Hialeah Gardens Senior Day Spoiled by Reagan Bats

Hialeah Gardens opened its doors four years ago, and the freshman that were on that first team are now seniors. Yesterday, they were celebrating Senior Day, and for head coach Tino Burgos and his Gladiators the day was filled with emotions. In the end, however, Hialeah Gardens just couldn’t stop the bats of the Reagan Bison, and they fell in defeat 8-6.

“It was a little emotional seeing these guys that have practically built this program with me get ready to move on and graduate on Senior Day,” Burgos said. “But we will bounce back, and we will just need to get timely hitting to go with our pitching that wasn’t great today but has been the strength of our team all year.”

First baseman Paul Menedez led Reagan at the plate, going 5-for-5 with three RBIs. Teammate Joe Diaz also racked up a number of hits as he went 4-for-5 with three RBIs.

“I think I am an aggressive hitter, and I am always looking for a pitch to hit,” Menendez said. “Hopefully this momentum will carry over for me and my teammates into next week when we start a very competitive district tournament.”

Menendez got things started early as he drove in the game’s first run with a single to left field that allowed Luis Rincon to score from second in the first inning. He came up again in the second and brought in Michael Diaz and Brandon Romero to extend the Bison lead. Rincon came around to score again to make the game 4-0 when Joe Diaz hit his second single of the afternoon.

The Gladiators got right back in the game in the bottom half of the second inning, not willing to just give in on their spirited Senior Day. Peter Rodriguez led the inning off with a single right back up the middle. David Lara came up a couple batters later and blasted a pitch over the left-field wall to close the lead down and make it a 4-2 ballgame. They added one more run in the third when David Martinez scored on a sacrifice fly from Gabriel De la Rosa.

“Lara is one of those kids that can eventually be a kid that gets drafted,” Hialeah Gardens head coach Tino Burgos said. “He has all the tools. He runs great, has a great arm, and hits for power like you were able to see today.”

Both teams struggled on the mound for most of the afternoon. Each team used five pitchers as a number of errors and fielding mistakes extended some innings.

“I think in the beginning it was a little bit of nerves,” Burgos said. “I think the whole thing just got to them, and it was just a little too late when we decided to play baseball.”

The Bison kept scoring in the fourth inning with another RBI single from Joe Diaz. Paul Menendez scored later in the inning after Brandon Romero was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Hialeah Gardens took advantage of the Bison’s mistakes in the fourth inning to come all the way back and tie the game up at 6. The Gladiators got big singles from Tony Fernandez and Jorge Delgado along with a number of walks to keep the rally going.

Reagan was able to get two solid innings from Luis Rincon on the mound late in the game. His pitching kept the Gladiators in check and allowed the Bison a chance to take back the lead in the seventh inning.

“Coming into the season, he was our closer, and it’s tough on him since he also catches for us,” Reagan head coach Jessy Rodriguez said. “But I told him that in tight games, he is our guy, so I wanted to get him some more experience in a tight ballgame.”

Rincon and Menendez hit back-to-back singles in the top half of the seventh. After a throwing error from the pitcher to second base, both runners were able to advance. Again, it was Joe Diaz who came up with the big hit to drive in another run. Raul Cortes executed a squeeze play right after to bring in Menendez to get an insurance run.

“I was thinking about that squeeze play from the moment Rincon was able to get on base,” Rodriguez said. “We caught some breaks in the inning with the error, but I still wanted to do it even after we scored the first run and we were able to bring in two runs that inning.”

Rincon took the mound in the bottom half of the seventh again. He worked quickly and forced all three batters he faced to pop out to end the game.

Reagan is done with the regular season and looks to take its momentum at the plate into next week as it begins the district tournament.

“We just need to throw strikes and be more consistent with our defense,” Rodriguez said. “I think if we are able to get those things straightened out to go along with our hitting, we will be in any game.”

The Gladiators have two more games this week to finish their regular season. They will look to correct some mistakes and fine tune a few things this week to get ready for their very important district week coming up.

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