Flanagan Earns Road Victory Over Palm Beach Central
Flanagan’s Jeremy Cook won to improve to 3-0 on the season.
The Flanagan offense has taken some time to get going in games recently, but once it does good things continue to happen. Facing a nice road challenge against Palm Beach Central on Friday night at Little Fenway Park in Delray Beach, the Falcons capitalized their third and fourth time through the order to break open a scoreless contest and pave the way to a 5-1 victory.
“It’s a sign of a good team when they are going to make the adjustment and not panic,” Flanagan manager Ray Evans said. “We were losing the other day to West Broward 3-0 and then we scored nine unanswered. Today, we did what we had to do. Their guy was pretty good but we were able to hit some balls on the nose. It may take a bit of time but everything just sort of clicked, and our pitchers do a good job of holding the game in check.”
Eric Rivera worked a walk in the top of the fifth and then came in on a liner past first base that rolled deep to the right field corner for an RBI triple from Ricky Presno. Peter Moforris followed with a chopper up the middle that plated Presno for the deciding run.
“I just focused on what the pitcher was throwing to me,” Presno said. “He came with a first-pitch curveball and then the fastball right after that. He had two strikes on me and he came with another curveball. So after the first two at bats that I hit grounders on, I thought about the third at bat. I had an 0-2 count on me and I knew he was coming with another curveball so I thought to swing if it was fat. A hit like that pumps you up and makes you feel like you have control of the game. It makes your team more alive and makes them feel like they can do it too, so it helps the whole team out.”
George Gonzalez had a 3-for-3 performance at the plate.
The Falcons (9-1) surrendered a run to cut their lead in half in the bottom of the sixth, but then plated three more in the seventh to add a larger cushion. Tyler Evans led off with a hard-hit liner past third and Rivera was hit by a pitch to get some ducks on the pond. Presno reached on an error that scored Tyler, Moforris pushed in Rivera on an RBI ground out and Presno also came in on a passed ball.
While any pitcher would prefer some run support early, Falcons starter Jeremy Cook continued the team’s pitching trend by holding the opposition in check to give his guys time to get going. The left-hander scattered four hits and three walks while allowing one earned run before exiting with one out in the fifth. Cook struck out five and improved to 3-0 when his hitters backed him up with the late run support.
“I’m thinking that I’m going to do my job and they’re behind me,” Cook said. “They are going to back me up always. It took the bats a little while to figure it out, but once they figure it out we get moving. I felt really good out there going on the outside corner and riding the outer black. I was really just trying to get first-pitch strikes, and if I am behind then I have to try and win the count back.”
Eric Morrera closed out the fifth and tossed a scoreless sixth, before Arrison Perez came on and finished things off with a scoreless seventh inning.
Although the two clubs have only met up twice over the last five years, it is a friendly rivalry that goes way back. Coach Evans and Broncos manager Scott Benedict have played some big games over the years, and the two clubs always seem to bring out the best in one another.
Delray Beach’s Little Fenway served as host for Friday’s game.
“Scotty and I go way back to when we were winning state titles in ’05 and ’06, and we went back in ’07. We always had to match up with them, and we had some really good games back then,” Coach Evans recalled. “So we try to play every year or every other year, and he said he had a great venue. Look at this place; what a beautiful field for us to play at. So we’re real happy to come up here. He has a good team and these guys were solid. It was a good game.”
Behind the backdrop of Little Fenway’s fabled “Green Monster” in left field, a replica of the legendary wall from the Boston Red Sox’s stadium, both sides appreciated the opportunity to face off on such a unique playing field. Since Palm Beach Central does not have lights at their home field to accommodate night games, Atlantic Eagles manager Steve Wilson helped arrange for the two clubs to meet at a field befitting the caliber of play both sides bring.
“I have never played here but it is a really nice facility,” Presno said. “The infield is really good and I liked it. It kept the ball down and it’s just a cool, cool field.”
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