the district final.

“We’ll think about that tomorrow,” Eagles manager Brian Campbell said about their rivals. “We’ll enjoy tonight. We played Chaminade three times. They know us. We know them. There’s no secrets. It’s just who’s going to come out and play well.”

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