North Broward Prep On To 5A Regional Final

North Broward Prep continued their late-season drive for a state championship on Friday by following a familiar formula. The Eagles again received a stellar performance from starter Anthony Tomczak, and timely hitting, to take out Lincoln Park 2-1.

The game was scheduled to be played on Tuesday, but the weather all week in South Florida led to a frustrating week of travel and rainouts. By Friday, the teams were chomping at the bit to get on the field. With the weather finally giving a little, NBL wasted no time getting to Greyhounds starter Drew Stubbs.

In the first inning, Xavier Edwards led off with a double. After Edwards advanced to third on an out, Gaby Esquivel drove in the games first run with a base hit.

With the way Tomczak has been throwing lately, it was easy to wonder if one run was going to be enough for the Eagles to advance. The NBL ace delivered yet another in his string of dominating performances, going five innings, allowing only three hits, while striking out nine and walking nobody.

On the other side, Stubbs settled down and matched Tomczak pitch for pitch. In the fifth, Liam Cogswell reached on an error. Jonah then moved Cogswell to third on a bunt single. Matthew Corlew followed with an RBI sacrifice fly, extending the lead to 2-0.

From there, Manager Brian Campbell had a decision to make. With the game being pushed back to Friday, and the regional final game scheduled for Tuesday, the state pitch count rules were being closely monitored. With a two run lead, Campbell decided to pull Tomczak to ensure his ace would be available Tuesday. Campbell went to Parker Foss, who has been equally as impressive as Tomczak in the playoffs.

Foss shut the Greyhounds down in order in the sixth, but in the seventh things got interesting. Braden Calise hit a one-out single, followed by a Ryan Shea single. When Stubbs singled, the lead was suddenly cut to 2-1. After a strikeout, Thomas Roop had a bunt single, loading the bases.

Foss, however, was able to close the game out on a groundout to short, sending the Eagles to the regional final.

“Hats off to Lincoln Park,” said Campbell. “They were a scrappy team that fought the whole way. We were able to pitch and play defense, and did just enough offensively. Anthony and Parker were great on the mound.”

A big part of the NBP success down the stretch has been the play of their defense, something not lost on Tomczak.

“The defense had my back the entire game today,” the junior said. “So I had the confidence to throw a lot of strikes. I was able to pitch with that confidence the entire outing.”

Up next for the Eagles will be a rematch of their first week game against Monsignor Pace. Back in that February game, NBP defeated Pace 12-8.

The two teams are coming in as hot as any two teams still playing in the playoffs. NBP has won nine of their past ten games, while Pace comes in to the regional final having won 12 of their past 13.

The Eagles will host the regional final, next Tuesday at 7PM.

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