Flanagan Takes Lead In 9A-12 With Win Over Cypress Bay

Certain things have become a right of passage in the late spring baseball season. One of those is that Flanagan will rise to the top of 9A-12. This year, the Falcons dominance was in question early, but after a 6-4 win over Cypress Bay Tuesday night, order was restored, if only for one night.

“It’s never easy in this district,” said Manager Ray Evans. “Even when you get a game that you think is in hand, this Cypress Bay team just keeps on coming, as you saw in that last inning. Paul (Liotti) has them playing good ball, and they just keep battling.”

Of course, for much of the night it was business as usual for the Falcons. When Flanagan lost two of their first three games in the 2017 season, and then dropped a district game to West Broward, it looked as though this would be the year the district finally caught up to the Falcons. But if Tuesday night was any indication, the early-season concerns were an aberration, and nobody knows more about the Falcons dominance than Liotti.

“There’s no doubt at this point it is all mental,” said Liotti. “This year, we feel like is the first time we can match up with them as far as talent, but we haven’t found a way to beat them. It will happen, but it didn’t tonight. Hopefully we can turn things around on them in the playoffs.”

The playoffs are a far way off, but Flanagan ace Jeremy Cook looks like he may be rounding into playoff form. In what Evans described as his “best outing of the season”, Cook was dominant for the five innings he was on the mound. He allowed only four hits in five innings of work, while striking out 11.

“I was just trying to pound the strike zone, and mix my pitches up,” said Cook. “We knew this was a big game, and we knew that it had a big affect on the district race. We wanted to show that we were a different team than we were at the start of the season.”

The Falcons did that not only on the mound, and defensively, but also at the plate. The offense, surprisingly, got to Lightning ace Greyson Fletcher early. After Ricky Presno gave Flanagan a 1-0 lead with a solo home run in the first, and Cypress Bay tied the game in the third, the Falcons took control of the game in their half of the third.

Sending nine batters to the plate, Flanagan scored five runs, breaking open a close game, and leaving the inning with a 6-1 lead. The biggest blow of the inning came on a two-run double off the bat of Adrien Roa. The Flanagan right-fielder had grounded into a 6-4-3 double play in the second, but made an adjustment in the third inning.

“He fooled me a bit with the slider in the previous at-bat,” said Roa. “The second time up, I was just thinking to stay back, and attack any ball in the zone. I got a pitch I could handle, and was able to put a good swing on it.”

With the game seemingly out of hand, Cypress Bay served notice in the seventh that while they may have lost the game, the battle is still long from over. Elliot Rodriguez hit a two-run home run, and Anthony Figueroa hit a solo shot, cutting the lead to 6-4. The Lightning then put the tying run on base with a Ben Rushing single, but Justin Ricard was able to thwart the comeback attempt and secure the win.

“Our district is tough this year,” said Evans. “We have us, Cypress Bay, and West Broward, and just like the other 9A district with Douglas, Coral Springs, and Taravella, one of those teams is going to get left out of the regionals at the end of the year. Tonight’s win was huge for us to get in a position to secure the top seed.”

Flanagan has now won seven straight games, and Evans believes they may finally be turning the corner.

“We are playing better lately, and starting to do the things we need to do to be successful. e still have a lot of things we have to clean up, but it looks like it might be starting to come together.”

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