Western Rallies In Extras To Top Coral Glades In 7A-14 QF

 

It took eight innings for either club to score on Monday afternoon, but the Western Wildcats came out on top of the first of two quarterfinal games played at Flanagan to kick off the 7A-14 district playoffs with a 3-2 win over the Coral Glades Jaguars.

Freshman infielder Brandon Lorenzo was the hero for the Wildcats. After taking a home-run swing and missing on the first pitch, he drove a single up the middle to score Cristian Alvarez and Zach Beyra. Alvarez drove in Western’s first run of the game with a single of his own just two batters before Lorenzo’s decisive knock.

“I felt like I was going to have my moment,” Lorenzo said. “So, when I missed that first pitch, I was pretty early. So, I just stayed back, went up the middle and won us the game.”

The big moment is something the Florida commit embraces, and it’s likely the first of many signature postseason moments in his young career. As exciting as the eighth inning was, Western didn’t come alive at the plate until Coral Glades scored two in the top of the eighth. Junior right-hander Andrew Allison shut the Wildcats out for five innings on Monday, and senior Jordan Archer pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief before turning it over Kyle Fernandes.

It’s been that kind of year for Western, though. This was the Wildcats’ eighth one-run game of the year, six of which have been losses. Manager Onel Garcia struggled to find the right word to describe the season but landed on “crazy,” much like the eighth inning was.

“I think this is only the second game we’ve come from behind and won, but hats off to Coral Glades,” Garcia said. “Their pitcher, Andrew, man, he’s good… Our guys have struggled at the plate. We’re always capable, but we have to battle and scrape some runs across. But we’re still around and this is the time of year, you know?”

Western started Jake Butter opposite of Allison, and the senior right-hander delivered his best pitching performance of the season. While it technically isn’t a no-hitter, Butter didn’t allow a base knock through 7-plus innings and struck out eight. He left the game after Coral Glades’ leadoff man reached on an error in the eighth, but two runs crossed off a pair of base hits against team ace Alex Pena.

“This year I haven’t been doing well, so this is great,” Butter said after the game. “I haven’t pitched that much in a while, but that was fun.”

Garcia said that he didn’t expect to use Pena in this game but had to because of how tight the Jaguars made it. Fortunately, Pena stayed under 30 pitches and is available if he’s needed against Taravella in the district semifinals on Tuesday.

Sophomore Asa Lindo broke things open against Pena. He first delivered a safety squeeze bunt that appeared to score the go-ahead run in the eighth, but the umpires called him back to the batter’s box after declaring the ball dead. Lindo came right back and beat out an infield single to take the lead. Senior Julian Garcia added an insurance run with his own RBI single, but the lead wouldn’t hold up.

Still, Coral Glades proved itself as one of the toughest No. 6 seeds in the entire county. 7A-14 is an incredibly deep district that any team could end up winning.

“Super proud of my kids,” Jaguars manager Joe Franco said. “Nobody gave us a chance to do anything in this district, and it comes down to a walk-off. My kids battled. I’m really proud of how they played.”

Franco has a strong core of young players that will return next year, which means the future is incredibly bright for this group.

Moving forward, Western faces Taravella in the district semifinals on Tuesday and is looking to repeat a 3-1 regular-season win over the Trojans.

Although the district is incredibly deep, it’s likely that two or even three teams from it move on to the regional tournament. Losing in the quarterfinals would have been detrimental to Western’s chances, but a semifinal loss wouldn’t hurt nearly as bad once the rankings are updated.

Of course, a win means a district championship berth and a shot at the winner for West Broward vs. Flanagan, which is also being played Tuesday.

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