Tiedeman’s Shutout Lifts Cypress Bay Over Coral Glades

Right-handed senior Bryson Tiedeman was brilliant on the mound for Cypress Bay (8-3) Thursday night as he led the Lightning to a win over Coral Glades (5-5) with a complete-game shutout.

Tiedeman struck out eight and allowed just one hit and three walks on the evening. While Cypress Bay is used to scoring more runs in a ballgame, the lone run knocked in by a Juan Marin double in the first inning was enough for Tiedeman to work with. He executed all of his pitches and earned plenty of praise from his manager Bo Diaz.

“I think we battled, but I don’t think we were completely there offensively,” Diaz said. “We’ve got a few things that we’ve got to clean up, but any given day our pitching staff is the type to go out there and give us a chance to win every game. I think Bryson did an amazing job going the complete seven today. Kudos to him for being able to throw all his pitches in all counts. That’s a key differentiator at this level. Defensively, we’re really solid. He knows that and that’s why he pitches to contact. Offensively, we just need to do a better job.”

Things did get a little shaky in the fifth inning as the Jaguars moved a man over to third with a sacrifice bunt. Tiedeman stayed cool and picked up two strikeouts to end the inning. After seeing Tiedeman work out of that jam, there was no chance of Diaz taking him out.

“He’s one of those guys that goes deep into a game and you trust what he’s got because he’ll throw it around the zone,” he said. “He’ll give us a chance to win. Today was one of those days. We’ve taken him out early the last couple of outings. Today, no way we were taking him out. It was his game to win or lose.”

For Tiedeman, there was never a doubt on the mound.

“When I get into the game, I have complete confidence,” Tiedeman said. “I have complete confidence in my defense, I have complete confidence in our hitting, I have complete confidence in our whole coaching staff and I have complete confidence in our whole team. I have to thank Coach (Jason) Gray, particularly. He’s the main reason my pitches are so effective and my confidence is so high.”

A 1-0 win is tough to come by in high school baseball and it shows that Cypress Bay is ready for the postseason. There’s still a good chunk of the regular season to fine-tune the little things, and Tiedeman believes the Lightning can go far if they solve their offensive woes.

“If our bats are good, we could make a run,” he said.”Our defense is very solid and our pitching is very solid. When we’re on the green light with the hitting it’s actually ridiculous. The first four games we had about 37 hits, so if we can just get back to that mentality at the plate we’ll be wonderful in the playoffs.”

The Lightning actually had 42 hits across their first four games, but Tiedeman’s point is still well taken. Cypress Bay can hit the ball and score in bunches when everything is going right. Then there are the nights where seven scattered hits don’t amount to anything more than one run. A little more consistency will go a long way for a clearly talented ball club. Diaz says the focus moving forward will be to fine-tune the little things that hold the team back from running away with games.

“We take things one game at a time,” Diaz said. “We definitely have to take what we did well today and what we didn’t do well today and make adjustments. Every game is going to be a battle. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We’re going out there and competing every single game no matter who is on the other side.”

Despite the loss, the Jaguars didn’t play badly at all. Hitting was tough to come by, but the pitching staff limited the No. 7 team in the Broward Power Rankings to just one run on seven hits. Angelo Smith got the start for Coral Glades and lasted four innings. Although he took the loss, Smith was solid all night striking out three and throwing over 70% of his pitches for strikes. Jordan Archer and Emanuel Sohit were effective in relief for the Jags as well and kept the game tight.

There’s a lot to be proud of for Jaguars manager Joe Franco. He had a sophomore behind the plate, a freshman at first base, a first-year varsity player in left field and a sophomore at third base tonight.

“I knew coming into this year we only had three varsity hitters with some experience and the rest was going to be pretty much first-year varsity guys,” Franco said. “Going up against Cypress Bay, one of the biggest schools in the country, they have a lot of talent over there. To play a competitive baseball game with our pitching and defense was phenomenal. We had a couple of opportunities but I give credit to their guy. He was a very good high school pitcher that laced it up tonight.”

Franco made sure to credit Smith with what he believed to be the right-hander’s best start of the season. He said that Smith was a pitcher on Thursday rather than a thrower. The coaching staff has been trying to get it into the player’s heads that everything needs to be deliberate, and Smith showed an understanding of that in every pitch against Cypress Bay.

Coral Glades has a chance to bounce back on Friday with a home game against Coral Springs. Franco is calling it a must-win for his ballclub and believes his players are up for the challenge.

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