Diaz’s Gem Leads Sunset Past Mater Lakes, 6-4

Miami Sunset had just the answer for the hard-hitting Mater Lakes team it faced Wednesday.

With both squads on their third game in the Selective Recruiting- Sir Pizza Invitational, the Knights had saved sophomore Danny Diaz specifically for this game.

The crafty left hander answered the call by tossing his fifth complete game of the season to lead Miami Sunset past Mater Lakes 6-4, in a game played at Paul Demie Mainieri Field at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens.

The Knights (12-4) have now won their past two games after dropping their opener to Pompano Beach, 4-3. They will next face Jupiter (14-1) on Saturday to wrap up tournament play.

Diaz needed 90 pitches to earn the victory that improved his season tally to 5-1, as he scattered seven hits and three walks and allowed two earned runs.

“That kid just kept us off balance all day,” said Bears Manager Cesar Temes. “He was mixing it up all day long. He didn’t throw anything right over the plate. He was consistent hitting his corners and mixing pitches up. He pitched a great game and there’s nothing you can do about that.”

Sunset Manager Armando Pelaez echoed those sentiments about his young left-hander, while praising his consistency all season, as well as his ability to hit his spots and keep hitters off balance.

“They have to have discipline and stay off the junk, and it’s tough to do that in high school,” Pelaez said. “That’s a good team right there and this is a good ‘W’.”

Going up against a team that had scored 165 runs in 14 games coming into Wednesday’s contest, Diaz admitted he was a bit nervous coming into the game.

But on the mound it never showed.

“I knew they were good at hitting, but just paint the corners and keep it low and it will work,” said Diaz. “It’s good knowing I have a working curveball and a working changeup and I can locate it.”

Down to their final swings, the Bears (11-3-1) finally began to find their stroke after they scored a bit of luck when Alex Lorenzo reached on an error leading off the inning.

Anthony Rondon hit into a fielder’s choice that erased Lorenzo at second, and then he advanced around to third base when Alfreddi Ramos laced a line drive past first base for a double.

Alejandro Castillo singled to left field to bring home Rondon and Alessandro Lima followed with a sacrifice flyout that pushed home courtesy runner Jordan Garcia to pull the Bears within two runs of tying it back up.

But Diaz induced a groundout to end the game and secure the victory.

“We got the tying run up to the plate there, and they went down battling, so that’s a good sign there,” Temes said.

Castillo and Ramos both went 2-for-4 on the day.

The Knights had a big four-run third inning to come back from a 2-1 deficit and take the lead for good.

The Sunset hitters were aggressive in swinging at the first pitch, as Michael Paez led off by singling up the middle on the first pitch he saw before Alfredo Iser followed suit by drilling the first offering he saw to left field for a double.

With two runners now in scoring position and no outs, catcher Alex Bravo lined to centerfield for a game-tying RBI single that scored Paez.

After Nico Machado walked to load the bases, Herbert Iser drove a shot to center to put Sunset up with a pair of runs.

Danilo De Armas added an RBI on a fielder’s choice groundout later in the inning.

Alfredo Iser was 2-for-4 on the day, as he tripled and scored in the fourth, and Bravo was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

“We had some timely hitting, which is good since we had just gone down by one and we came back with four runs,” Pelaez said. “It shows a little bit about our offense. We’ve been scoring in bunches, so that was a good inning for us.”

Although the team came out on the short end of two close games the past two days, Coach Temes could not be happier with the experience they have gained, as well as the way his team has fought in each game even in times when they have been taken out of their comfort zones.

These specific scenarios are why both teams elected to stay home this spring and compete in this tournament.

“It’s awesome,” said Temes. “You get to play these teams that you’ve never played and haven’t seen. We get to play on all these fields that we don’t even know, and the atmosphere is great. Regardless of who you’re playing, it’s good baseball.”

Mater Lakes will face LaSalle on Friday afternoon to close out its tournament play.

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