Big Seventh Leads Flanagan Past Archbishop McCarthy

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In a tie ball game heading into the top of the seventh, Flanagan ace Gentry Fortuno spoke some words of encouragement to his longtime catcher, Miguel Presno. The two seniors have played together their entire high school careers, and a win against host Archbishop McCarthy in the Broward Game of the Week meant a lot to them both.

“When he was on deck in the circle I told him, ‘If you get your chance, just rip it. Let’s start this up and finish it,’” Fortuno said.

Miguel worked the count and found his pitch, delivering a leadoff double deep to left field that ignited a Falcons rally. Flanagan erupted for four runs and went on to win 6-2, as Fortuno struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to earn the complete-game victory. Just as it has been for each of the three years that the game has closed out the Game of the Week schedule, once again it was an exciting and competitive game from start to finish.

Miguel Presno has played in all three of those epic meetings, catching for Fortuno on the mound. Playing in his final chapter of this rivalry, the Falcons starting catcher led off the seventh out of the nine-hole. He has struggled some with his hitting this season, and it meant a lot to Miguel when Gentry looked at his catcher and said to get on base for him.

“I battled it out for four years with him, so I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do to get the win,” Miguel said. “My first at bat I ripped a fastball at a kid and I knew if I got another pitch like that I was going to drill it. This whole week we haven’t had another game so we’ve been focusing on this game. The seven o’clock start, we were ready for it. We worked real hard this week in practice and we had really good practices. We have known these kids since we were little and we all played with them. It’s a nice little rivalry even though we are not in the same district and don’t see each other in the playoffs. It is fun and it is two top dogs battling it out.”

Flanagan hit around the order to put itself well ahead in the seventh.

“The top of the lineup has been doing real well, so I am just trying to flip it over, as Coach says,” Miguel said. “Me being at the bottom, I want to get on base and get to my brother, Ricky, who is leading off, and Eric batting second. They have been on fire and drilling the ball.”

That fire showed once Miguel got on base. Ricky Presno worked a walk to put both brothers on base, and Eric Rivera delivered the biggest hit of the night when he plopped a double just inside the left field line to score Miguel and put the Falcons (16-4) ahead for good. Mark Vientos was given a free pass, perhaps in recognition to his deep solo home run to right field in the fifth inning. More likely it was to load the bases and set up for a potential double play to escape the inning.

Hunter Platts got the ball down on the ground to keep things going. The slow roller drove in Ricky, and Platts reached on an error. Arrison Perez and Dylan O’Connell followed with RBIs to add to the lead and put things out of reach.

Fortuno needed just 14 pitches to run his strikeout total to 11 on the night, earning his fifth win of the season. The senior surrendered three hits and three walks, while also hitting a batter.

“Going into senior year, you know it is your last chance to prove something. Before you leave you want to put something on these guys,” Fortuno said. “Our team is young and tonight we all came together and were on the right track. All we did was talk about baseball in the dugout, and everyone was alert.”

Fortuno has pitched all but one inning in the three meetings between these two local rivals. He has earned the victory each time, and can walk away knowing he was able to get the win against such a fierce opponent.

“I take my hat off to him. I will say one thing I am celebrating tonight is that Gentry Fortuno is a senior, and we will not be facing him again next year,” Archbishop McCarthy Manager Rich Bielski said. “He did a great job tonight. He challenged us and he went after us and pounded the strike zone. He did his job as a pitcher and we got a lot of fastballs that we didn’t hit. We put the barrel on a few balls very hard tonight, and it was a great game for six innings.”

Down a run, the hosts battled back in the fifth to even things up when Alex Carballo drove in Freddie Matos. McCarthy (19-4) had taken an early lead to support starter Daniel Federman with a run in the bottom of the first. Carballo reached on a one-out single, and Alex Toral sent a bouncer into right to move him to third. Carballo then scored on a throwing error.

The Mavericks fell behind 2-1 on Vientos’ home run, and also Rivera’s second base hit of the game resulting in him coming home on an RBI single from Vientos in the third. Rivera was 3-for-4 and Vientos reached base all four trips to the plate.

“I just had my mind set on this game and I just wanted to get the ‘W’ for my team,” Vientos said. “I had a great outing and Gentry pitched a heck of a game and we did our job.”

Both these clubs rolled out a roster mostly full of promising young players, after each team graduated the majority of its roster following last season. These new guys were baptized into a game that has proven to be one of the most exciting to watch every year.

“It’s a good feeling that we played that caliber of baseball right now, at the end of the year,” Flanagan Manager Ray Evans said. “I know it is the cross-town rivals, and the supposed-best public school verse the best private school, although Douglas is really good so I don’t know about that. All we were hoping for was for us to come in here to their house and play a really good game. Gentry led the way and we were able to come out and compete and get after it.”

Evans pointed out so many of his guys who contributed to the outcome. He was proud to see Miguel get a big hit to get it started, and is impressed by how well Rivera has hit all season for his team. Peter Morforis and Vientos are also new to the lineup and continue to contribute in big ways.

“It just all came together,” Evans said. “Once you get that lead with Gentry on the mound, you feel pretty good. For our guys to come in here and play that way right now, hopefully it carries in against Park Vista, one of the top teams in the country.

Fortuno agrees that the result should give the team all the confidence they deserve. He knows what a big part he can play in that, but also is comforted by the support his guys can offer. They proved that to him on this night.

“I thought I didn’t have a good night,” Fortuno admitted. “The changeup wasn’t there, and the curveball wasn’t there, until the seventh. I didn’t have my slider or my sinker, which is usually there. It was basically my fastball and I was battling the whole way. These guys did it for me. If we win this game and we play the way we played every year, there is no reason we should lose any other game. This team has it all.”

While the end result is never a welcome thing at Mavericks Field, Bielski and the Mavericks also enjoy the big game coming late in the season to help prepare for the upcoming playoffs. With the district tournament just over a week away, the two teams enjoy the chance to get the motor running a little early for the playoffs.

“We accomplished our goal of playing a playoff-caliber team in a playoff atmosphere,” Bielski said. “We got to throw three pitchers tonight, and we wanted them to feel that. We wanted them to feel that fire and pressure of a big-time game, to get that opportunity to throw in front of a big crowd where every pitch and every out is important. We are able to do that, and this is always a good test for our team.”

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