St. Brendan’s Aggression Too Much For Archbishop McCarthy

Last year when the St. Brendan Sabres visited Archbishop McCarthy in the Selective Recruiting Invitational Spring Break tournament, St. Brendan was treated to a dose of aggression from the home team that resulted in a 15-7 Mavericks win. On Friday night, the tables were turned as St. Brendan gained revenge with a 5-2 win.

The Sabres came out of the gates flying against Mavericks starter Ryan Castellanos. In the first inning, St. Brendan scored three runs on five hits and two Mavericks errors. The uncharacteristic errors contributed to the inning, but it was the Sabres’ bats that did most of the damage. Chiqui Carrera, Miguel Ceballos, Sly Edwards, Eric Alvarez and Dayan Cubas all had singles in the inning.

“I think that first inning was huge,” said Sabres coach Joe Cubas. “Anytime in a ballgame when you can get on top early it makes a big difference. You put the other team on the defensive, and they have to play catch-up, and the other thing that happens is the level of confidence increases for your club, and that’s what we saw tonight.”

The story on the mound for St. Brendan was Conley Diaz. The Sabres starter went the distance, throwing more than 140 pitches. Diaz worked in and out of trouble all evening, relying on a sharp breaking ball to keep Maverick hitters off balance. The performance was one that caught catcher Cubas’ eye.

“This game meant a lot to us, because last year they kicked our butt,” said Cubas, who was one of the offensive stars for the Sabres with three hits. “Conley was incredible for us tonight on the mound. He was hitting his spots, and as the game wore on, he just picked up steam. He was the key to this win tonight.”

Over the past few years, Archbishop has been the team to put pressure on its opponents and force mistakes. Friday night, the Mavericks were hit with a dose of their own medicine. St. Brendan was aggressive on the bases and at the plate, and that contributed to four Archbishop errors, something that has rarely been seen in recent seasons.

Offensively, the Mavericks were getting on base, but they failed to produce the big hit to bring them back in this one. On the night, the Mavericks stranded 12 runners, continually threatening to get back in the game, but the clutch hit eluded the defending national champs.

“He (Conley) did a great job against us,” said Mavericks head coach Rich Bielski. “He threw a lot of pitches, but he kept battling. It seemed like we had him on the ropes a few times, even in the last inning, and we hit some balls hard, but he always seemed to bear down when we got guys on base, and he made some big pitches.”

For St. Brendan, the win capped off a week in which they had already clinched the top seed in district that includes Gulliver Prep, Key West and Coral Shores. Coach Cubas talked before the game of how he was trying to keep the team focused on team-oriented goals and stressed keeping his players’ heads from blowing up after their strong start this season. After Friday’s game, Cubas acknowledged that will be no small task.

“Us coaches have our work cut out for us,” said Cubas. “But we will do our best to continue to preach the team concept. At the end of the day, it’s the wins and losses that count the most, and we are starting to play our best baseball at the right time of the season. Hopefully we can keep it up through the end of the season and the playoffs.”

Despite the loss, Archbishop did reach one of its goals this week when it clinched the top seed in District 6A-15 with a win over Pembroke Pines Charter on Thursday night. The Mavericks will have to put Friday’s loss behind them quickly as they make up a game with Monsignor Pace on Monday.

St. Brendan will also face Monsignor Pace in its next game, but that will not be until April 12.

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