Small-Ball Approach Lifts Goleman Past Varela In Extras

For the Goleman offense to work, Manager Jose Lopez has preached to his players that they must know their roles and buy into their system.

That approach involves playing small ball and manufacturing runs.

For this to be successful, players must be willing to sacrifice individual accomplishments and buy into the team concept.

As the Gators have accepted their roles they are beginning to see the positive results.

Goleman used just such an approach to produce a pair of runs in the top of the tenth inning to stave off a feisty Varela squad for an 8-6 victory on Wednesday at Curtis Park in Miami.

“These guys are just grinders,” Coach Lopez said of his team, which improved to 3-0.

“We were tested yesterday, and then today we went up against some tough bats and a great defense. But it does not matter how much we are up or down, these boys never give up. They don’t want to be put away.”

After the Gators allowed Varela to come all the way back from a 5-1 deficit, it was Michael Barreneche laying down his third bunt single of the contest to send Daniel Guerrero home with the deciding run.

Barreneche also successfully reached with bunt singles in the seventh and eighth innings, while also laying down a sacrifice bunt in the third. He finished 3-for-4 with a pair of stolen bases.

“I hadn’t been hitting, so I will take whatever I can get,” Barreneche joked. “I had the feeling coach was going to call it. Bunt hits are more exciting anyway. But no matter how many runs we are up or down, nobody is playing harder and wants it more than we do.”

Goleman reached with five bunt singles in all, and also used several hit-and-run plays to ignite the offense.

On this day, there was no question that both squads wanted the victory. Although this season is but a few days old, each team battled in this contest as if it were playing in the state championship.

Although they fell behind early on, the Vipers (2-1) stormed back in the middle innings.

J.C. Ugarte led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a deep shot to centerfield for a standup double, and Frankie Rodriguez reached by slapping a groundball to the first baseman and then beating the pitcher to the base. Mario Souffrain then walked to load the bases.

Juan Mendoza lined a single up the middle to send two runners home. Jesus Rodriguez helped Varela complete the comeback by pushing Souffrain across the plate on a fielder’s choice groundout.

Mendoza finished 3-for-5 with a stolen base, and Jeremy Jones was 2-for-5.

Jonathan Aguiar earned the victory for the Gators, after coming on in relief and pitching five innings to close it out.

Javier Perdomo got the start for Goleman, throwing 70 pitches over three and two-third innings of one-run ball. Perdomo used a good mixture of fastballs and curveballs to keep the Varela offense at bay early on, as he allowed just two hits and three walks while recording five strikeouts.

The game featured numerous big plays on defense, something that is the strength of both teams.

The Vipers’ Jeremy Jones had an impressive diving catch on a shot to shallow left field that closed out the top of the third, and Goleman’s Erick Delgado had a nice effort to track down a foul ball just along the third base fence to help the Gators escape a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the fourth.

Then with the Vipers down to their final swings in the bottom of the tenth inning, first baseman Joshua Guia bare-handed the ball when it took a hard hop on a shot up the first baseline and recorded the first out of the final frame.

The game lasted nearly four hours, as six total pitchers combined to throw 354 total pitches throughout.

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