Columbus Ends Killian’s Winning Streak In Regional Semifinal Battle

The Killian Cougars beat Columbus 8-1 just three weeks ago for the GMAC Championship. On Wednesday evening, the Explorers didn’t allow history to repeat itself as the battled back and forth in an emotional 6-4 victory to advance to the regional finals on Friday night.

“It was an amazing win and emotional,” Columbus shortstop Laz Rivera said after the game. “No words can describe this right now.”

In front of a packed crowd with standing room only, both teams fought to the end. The Cougars came up to bat in the top of the seventh not wanting for their 10-game winning streak to come to an end. Alfredo Iser came in to pinch hit to start the inning and stepped up big with a single to get the Killian fans back on their feet. Gil Polanco came up right after with another single.

Columbus head coach Joe Weber was not going to take any chances and went to his ace Mike Vinson to come in for the final three outs to close out the game. Then Killian head coach Angel Herrera called for a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners into scoring position, and Daniel Andrade executed it to perfection. Vinson went on to walk the next batter and loaded the bases with one out for Mandy Alavarez, who has had a number of game-winning hits this season for the Cougars.

Vinson and Alvarez dug in. Alvarez swung and hit a hard ground ball to third baseman Daniel Lynch, who was able to get rid of it quickly and get it to Frank Navarrete at second and finish the double play with a strong throw to first to get Alvarez out to end the game.

“Going in we didn’t want to let him (Alvarez) beat us,” Weber said. “And we had no choice but to pitch to him and we went with Mike because you want to go in with your best there and he was able to make his pitch and the defense made a big play.”

The excitement started just after the National Anthem. Killian’s bats got going early and picked up three runs in the first innings. Alex Fernandez got a single and stole second to start things off. Then Nick Mira, Spencer Levine and Erik Molina had three consecutive RBI hits to jump out to the quick lead.

Columbus bounced back right away in the second inning. Nick Reyes and Brent Diaz started the inning off with back-to-back singles. Then cacther Cris Perez hit a double to drive in Reyes. Later on with two outs, Laz Rivera came up big for the Explorers with a double to the right center-field gap to bring in Diaz and Perez to tie the game at 3.

“I was proud of our club that we were down 3-0 and they didn’t lie down,” Weber said. “Killian beat us pretty bad at their place a few weeks ago, and they kept fighting and go back in the game.”

After a rough start, Columbus pitcher Luis Collazo settled in and had a solid outing. He found himself in a little trouble again in the third, but got good defense and was able to force an inning ending double play. He went on the strike out the side in the fourth inning and finished with seven strike outs in just four innings of work. Ryan Guerra pitched in relief for the fifth and sixth inning before being taken out in the seventh after the two singles.

The Explorers went on to take the lead in the fourth. Cris Perez was the first man to get on in the inning with his second hit of the game. Kevin Suarez drew a walk, but it was Laz Rivera that would do the damage once again. This time Rivera got a hold of one and put it over the left field fence for a three-run home run to give his team a 6-3 lead.

“I just didn’t want to strike out and give my team a chance really,” Rivera said. “Killian’s pitcher shut me down last time we played, but I just sat on the fastball and it just happened to go over the wall.”

But the Cougars would keep clawing their way back into the game. In the fifth inning, Mandy Alvarez hit a double off the wall in center field to bring Andrade around to score from first base and make the game a little closer.

“You have to give it to them because they wouldn’t die,” Weber said. “They (Killian) were the hottest team in Dade County the last month, so we knew we had to play a flawless game.”

Killian came up just a little short against the Explorers this time around. However, Herrera had nothing but good things to say about his team after the great season and hard fought game they had just played.

“This team battled their tales off for us and will always have a special place in my heart,” coach Herrera said. “This team has been the most exciting, most resilient, toughest minded guys that I have had here in six and a half years and I wouldn’t trade any one of them for anything in the world.”

The Explorers will now play another rematch from the GMAC tournament on Friday when they will host Hialeah for the regional finals.

“I can’t imagine any of our kids taking Hialeah lightly after that game we played against them earlier,” Weber said. “We know we are going to face a quality opponent and they understand this is the game to get to state, so I don’t see anyone sneaking up on anyone ,and it is going to come down to the team that doesn’t walk people, doesn’t make errors, and executes will generally going to come out ahead.”

One Response to “Columbus Ends Killian’s Winning Streak In Regional Semifinal Battle”