Eric Rivera’s Home Run Lifts Flanagan Past Western

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Eric Rivera connected for a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning for the deciding run and Flanagan held on 4-3 over host Western in a tight 9A-12 battle on Tuesday evening. The victory gives the Falcons (6-1) a 4-0 record at the top of the district, after they swept the field their first time through. But this win did not come as easy as the previous ones had.

Flanagan and Western are rivals reunited this season, after state realignment brought the two teams back together in the same district this year. Both came into Tuesday’s meeting with undefeated records in the district and both are off to a nice start to the year. That was further evidenced by the tight battle throughout, as neither team could take control and run away with anything.

“We came in this game not knowing them really well because we have not played them the last few years,” Rivera admitted. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight and at first we came out a little shaky, but then I would say our pitching staff came through and got some big outs.”

While the pitching got some key outs down the stretch, there was little doubt that Rivera’s bomb was the biggest moment of the contest. Clinging to a one-run advantage to start the sixth, the senior right fielder connected on a 2-2 offering and sent it soaring high and deep over the center field fence to double that lead. The blast proved even more crucial after Ryan Smith reached on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly from Brannigan Hart to pull the Wildcats (5-3, 1-1) within a run in the bottom of the sixth.

“I just went up there looking fastball and he threw me a strike,” Rivera said. “Then I saw him moving stuff in his glove and I caught the off-speed pitch and I hit it out. It feels good and I am just happy my team got the win.”

Both managers agreed that their side did not bring its best to the field on Tuesday. With so much of the season still remaining, the focus now will be on working and building to the team they intend to be by season’s end.

“Our approach everyday is to get better and by the end of the season we will be at our best,” Western manager Paul Barnes said. “We don’t expect to be at our best today, and I know they are not going to be at their best today. We’d like to play them three more times this year, but it is about getting better everyday come April to May. I liked our approach and I liked our mindset going into the game and during the game. We definitely will be ready again in a couple of weeks when we play them again.”

Western had one last chance in the seventh. Anthony Leary was hit by a pitch and advanced into scoring position thanks to sacrifice bunt from Weylin Cleri. A walk to Matthew Patricio put the winning run on base, and Ryan Smith put a good swing to line a shot to center field. But the ball went right to Rivera, who was in the right position to make the final putout that ended the contest.

Flanagan manager Ray Evans was satisfied with the pitching and defense. Both offenses left a lot of men on base, but it wasn’t because of mistakes being made.

“Let me tell you, Western is a very good team,” Evans said. “They hit the ball much better than we hit the ball, and we just got lucky where we positioned ourselves to make that last play of the game. Because if that ball flies past him more than likely they both would have scored and they would have walked off on us. The hitting for us is suspect and we are not doing the job. We probably had three balls that were ht hard and we walked a lot, but we did not get the big hits when we needed them. So we have to change some things up and I think these guys might wake up a little bit and see that they are not as good as they think they are.”

The Wildcats drew first blood with a run in the first, as Patricio lined a single to right field, advanced to second on passed ball and then scored thanks to an RBI double to deep left from Ryan Smith. Flanagan responded in the third to even it up as Jorge Gonzalez walked and later scored on an error.

The Falcons then took the lead with a pair of runs in the fourth. Edward Schissler walked, stole second, advanced to third on an error and then scored on a wild pitch. Courtesy-runner Tyler Evans later scored thanks to an RBI walk issued to Peter Moforis.

Smith tallied the second Western run in the fourth, as he walked, advanced on a sac bunt from Hart and then came home on an RBI double from David Flores. Flores had a nice day at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles. The center fielder just missed a home run that would have tied things up in the sixth on a shot that clanged high off the left-field fence.

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