Columbus Gets Win Over National Champ McCarthy In Pitchers’ Duel

The Columbus Explorers hosted the defending 4A State Champions, and 2011 National Champions, Archbishop McCarthy Mavericks, on Friday night. The stands were full of fans from both schools and plenty of scouts, who were out with their radar guns to get a good look at the pitchers from both teams. They did not leave disappointed as the Explorers managed to get the 4-1 victory over the Mavericks in what turned out to be a great battle between two elite teams.

Columbus’ starting pitcher Yency Almonte had a good outing, going six innings and recording five strikeouts while allowing three hits.

“Yency only pitched one-third of an inning last season,” Columbus head coach Karl “Joe” Weber said. “He really dedicated himself to pitching this summer and has just gotten better each outing.”

McCarthy’s pitcher Andre Martinez also had a great evening on the mound. Martinez struck out nine and allowed three hits in four innings.

The big difference in the game came early in the bottom half of the first inning. Martinez got off to a rocky start, walking the first batter and then giving up a double to Columbus’ Daniel Lynch. Then with two outs and a man on third and second, the Explorers’ second baseman Mike Obregon hit a shot over the “Blue Monster” in left field.

“Mike’s hit was huge for us,” Weber said. “I think with our pitching, we are a much better team playing with a lead.”

In the third inning, it seemed as if McCarthy was going to put a rally together with a man on first and third with one out. However, after a great pick-off move to first that got the baserunner caught in a rundown, the Explorer defense made a heads-up play, throwing out the lead runner at home trying to score. Almonte got a strikeout later on to end the inning.

The Mavericks changed pitchers in the fifth and the strikeouts continued. Nick Travieso came in to relieve Martinez and got three quick strikeouts to get out of the inning.

McCarthy made things interesting in the sixth when Jonathan Quintana reached base after being hit by a pitch. Nick Basto came up next and hit a single right back up the middle, but an error by the Columbus center fielder allowed the runners to advance to second and third. Nick Travieso was up next and hit a deep sacrifice fly ball to left-center field that allowed Quintana to score from third, making it a 3-1 ballgame. But the Explorers were able to get out of the inning when Mike Obregon caught a hard-hit linedrive at second base.

“We did some good things tonight,” McCarthy head coach Rich Bielski said. “We had more hits, struck out more batters and had less errors, but they had a big hit over the fence that was big.”

Columbus would get the run right back when Daniel Lynch scored on a throwing error by the shortstop. The Explorers would bring in their closer Ryan Guerra to finish the game. After giving up a lead off hit, he settled down and struck out two to secure the win 4-1.

“Columbus is a good team and we hope these kind of games will help us come playoff time,” Mavericks’ coach Bielski said. “We tried to stack our schedule with good teams to make us better.”

Weber was pleased with his team’s performance and hopes this game will help his team in the district games, which he feels are the most important for his team. Columbus takes on district opponent Coral Park on Tuesday afternoon.

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