Luzardo, Welker Power Douglas In Regional Quarterfinal
Pemron Burrows walked twice, scored two runs and stole two bases for the Eagles.
Last season, the Douglas Eagles came within one out of advancing to the state finals. By the looks of their effort so far this year, the Eagles look determined and poised to finally reach that milestone.
The latest in a string of nine straight victories for Douglas came on Tuesday afternoon when, behind a gem of a start by Jesus Luzardo and a two-hit, two-RBI day by Colton Welker, the Eagles downed the Cypress Bay Lightning 5-2 to advance to a regional semifinal. Douglas will face the winner of tonight’s Taravella-Cooper City game on Tuesday.
As per the usual for the senior, Luzardo came out of the gates blowing opposing hitters’ ears back with a steady diet of mid-90’s heat. After striking out the side in the first inning, Luzardo tallied a fifth K in the third frame, a punchout that was half of a strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out double play. From the fourth inning on, Luzardo mixed in a much-wider variety of breaking pitches. They proved to be just as affective as he tallied another five strikeouts over his final three innings of work. Though the approach may have changed, his MO to get ahead with a first pitch strike remained throughout the afternoon. Luzardo threw first-pitch strikes to 18 of the 23 hitters he faced.
“Early in the game, I didn’t have my curveball or changeup, so I had to rely a lot more on the heater, but later on in the game, I started using my curveball more. I started finding it a little more,” Luzardo said. “That really helped me out throughout the rest of the game.”
The last of Luzardo’s 10 strikeouts came in a huge moment in the sixth inning. After a walk and a single to lead off the inning, the Lightning had three chances with the tying run at the plate. From there, Luzardo went back to his bread and butter. Using his heater almost exclusively, he set them all down via the strikeout.
“Once they got the first two guys on, I knew I had to get these guys out one way or another,” Luzardo said. “The fastball was working getting it by them, so I just stuck with it and it worked out.”
Jesus Luzardo turned in six quality innings en route to a Douglas victory.
Manager Todd Fitz-Gerald lauded Luzardo’s ability to get through six magnificent innings even though he did not have all of his pitches working for him for the entire afternoon.
“He grinded it out, and he competed,” Fitz-Gerald said. “He didn’t have a great feel for his breaking stuff most of the day, but he was able to beat them with the fastball. Their first baseman hurt us twice, but other than that, there really wasn’t anything else.”
The top of the order put the Eagles up early in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Pemron Burrows all but assured Douglas at least one run when he walked, stole second and got to third on an errant throw. Two RBI singles followed, one by Yorvis Torrealba and, after a passed ball that put another man 90 feet away, one by Welker, his first of two RBI singles on the day. Welker also stole second base after each one of those base knocks.
“I knew he was a strike-thrower, and he’s always in the zone,” Welker said. “Offspeed or fastball, I was just focused on putting the ball in play and hitting it the other way to get the runners over, trying to do my job. It wound up working out with some RBIs.”
After the Lightning tied the game in their half of the fourth inning, the Eagles were able to get the run right back via a Conn double and a Norris RBI. Fitz-Gerald pointed to the timing of that run as a huge difference-maker in the game.
“When they tied the game, I thought answering back was huge,” Fitz-Gerald said. “We took the momentum back.”
Although the memory from last season’s tough loss in the regional final is still fresh in the minds of his players, most of whom were there that day at jetBlue Park, Fitz-Gerald is dedicated to keeping them in the moment, preaching one game at a time.
“It’s driving them. They want to get an opportunity to go back. But we have to get there,” Fitz-Gerald said. “We have to win Tuesday. Right now, that’s all we’re focused on, and we will take care of the rest after that.”
Cypress Bay's Christian Nehls celebrates his solo home run with his teammates.
Luis Sucre took the hill for Cypress Bay. Despite giving up two runs early, he was able to come back and turn in a solid outing against a high-powered offense. Keeping the ball down all day, Sucre pitched out of jams in the second and fourth innings before ending his high school career by striking out the side in the sixth. The strength of the offense he was up against forced Sucre to mix his pitches up a bit more than he is probably accustomed to, but he proved to be up for the challenge. After the rough initial inning, Sucre scattered five more hits and gave up two more earned runs through his final five innings of work.
“We mixed him up a little more throwing more breaking balls trying to keep them off balance,” Manager Paul Liotti said. “He’s a bulldog, and he’s a competitor. He’s our guy, and he pitches with heart. We are very proud of his effort.”
Christian Nehls starred offensively for the Lightning, collecting two hits and knocking in both of his team’s runs. Nehl’s first hit, a second inning solo homer, came on the first pitch he saw on the afternoon. In his next at-bat, Nehls tied the game with an RBI double.
“Christian definitely paced our offense,” Liotti said. “We had another sophomore step in there and not only have the composure to hit a home run. I was more impressed with his double. Coming off the homer, I thought he’d get a little long, but he stayed with it, stayed short and drove that ball down the line to give us our second run. Great day for him.”
With their season coming to an end, Liotti and Cypress Bay High School say goodbye to nine graduating seniors, including Sucre, an experience Liotti admits is bittersweet. However, after a great season that took them all the way to the regional playoffs, the Lightning manager is excited for the future of baseball at Cypress Bay, which will start next season with a good nucleus of returning players, including Nehls, Alex Abella and Anthony Figueroa.
“It was an invaluable experience this year for a lot of young guys,” Liotti said. “If they take that with them and develop physically, we can be like Douglas is down the road.”
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