Cabezas Leads Coral Gables Past LaSalle 1-0

With an NCAA record 41 consecutive postseason appearances the Miami Hurricanes baseball team is the toast of the town in Coral Gables, but the local high school squad and its star pitcher Andrew Cabezas are by no means hiding in the shadows. Led by Cabezas and catcher Elih Marrero, the Cavaliers (1-0) defeated the Royal Lions (0-2) in a defensive battle that endured a thirty minute rain delay and was shortened to six innings.

Marrero scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to an RBI single by Cavs shortstop Coco Montes.

Marrero, who spent the summer in Arizona training with an affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, positioned himself to score with a stand-up triple sent to the right-field wall. Coral Gables Manager Phillip Wisser described how momentum was the key to getting on the scoreboard in a game that featured two aces on the mound:

“The game is a game of momentum swings and [in the fourth inning] that’s where the swing happened. We have a strike-em-out, throw-em-out situation to close the top of the inning, where Elih picks the runner out at third and then comes up and leads the inning off with a triple and got it going.”

Though the triple and the ensuing RBI by Montes were huge, the true stars of the game were Cabezas and Lions pitcher Branden Blanco. They each tossed complete games, and hits were hard to come by all afternoon. Blanco struck out five while walking just one batter, and Cabezas had six strikeouts in the shutout.

“I prepare myself to pitch every game like I’m going against the best team in Dade County,” said Cabezas, who worked his fastball and threw strikes early in the count. “They were going for first pitches because they saw I was throwing strikes today. I had to adjust to that and that’s how we got the W.”

Cabezas demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of controlling the mound, and its no wonder his opponent in Wednesday’s pitcher’s dual is also a certified student of the game.

“Branden Blanco is probably the smartest pitcher I’ve ever had at LaSalle,” said Lions Manager Oscar Benitez. “He’s extraordinary the way he can set up batters and locate every single pitch. He was on today.”

Benitez went on to praise Cabezas as well. “The guy throws hard and has good movement to the ball. He was hitting the corners well and also came inside on us pretty good.”

The game was threatened by a classic half-hour Miami thunderstorm, but both managers were able to keep their teams loose during the delay.

“Coach Wisser, it’s not easy to get a rain delay with him, and they have a beautiful field here,” said Benitez. “These boys want to play and we kept telling them during the rainstorm that the game’s not over.”

Wisser agreed that the rain shower was not going to take away baseball on this day.

“Everyone thought we weren’t playing,” added Wisser. “Once I saw the field held up pretty good and I thought we had a shot at it, I went and told the guys to get to back on game mode and to get back in the mentality and come out and give it our best.”

Getting into game mode following a rain shower is one thing, but more daunting on the Cav’s horizon is next week’s matchup against national powerhouse Archbishop McCarthy at Marlins Park. Wisser, however, was cautious to look ahead to Tuesday’s matchup against the #2 ranked team in the country.

“What we’re trying to do is instill the mentality of one game at a time and one pitch at a time and we’ve got Hialeah Gardens up next and we have to get ready for them,” explained Wisser. “When that game is over we’ll start thinking about Archbishop McCarthy on Saturday.”

Focus and game-day preparation were apparent from both teams. The pitchers were on point and the defenses were especially sharp. It’s typical in baseball for the pitching to come around before the hitting over the course of a long season, although Marrero and Montes were able to get their bats going a little bit to start off the year.

Third baseman Yan Carlos Hernandez and left-fielder Raymond Gonzales also registered hits for the Cavs, while shortstop Nick Canino and center-fielder Julio Diaz hit safely for the Lions.

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