Fulton, Herrera Lead Hialeah Past Coral Gables In Class 8A

The Class 8A regional semifinal between Hialeah and Coral Gables lived up to the expectations of a high-stakes, ultra-competitive playoff game that ultimately was decided by one swing of the bat.

The hit was delivered from coach Shane Fulton’s son, Cody, a senior center fielder, who tattooed a tide-turning, three-run home run over the high fences in left field during the fifth inning to propel the visiting Thoroughbreds to a 3-0 win against the Cavaliers.

Hialeah (23-5) will travel to play at Columbus (25-4) on Friday in a regional final for the opportunity to advance to the state tournament in Port St. Lucie.

As both teams flashed niffy glove work in the field, the game turned into a pitcher’s duel between Hialeah’s Alexis Herrera and Coral Gables’ David Plotkin.

Through the first four scoreless innings, there was only a combined four hits between the teams and neither pitcher walked a batter.

But it was Herrera (10-0) who was able to keep it going as the sophomore confounded hitters with a sharp breaking ball and a mixture of speeds. He retired the first 11 batters and struck out six in a three-hit shutout.

“I think he [Herrera] got back to what he does best, which is pound the strike zone, mix his speeds, mix his spots and he did a great job. Coach John Hernandez called a great game today, and Alexis stuck to the game plan. When he’s commanding his breaking pitch for a strike, he’s going to be effective even if he’s not throwing in the upper 80s.”

Herrera also received two accurate throws from his corner outfielders to nab critical outs.

In the bottom of the first, left fielder Edel Luaces made a spot-on throw to catcher Jonathan Diaz, who tagged out senior Andres Jiron attempting to score on a sacrifice fly.

In the bottom of the third inning, right fielder Nestor Cortes alertly threw out Kelvin Nunez at first base after the ball had seemingly dropped in right field for a hit.

“I have not seen any team we’ve faced that has the group of three solid outfielders that we have,” coach Fulton said. “The arms that we have are phenomenal. He’s [Luaces] probably got one of the strongest arms in the outfield so I knew he had a shot. He put it right on the money and it was great play. I think it set the tone for the rest of the day.”

When Hialeah was batting, it was Cody Fulton who caused problems all afternoon for Coral Gables (16-10). Fulton went 3-for-4 with his fourth homer of the season, a pair of singles and also reached on an error and stole a base. He led the team in hitting during the regular season with a .420 batting average.

“The ball was just huge [during the home run at bat],” said Fulton, who is undecided on his college plans but is considering FAU and Nova Southeastern University. “I’ll be honest. I didn’t know it was going to go out. I didn’t feel like I got all of it. The wind was blowing in and I thought it was going to get knocked down. It was a great feeling. Everything has just been clicking for us. We’re together right now. Everybody is believing and it’s going to be hard to stop us.”

For the Cavaliers, Jiron, Antonio Rodriguez, Dillon Maya, Imad Reinoso and Roland Euserio all played their final high school game of their career.

You always hate to see your seniors go,” said Coral Gables coach Phil Wisser. “It hurts. You grow attached to them for four years. Everybody has a different personality. They’re not gone. They’re not far. They’ll come visit and I’ll follow them play ball. I hope nothing, but the best for them.”

Maya and Rodriguez are headed to FIU, Jiron is going to Pensacola Community College and Wisser said the others are “good enough” to play ball on the next level.

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