Jeremy Davis’ RBI Lifts Pompano Beach Past Coral Glades
Pompano Beach’s Vinnie Costello crosses the plate after clubbing a solo home run to tie it up in the third inning.
Despite a shaky start that had host Pompano Beach trailing almost immediately out of the gate, the Tornadoes were tenacious and rallied back for a 3-2 win over Coral Glades in Friday night’s HSBN Broward Game of the Week at Pompano Municipal Park. Jeremy Davis connected for an infield single to drive in Nick Marcantonio and break a 2-2 tie with the deciding run in the bottom of the fifth inning.
“We need to come out with that tenacity before the game,” Pompano Beach manager Joe Giummule said. “On a positive note, it’s nice to come back and win a game like that, because we didn’t win that game last year. We found a way to hang around but not finish the game, so I think they are learning how to win ball games that they don’t necessarily play well. That’s what the good teams do; the really good teams win whether they play poorly or play well. We’re still working on that, but this is another sign that things are improving in the right direction for Pompano baseball.”
With the score knotted up, Marcantonio worked a leadoff walk and then stole second to get into scoring position in the fifth. Two batters later Austin Carney moved him to third with a ground out to the right side, and Davis followed with a slow chopper for an infield RBI single that ultimately proved to be the difference.
“I was just trying to do a job, because at the end of the day all that matters is winning,” Davis said. “I was just trying to use the middle of the field and wait back on the ball, because usually I’ve been rolling over. But I’ve been listening to the coaches and their approaches. On that hit I’ve got to thank the baseball gods. They helped me because I was working hard and they noticed that.”
Davis was 3-for-3 overall, with three singles. He also threw out a potential base-stealer in the top of the fifth.
Coral Glades started strong and finished strong, managing to get the tying run to third base in the top of the seventh to nearly even things back up. TJ Densmore blooped a single to right field, moved to second on a balk and to third thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Juan Rodriguez. But reliever Trevor Kniskern induced an infield ground out to preserve the win for the Tornadoes (12-6).
Marc Soto slides in ahead of the tag to put Coral Glades up 2-0 in the top of the first inning.
“We’re almost where we want to be, but not quite,” Coral Glades manager Mike Goulette said. “We’ve just got to be a little bit more patient at the plate and do our jobs. Our quality at bats are getting a little bit better but we’ve got to put it all together. The last two games have been close and we are almost there. We just have to finish.”
The Jaguars (7-9) stormed out of the chute by putting the first six batters on base and starting the game by taking a 2-0 lead. Rodriguez singled and later came in on a perfectly-executed double steal, and Preston Vegotsky followed a double by Joe Juliano with an RBI single that plated courtesy-runner Marc Soto.
“We’ve been giving other teams an early lead lately and we have to figure out how to prevent that,” Giummule noted. “We can’t keep spotting teams runs in the first inning. We’re trying to figure that out.”
Pompano third baseman Chase Costello ended the first with a nifty, unassisted double play to give his club their first swings at the plate. Chase fielded a grounder to third and quickly tagged the runner heading home, and then stepped on third base for the other out. The Tornadoes quickly got a run back, as Kniskern singled through the left side and Vinnie Costello followed with an RBI double.
Coral Glades’ Nick Lara doubled with one out in the third, but Marcantonio snared a hard liner and then relayed to double off Lara and end the threat. Vinnie Costello then brought the game even again with a towering solo home run in the bottom of the inning.
Friday night was also Little League Night, as local Little Leaguers were recognized on the field before the game.
“I had two strikes there and I was just trying to choke up and use the middle of the field, and lucky for me the ball went out of the park,” Vinnie Costello said. “All the boys came together and we thought that this game was not over. The pitchers did their job, the hitters did their job and we came back. We battled.”
With the wind blowing out and both offenses taking good swings, it was a night that belonged to the hitters. The two teams combined for 19 hits, and six players overall had multi-hit games. Coral Glades’ Johnathan Hook led his side by going 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles.
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