Cepero Stifles Sunset In South Miami Win

Alex Cepero came in and shut down the Miami Sunset Knights, dealing four and one-third scoreless innings in relief as the South Miami Cobras came back from a 5-2 deficit to crush Sunset 10-5 in six innings called because of darkness.

“I just went in there open-minded and concentrated on throwing strikes,” Cepero said. “(All my pitches) were working today.”

Cepero came in with the Cobras down 5-2 in the midst of a tough bottom of the second and got the final out with runners on base.

“(Cepero) did a great job mixing up his fastball and change-up,” Knights coach Armando Pelaez said. “We just couldn’t stay (behind the pitch) and kept hitting fly balls.”

The Cobras, on the other hand, were hitting everything the Knights were throwing at them. South Miami wasn’t behind for long, responding with five runs in the top of the third to pull ahead for good. A bases-loaded walk drawn by Chris Crespo started the scoring, then a couple of two-run hits by Ricky DeArmes and Armani Medina made it 7-5. Carlos Garmandia drew the first walk of the frame and finished 2-for-3 with a double.

“I was just trying to hit the ball hard,” Garmandia said. “Just get ahead in the count and wait for your pitch, but don’t miss it.”

The Cobras didn’t miss much, tacking on three more runs and scoring in every inning except the second and sixth.

“Right there when (Cepero) held them, the bats came alive,” South Miami coach Alex Hernandez said. “We’ve actually been hitting well most of the season. I think we got a great team. If we play a pretty clean game, like we did today, we’ll be in business.”

Ryan Quintero and Nicholas Machado knocked in two runs each for Sunset (3-2, 0-1 8A-15), which heads to Varela Monday.

“Back to the drawing board,” Pelaez said. “We are going to go to work on everything.”

The Cobras (2-3, 1-0 8A-15) host district rival Braddock Tuesday.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!