Miami Country Day Comes Up a Play Short Against Westminster

Entering the seventh inning and trailing by a run, Miami Country Day got off to the optimal start in the inning against Broward’s Westminster Academy.

Third baseman Bryor Weiss drew a leadoff walk, pitcher Jake Weiss got plunked by a pitch and shortstop Josh Canabal drew another walk to set up a bases loades and no out situation for its 3-4-5 hitters in the lineup.

But a pair of strikeouts and a ground out ended the game in a 5-4 loss to the Lions at the Westminster Academy Sports Complex on Thursday night.

Spartans coach Paul Barrios remained optimistic with the feeling that his team is one step closer to reaching that next level.

“That’s a great game,” said Barrios, whose team dropped to 5-3. “It’s tough to be on the losing side, but if we can learn from this against a quality opponent like them, we’ll be fine. Bases loaded and nobody out and we can’t score. It’s tough. One hit and we would have won. You know what? Another day. We’ll play tomorrow and we’ll get that taste out of our mouths right away.”

Miami Country Day was in the driver’s seat early. The Spartans held a 4-0 advance midway through the third inning. Catcher Andrew Holtz had a RBI triple down the right field line and later scored in the second inning.

And, in the third, left fielder Carter Weiss drew a walk and later scored from third on a pick off attempt that sailed into the outfield. Bryor Weiss also had an infield single and scored on a RBI single by Jake Weiss.

But the Lions (6-3) kept picking away at the lead and eventually tied it at four.

By the time the bottom of the sixth inning rolled around, it set up Weston Clemente’s bases loaded, two-out walk that scored Daniel D’Onofrio for the go-ahead run.

In the top of the seventh, D’Onofrio entered as a relief pitcher with runners on first and second and nobody out.  After an initial walk to load the bases, the junior buckled down to strike out the next two batters and got the last batter to ground out and end the game.

“I knew my defense would do work for me,” D’Onofrio said. “Once I got the bases loaded, I didn’t concentrate on the runners so much.  I concentrated on the hitter.  I zoned in a little bit more.  I just pounded the zone.  That second one felt really good.  Then, after that, I could just trust my defense.”

The Lions got a scattering team effort with D’Onofrio, Will Buschmann, Clemente, Will Scasserra, Jake Dudas, and Daniel Burns each recording one hit.  Six players drew a combined nine walks.  Buschmann stole his sixth and seventh bases of the season (tops in District 14-3A) while D’Onofrio, Joey Knight, Jake Dudas and Burns also swiped a bag.

An encouraged coach James lauded the victory given the opponent and the way in which the game was won.

“The left hander from down there is throwing well,” James said of Country Day’s Jake Weiss.  “I know that he had a couple of good outings. We were excited to get them up here.  Paul [Barrios] is a great coach and they have two good arms.  I think that lefty struck out 15 last week.  It’s a good outing for us for us to see a quality left hander so we like that when we can get it.  There’s not many of those around.”

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