Miami Christian Walks Off Against Westwood Christian In 2A District 15 Clash

The Westwood Christian Warriors and the Miami Christian Victors had played once before this season, and Westwood came out on top with an 11-3 lopsided win. Monday afternoon’s match-up, on the other hand, was a close, low-scoring game that was decided in the bottom of the seventh.

The game was tied at two and Miami Christian’s shortstop Luis Diaz was at the plate with the bases loaded and one out. Facing a one-two count, Diaz dropped a bloop single in the hole in shallow left field to drive in Anthony Garcia for the winning run as Miami Christian won 3-2.

“I kept fighting and fouled off a bunch of pitches and was just looking for a single,” Diaz said. “The last couple games I’ve been hitting the ball good just right at people, and today I was able to find the hole and get a hit to help the team win the game.”

The bottom of the seventh inning started with a couple of errors that allowed Miami Christian to get on base. Then after back-to-back walks with one out, the stage was set for Diaz’ late-game heroics.

“We were fortunate to get the lead-off man on, and then we got some help when they threw the ball away and let us advance the runner, which helped build our confidence,” Miami Christian head coach Willie Vazquez said.

“And then Luis was just clutch for us today with that big hit.”

The Victors’ starting pitcher Jason Gutierrez put on a dominating performance in his five innings of work, but a few defensive mistakes allowed Westwood Christian to score a couple of runs. Gutierrez ended the game with 11 strikeouts and only allowed two hits. He had success the entire afternoon keeping many of the batters off balance with his curve ball.

Gutierrez started the game with a strikeout, but a passed ball and a throwing error allowed for the Warriors’ lead-off man Robert Hernandez to reach base safely.

Hernandez showed good base running and took advantage of a couple more passed balls to get to third base. J.C. Cardenas drove Hernandez in with a sacrifice fly ball to center field to give his team an early 1-0 lead.

The Victors tied the game in the bottom half of the first. David Salgueiro started things off with a single and advanced to second base on a groundball hit by Luis Diaz. Frank De Izaguirre’s base hit drove in Salgueiro.

Pitching then took over for both teams. Westwood Christian’s Nestor Lorenzo also did a great job on the mound and kept the Victors off the scoreboard for the next four innings.

The Warriors regained the lead in the fifth. Robert Hernandez reached base again after some miscommunication from Miami Christian’s defense as to who was to cover first base on a bunt. Again, Hernandez got around the bases and eventually scored after a number of passed balls, but Nestor Lorenzo worked his way out of the inning and struk out the next few batters to get the final two outs of the inning.

In the sixth inning, it was mistakes by Westwood Christian that allowed Miami Christian to tie the game again. Brian Gonzalez hit a single with one out and advanced to second on another passed ball. Then with two outs, Gio Corrales hit what seemed to be a routine groundball to end the inning, but the Warriors’ shortstop was unable to field the ball, allowing Gonzalez to score and tie the game.

The Victors’ Richard Barbella came in to pitch in the top half of the sixth and shut down Westwood. Barbella only faced six hitters in his two innings pitched and gave Miami Christian a chance to win the game in the end.

“Barbella pitched his best game all year today,” coach Willie Vazquez said. “He finally looked like he did last year and made a real impact on this game.”

Miami Christian will play Florida Christian tonight before resuming district play on Thursday against Princeton Christian. Westwood Christian will play another district game against Brito on Thursday afternoon. District 15-2A remains up for grabs now as every team has at least one loss in district play.

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