Gulliver Prep Rebounds To Edge Westminster Christian 6-5

The Gulliver Raiders had yet another tough challenge in front of them Tuesday afternoon. After a tough loss to highly ranked Archbishop McCarthy last week, the Raiders bounced back quickly and took down the Westminster Christian Warriors 6-5 in a game that went down to the wire.

The Raiders were able to build a 6-3 lead going into the bottom half of the seventh inning, which proved to be just enough to come away with the win. Westminster Christian battled and was able to get a few runners on to rally back. First baseman Dakota Robbins got his third single of the game for the Warriors and gave his team runners on first and third with one out. Luis Touron was up next and hit a sacrifice fly to left field to drive in Anthony Gonzalez from third base. After designated hitter Gabe Sanchez drew a walk, Julian Infante hit a shot off the left-field fence. Robbins scored from second and Sanchez raced around the bases and headed for home plate. However, Raiders left fielder Laurent Polenghi hit his cutoff man, Eric Neitzel, and Neitzel made the perfect throw home to throw out Sanchez for the final out of the game.

“We practice double cuts a lot, and it worked out perfect today,” Gulliver head coach Javier Rodriguez said. “They executed perfect hitting the shortstop in the chest and then he was able to throw a strike to home for a great finish.”

Gulliver got to the Warriors’ starting pitcher early in the game. Leadoff hitter Ricky Eusebio started the game with a double off the left center-field wall. A few batters later, Neitzel hit another double off the wall in right center to drive in Eusebio.

In the third inning, Gulliver catcher Christopher Chinea hit a solo home run to dead center field to make the game 2-0. But Westminster Christian, Miami-Dade’s fourth-ranked team, came right back and tied the game up at 2 at the end of the third inning.

Warriors’ catcher Daniel Sanchez hit a solo home run of his own to get things going for his team. Then after a couple of hits from Robbins and Touron, as well as some miscommunication to the cutoff man that forced a throwing error, Robbins came around to score and tie the game.

Both starting pitchers got into a grove in the fourth and got through the inning quickly. Nonetheless, the Raiders were able to string together some runs in the fifth against the Warriors’ Marc Sanchez to add another two runs. Eusebio hit his second double of the afternoon and scored on Henry Hernandez’s single. Eusebio reached base safely three out of his four at-bats and scored three runs for the Raiders. After the Warriors elected to intentionally walk Chinea, Neitzel made them pay with another RBI single.

“Coach asked me to hit in the lead off spot after Marin went down,” Eusebio said. “It’s tough and a little different because I have to be a little more patient, but I know my job is to just get on base, and I was happy to be able to do that today for my team.”

Again the Warriors answered with a run. Dakota Robbins hit a deep fly ball that allowed David Thompson to tag up and score from third base and make it a 4-3 game.

Gulliver’s starter Javy Lopez did a good job on the mound for the Raiders against a talented lineup. Lopez pitched six innings and struck out seven. He pitched himself out of a number of jams and forced the Warriors to leave a number of runners on base a few times throughout the game.

“Against a good ball club, you can’t give them second chances,” Westminster Christian head coach Emil Castellanos said. “We left too many people on base and didn’t take advantage of their mistakes, and they made us pay for our mistakes.”

In the top half of the seventh, Gulliver was able to take advantage of a couple errors by Westminster and added two more runs to its lead. Christian Santisteban and Joe Dunand drove in what turned out to be two very crucial runs. Santisteban then turned around and closed the game for the Raiders on the mound with a little help from his defense behind him after allowing a couple runners on early in the bottom of the seventh.

“Every year its a good rivalry between the two schools,” coach Castellanos said. “Unfortunately, we had to take the loss today, and we just didn’t play clean baseball.”

Both teams are full of talented players. Miami Hurricane fans got to see a number of future Canes on the field Tuesday. Gulliver’s Neitzel, Eusebio and Marin as well as pitcher Ivan Palaez have all signed with the Miami. Westminster Christian’s Thompson, Ruiz and Robbins are also Miami signees and commits.

“Its fun competing against some of the top talent,” Eusebio said. “We all are friends off the field, but on the field, we know we want to get the upper hand on the them, and it was a great win for us.”

The Raiders will take the win and experience gained from the game and hope to carry it on to next week and the playoffs.

“I thought we did the little things great today,” Rodriguez said. “We put the ball in play when we had to and got some good pitching for a nice win against a playoff-caliber team.”

Westminster will play two more games to finish the regular season before hosting its district tournament next week.

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