Brito Wins Third Straight After Walk-Off Hit-By-Pitch

In a match-up featuring two of the better teams in Miami-Dade County, the biggest hit of the game came without anyone swinging a bat.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Junior J.C. Milian brought home the winning run after a pitch grazed his shoulder to help the Brito Panthers defeat Mater Lakes Academy 5-4 on Tuesday afternoon at Miami Christian School.

“Baseball is like that. You’ll take the win anyway you can get it,” said Brito Manager Pedro Guerra through a translation from Laz Fundora.

After junior pitcher Jose Velasquez retired the side with three straight pop-ups the Panthers (15-3) had momentum going into the bottom of the seventh.

The walk-off inning began when Senior Edberg Dominguez singled to right field. The next batter, senior Andres Herrera, laid down a bunt that stayed just fair as the ball scooted down the third-base line in the field of play before Mater Lakes third baseman William Roger scooped the ball up more than two-thirds of the way to third base.

The Bears (13-5-1) looked poised to send the game to extra innings when pitcher Eddie Solomon forced Diosvany Boulet to ground into a 6-4-3 double play for two outs.

Bears Manager Cesar Temas intentionally walked catcher Gilbert Gil to try and get the third out facing nine hitter Henry Blanco. After Blanco battled to drew a walk it was back to the top of the order for Brito.

Milian fouled off the first pitch, and Solomon then delivered a curveball that traveled too far inside and grazed the sleeve on Milian’s jersey to bring home the winning run.

“It was pretty big, I knew that two times I came up to bat with runners on that I didn’t come through for my teammates. After that they came through for me so I appreciated that,” he said.

Milian also finished 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored.

Mater Lakes’ high powered offense was limited to four runs by the pitching combination of Richard Sotolongo and Velasquez. Sotolongo allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings to the Bears who average almost 11 runs a game this season.

Brito’s offense was also limited due in part to a handful of great defensive plays by left fielder George Gonzalez. After Brito scored a run in the bottom of the first, with a runner on first Dominguez smacked a line drive to left that Gonzalez was able to snatch for the third out.

In the bottom of the fourth, Gonzalez made his presence felt again when he made an amazing leaping catch at the fence in left that caused him to take out a section of the chain-link fence. Play had to be stopped so the fence could be replaced after Gonzalez’s impressive catch.

After trailing the Bears 2-1 for most of the game the Panther bats showed some life in the bottom of the fifth. Mater Lakes upped the score to 3-1 at the top of the frame on an Alex Lorenzo RBI single, but the Panthers answered back.

Milian led off the bottom of the fifth with a single to left field to bring Junior Julio Gonzalez to the plate. Then a wild pickoff throw to first allowed Millian to reach second before Gonzalez delivered with a single to put runners on first and third.

With Junior Savian Fernandez at the plate and no outs things got interesting on the base paths for Brito. The runner on first, Gonzalez, intentionally got caught in a rundown which distracted the defense long enough to allow Millian to score from third.

Brito got a bonus when Gonzalez managed to safely slide back to first base to preserve the tying run.

A few pitches later Fernandez came up big with a single on a hit-and-run call to the gap in right field to put runners on first and third again.

The Bears recorded the first out when Marco Bolano moved Fernandez to second with a groundout to third.

However the Mater Lakes’ defense ran into trouble again when Dominguez hit a grounder that was misplayed, allowing Gonzalez to score and tie the game, 3-3.

After the next batter drew a walk, the Bears stopped the bleeding with a flyout to centerfield and another highlight reel catch by Gonzalez in left to end the inning.

For Mater Lakes, Christian Nelson finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and two doubles.

Alex Lorenzo finished 2-for-4 with an RBI, run scored, and a double while pitcher Peter Llerena tossed five innings allowing three runs, five hits and a strikeout for the Bears.

“We can’t make too many errors, I mean one error is ok but when you start making two, three errors against a good team they’re going to capitalize,” Mater Lakes Manager Cesar Temes said afterwards. “The team with the least mistakes is the one that won today.”

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