Miami Sunset Comes Up Short In Falcons Challenge Title Game

Miami Sunset was on a roll coming into the championship of the Falcons Nike/OTS Baseball Challenge Friday night. The strong pitching and defense that helped the Knights get to the title game disappeared at the most inopportune time, and Sunset fell to Flanagan 8-1.

Despite the loss, the Knights showed during the tournament that they can play with the best teams in South Florida. On Tuesday, Sunset defeated perennial powerhouse Douglas, and it followed that up with a 1-0 win over Monsignor Pace to advance to the title game.

“This was a great learning experience for our team, especially that Pace game to get us here,” said Knights coach Mandy Pelaez. “Getting to the finals of this tournament was big for us, and then it’s anybody’s ball game, but we have to make those routine plays and throw strikes.”

Sunset used five pitchers in the final game of the tournament. Austin Comensanas, Alex Alvarez, Amaury Viciedo, Caleb Horvat and Michael Paez all had their chance to shut down Flanagan, but the staff struggled to throw strikes. Horvat stood out for the Knights, throwing two and two-thirds innings of shutout baseball. Despite the loss, Pelaez pointed out his young pitcher’s effort after the game.

“Caleb was our bright spot today. He’s young, he’s a first-time varsity guy. Today was his first innings that he’s pitched so far in varsity, and he was definitely our bright spot. And I made sure to let him know and the team as well.”

The Knights could not get anything going against Flanagan ace Jose Mesa Jr. He was nearly unhittable, throwing six and two-thirds innings, striking out 13 and giving up only one earned run. Evans wanted to leave his ace out there to finish the game, but with his pitch count rising, the head coach decided to go to the bullpen for the last out. Mesa Jr. had no problems with getting the ball on short rest or turning the ball over to his bullpen.

“I felt good,” said Mesa Jr. “It’s all about work ethic for me. I run a lot, so I got that lactic acid out of my arm, and I did my shoulder workouts, so throwing again tonight was no problem. I wanted to finish the game real bad, but I have confidence in the rest of the pitchers on the staff, and I knew that we’d get the job done.”

The offense in the game for the Falcons came under some unusual circumstances. In the third inning of a scoreless game, Flanagan scored five times without a base hit. The inning was keyed by three walks, two hit-by-pitches and Andres Sanchez’s sacrifice fly.

In the fourth, Flanagan tacked on three more runs, this time using their bats to do the damage. AJ Munoz and Sanchez had singles in the inning, and Daniel Oliveri drove in two runs with a single to center. On the day, Sanchez and Oliveri both went 2-for-4.

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