South Dade Rallies To Beat Ferguson By The Mercy Rule

In Tuesday’s Battle Down South Tournament, both South Dade and Ferguson struggled to get in any kind of rhythm early on, but in the end, it was the Buccaneers who came out on top of a 11-1 lopsided victory. South Dade pitcher Eddie Delgado started the game with two quick outs just as a minor malfunction with the lights occurred causing the game to be delayed about 25 minutes. He would come back strong after the delay, striking out his second batter of the inning. Ferguson would find its way onto the scoreboard early in the second inning after Jose Brito led off with a single into right field. Oscar Ramirez laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Brito to second, but after a throwing error, Brito managed to make his way around and score from second base, giving Ferguson a 1-0 lead. The Falcons had numerous baserunners in the first few innings but were unable to capitalize in a most cases. Ferguson’s starting pitcher Brandon Valentin had a strong performance, striking out five in his three innings of work. South Dade’s bats came alive in the bottom half of the fourth. The inning started with Ryan Bogaards and Anthony Dowling drawing walks. Then a combination of key hits from Buccaneers David Lebron and Stefan Leal, as well as a few errors committed by Ferguson’s defense, allowed South Dade to take a 5-1 lead in the inning. “We made some adjustments going into the inning, trying not to get beat away with two strikes was big for us,” South Dade coach John Burnside said. Lebron also came up big when he relieved Delgado in the fourth inning and struck out six in just two and one-third innings. “David Lebron is our guy,” Burnside said. “He plays shortstop and pitches for us. He just needs to develop command of another pitch to complement his fastball, and he could dominate.” The scoring continued for South Dade in the fifth. Shane Castro and Lebron hit back-to-back singles to put them in scoring position. Joey Rivera made contact and drive in Castro, and Lebron scored after Jadan Garcia was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, extending the lead 7-1. The Buccaneers added four more runs in the sixth to end the game by the 10-run rule. Pinch-hitter Sergio Lopez had a hard-hit double to left-center field to get his first RBI. Then again a number of errors hurt the Falcons and ended the game. “We just need to go home realize our mistakes and erase this game from our heads,” Ferguson head coach Howard Cuervo said. “We made a lot of errors and had some guys out today, so we will see how we come back tomorrow.” Ferguson will be back on the field Wednesday night to take on Coral Gables at South Dade at 7 p.m. After the big win, South Dade will be looking forward to playing Southwest on Thursday night.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!