Archbishop Carroll Tops Mater Academy East In 8 Innings

Archbishop Carroll’s plan to give its starters some rest against Class 2A foe Mater Academy East almost backfired Monday afternoon.

Trailing 4-1 in the fourth inning, the Bulldogs (5-4) rallied back and won 7-6 in eight innings thanks to a walk-off single by freshman catcher Alex Vazquez.

“It’s not the performance we were looking for, but a win is a win and we were able to control the game in the second half,” Archbishop Carroll Manager Jorge Gutierrez said.

The Scorpions (5-3) looked focused early on and it showed at the start of the game. Mater East jumped out to a 3-0 thanks to some solid hitting in the first inning. After leadoff man Victor Cabrera got on base with single, catcher Jeter Downs smacked a ball to the fence in left center field and raced around the bases for an RBI triple.

In the next at-bat, Junior Renny Tolentino hit a grounder to the shortstop that allowed Downs to score from third. The Scorpions scored again four at-bats later with the bases loaded when Danny Quero hit a grounder in the infield that the shortstop couldn’t handle, allowing Jose Garcia to score before the next two batters flied out to end the inning.

Archbishop Carroll got on the board in the bottom of the second inning. After a double by Danny Acevado to lead off, Dean Garabedian hustled out an infield single to move Acevado to third. The next batter, Mike Lo Bello, hit a ball to deep center field to bring home Acevado for the sacrifice fly. However, the Bulldogs struck out and flew out to end the inning.

The Scorpions answered back in the top of the third when Garcia hit a ground-rule double to lead off the inning. He scored after back-to-back errors by the shortstop to put the score at 4-1 after the end of three.

Mater East made it 5-1 in the fourth after Downs hit a line-drive single off of pitcher Miguel Lorenzo’s leg to lead off. After Downs stole second base, Tolentino laced a double down the left-field line and Downs scored easily before Gutierrez decided he had seen enough. The Bulldogs went with a pitching change, switching starter Miguel Lorenzo for Amilcar De Cesare after three and two-third innings.

The move paid off as De Cesare retired seven of the eight batters he faced, with the only blemish being a walk to lead off the fifth.

The Bulldogs’ offense made it a game in the bottom of the fourth. After William Roger reached first on an error and Acevado was hit by a pitch, Garabedian hit an RBI double to give Carroll some momentum.

Two batters later, Vazquez stepped to the plate for his first at-bat, replacing Wilfredo Navarro, and he came up big off the bench. Vazquez hit a deep fly ball to center field that allowed Acevado to tag up from third. Then with Garabedian at third, a wild pitch that slipped by the catcher allowed him to score and bring the score to 5-4 after the fourth.

The Bulldogs tied the score in the fifth after some costly errors by the Scorpion defense. With Tolentino now on the mound, replacing starter David Delgado, Mater East hoped to regain control of the game. David Salgueiro walked to lead off, and the pitcher tried to use a quick pick-off move to first to get Salgueiro out, but he short-hopped the throw into right field allowing Salguiero to advance to third. Two batters later, De Cesare hit a grounder that slipped right under the first baseman’s glove, allowing Salgueiro to score and tie the game after the end of five.

After both teams went scoreless in the six and seventh the game things got interesting in the eighth inning.

With Garabedian on the mound in the top of the frame, the Bulldogs forced two straight ground outs and were poised to retire the side. However, Cabrera battled with Garabedian at the plate before drawing a two out walk. The next batter, Downs, hit a hard grounder to third base that caught Roger right under the chin.

Roger stayed in the game, but the Scorpions decided to be aggressive on the bases. With two outs and runners on first and second, Manager Lazer Abreu called for a double-steal, and as Cabrera slid into third base, the catcher’s relay throw sailed high, allowing Cabrera to score. Downs got caught in a rundown between second and third before getting tagged out after the run scored for the third out.

“I think we were just looking to make something happen. Two outs, two strikes, good baserunner on second, he had the base stolen anyways and we wanted to get him in position, and we’re happy we were able to force them into a mistake,” Mater East Assistant Coach Justin Cox said.

Archbishop Carroll responded at the bottom of the frame when Roger led off with a single. Acevado hit a ground ball to the shortstop, who tagged out Roger at second for the fielder’s choice. The next batter, Garobedian, doubled to the gap to put the two runners in scoring position.

With Lo Bello at the plate, a pitch in the dirt allowed Acevado to sprint home and tie the game. After Cabrera struck out Lo Bello looking, the moment was set for Vazquez. With the winning run at third, Vazquez connected on a seeing-eye single that found the gap in right-center field for the walk-off RBI single. As soon as the run scored, teammates rushed on the field to celebrate with Vazquez for his heroics.

“The sac fly was good, but the hit I got at the last moment, I just felt great,” Vazquez said. “I said in my mind that I was going to win the game for the team.”

Despite the tough loss, Mater East will take away a lot of positives from its performance.

“This is probably the best game they’ve played all year,” Cox said. “This is one of the best teams they’ve played and getting the lead was big, but it was just as important when they rallied back. They played their butts off, and that’s what they have got to try take home with them.”

The Bulldogs will try to win their fourth straight game against a tough Westwood Christian team at home on Thursday.

Mater Academy East will try to rebound on the road against Palmer Trinity.

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