Miami Marlins Ballpark Opens, First Home Run Hit, Columbus Beats Belen

Two prestigious high schools and baseball programs got the opportunity to make history Monday night. Belen Jesuit and Christopher Columbus played the first game in the new Miami Marlins Ballpark.

The Marlins allowed the two schools to sell a combined 5,000 tickets, which sold out in just a few hours.

The atmosphere was festive as students, parents, and alumni gathered together to cheer on their respective schools.

(View the huge Miami Marlins Ballpark First Game photo gallery.)

“The game was a great opportunity for Belen and Columbus, especially for many Belen alumni since our original campus was just a few blocks away on Eighth Street and Seventh Avenue,” said Belen’s principal, Father Guillermo Garcia-Tuñon, S.J. “Mayor Manny Diaz, a Belen alumnus, played a huge role in building the stadium and was part of the suggestion to the Marlins for our two teams to open up the ballpark. We are very happy that it happened.”

Before the game, both teams took the field for the first time in a major league stadium and were real excited.

“Taking batting practice in a major league field is definitely different,” Belen center fielder Joey Rodriguez said. “Everyone is jittery and having fun, so hopefully this turns into confidence and good plays for us.”

Columbus head coach Weber was simply hoping that after the first pitch the kids would forget where they were playing and just go on to play baseball as usual.

Unfortunately for one of these premier programs, someone had to lose Monday night. Columbus scored runs early in the game and held off the Wolverines’ late rally for a 6-4 win.

Belen struck first and took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Center fielder Joey Rodriguez singled up the middle and then stole second. Alex De Goti followed with a high fly ball to deep right field that was dropped by the right fielder. The error allowed Rodriguez to score and De Goti to race around to get to third.

The Explorers answered right back with a couple of hits and runs of their own. After Eddy Rodriguez drew a walk, third baseman Lazaro Rivera tripled in the right-center field gap to tie the game. Frank Navarette came up next with an RBI single that gave Columbus a 2-1 lead.

Columbus put another big inning together in the fourth. Rivera again came up big with an RBI double. Later on in the inning, Explorers starting pitcher Mike Vinson decided to help himself out with a triple that drove in Daniel Lynch and Rivera.

The Wolverines struggled most of the night at the plate against Columbus’ Mike Vinson. Vinson finished his outing with eight strikeouts and allowed only two hits. Even after a few errors by the defense, Vinson got outs and kept Belen off the scoreboard.

“Their pitcher (Vinson) was fantastic. He was able to throw his fastball and breaking ball and made things difficult for us,” Belen head coach Jerry Albert said.

Belen showed life in the sixth inning when it loaded the bases with two outs but was unable to manufacture any runs.

In the top half of the seventh, Columbus sophomore Brent Diaz went down in the record books as being the first person to hit a home run at the new stadium.

“Hitting the home run was a surreal feeling and definitely the best feeling of my life so far,” Diaz said. “I have to thank the Marlins for giving us the opportunity to play here, and it is definitely something I will remember for the rest of my life.”

Despite the 6-1 lead, the Wolverines did not go out without a fight. Belen rallied as it got a number of hits in the bottom of the seventh. Belen’s Alexander Lorenzo, Joey Rodriguez, Daniel Guevara and Alex Lavandero got the timely hits to score three runs. After a few pitching changes, Weber brought in Bryan Garcia, who made the last two outs to secure the victory for the Explorers.

“With an emotional game like this, if you get behind, kids may tend to give up, but that was not the case with us and that is what I am most proud of,” Albert said. “Our kids battled the whole way and some of our big-time players showed a lot of character and we were a diving catch away from this being a different ball game.”

The game was an experience that everyone in these two prideful high school communities will be talking about for years to come.

“It was an unbelievable experience,” Weber said. “Most of these kids will never play in anything close to this atmosphere again, and it was awesome.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!