Lynch Starts Offense As Explorers Post Shutout Over Southwest

Daniel Lynch hit a two-run home run to dead center in the third inning to jumpstart the offense, and Ryan Guerra capped a stellar team pitching effort with ­a scoreless final five outs as the Columbus Explorers stayed undefeated with a 5-0 win over the Southwest Miami Eagles Thursday.

Frank Navarette and Ryan Alvarez knocked in a run each. Navarette, Nick Reyes and Laz Rivera each had two hits for Columbus as the Explorers bats have begun to come alive.

“We kind of started slow hitting, but our pitching was there,” Columbus coach Joe Weber said. “We won a couple of games 2-0, 2-1. But now the last game we had 12 hits, and this one we came out swinging.”

The Explorers sat on every pitch from Southwest starter Fernando Rabel, getting to the third inning before Lynch’s smash on a 0-2 pitch and Ryan Alvarez’s single off the second baseman made it 3-0.

“I was just waiting for a pitch to hit,” Lynch said. “To me this year, (opposing pitchers) haven’t been throwing me a pitch to hit. So when I see one like that, I try not to miss it.”

“The first two pitches he threw me were up and away,” Lynch said about the game-changing at-bat. “I don’t think they were strikes, but I swung and fouled them off. The next one was a curve ball he tried to sneak in there.”

Lynch took the hanging curve to the deepest part of center field, then watched as Yency Almonte, Ryan Garcia and Guerra worked into and out of trouble to post the shutout.

“I thought my fastball was pretty live, so I tried to get in front of the hitter with it at times,” Almonte said. “At other times, the hitter would be sitting on a fastball and I throw him a curve. I had them guessing.”

Almonte looked unhittable at first, striking out six through three innings, but two walks in the fourth prompted Weber to pull him.

“(Almonte) got a little overheated,” Weber said. “He was huffing and puffing, and later over here, they had to put some ice on him. Nothing physical, just a little heat exhaustion.”

“At the end, I got a little tired,” said Almonte about the bottom of the fourth. “Before I went out, I felt a little light-headed. I guess I didn’t eat right or drink enough water.”

No problem for the Explorers, who put the ball in the hands of Bryan Garcia to secure the final out of the fourth with runners on second and third. When Garcia got into trouble with runners on second and third and just one out in the sixth, Guerra induced a double play ball with a brilliant play by Navarette at second.

“(Guerra) has been incredible for us,’ Weber said. “He hasn’t allowed a run all season and has 13 strikeouts with just one walk.”

The Explorers (6-0, 3-0 8A-15) look to continue their success hosting Westminster Christian on Friday before a matchup against Belen, who defeated Columbus in the preseason, on Monday in the first game in the new Marlins ballpark.

Luis Gutierrez had two hits for the Eagles (2-5, 1-3), who will try to top the four hits they managed against Columbus when they host Miami Springs Monday.

“We had our opportunities,” Southwest coach Josy Torres said. “We left a lot of men on base and failed to capitalize with runners on second and third a couple of times. (Our next practice), we will start with situational hitting.”

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