Danger Saves The Day For Mater Lakes Academy

GOTW Gallery

Mater Lakes Academy and St. Brendan already had pressure on them to perform Friday in the first of what will be many tightly contested battles in 4A-15. Throw in the fact that Friday’s match-up also served as the first HSBN Miami Game of the Week of the season, and all eyes were on the Bears and Sabres on this day.

Former St. Brendan Manager Hal Knowles, who won a state title with the school back in 1983, got the festivities started by throwing out the first pitch. From there, the two teams put on a show that confirmed expectations that 4A-15 is going to be one of the toughest districts in the county this season.

Mater Lakes was able to thwart a late St. Brendan rally and held on for a 4-2 win, their second district win in the first week of the season.

“This district, and the way our team is set up, and the way the whole district is set up, I think every game’s going to be like this the whole season,” said Bears Manager Cesar Temes. “To be able to get that first big district win on the road, we needed a little momentum. Tonight was a well-played game on both sides. Two good teams going at it. This is the way it’s going to be all year.”

Early on, the game shaped up to be a pitcher’s duel, with starting pitchers Jesus Diaz of Mater Lakes and Kevin Diaz of St. Brendan both sharp from the start. The Sabres were able to break through first after Gaby Soto hit a one-out single to get things started. Soto stole second, and after a ground out, Luis Padron hit a single up the middle that scored Soto with the game’s first run.

In the top of the third, the Bears struck right back. Chris Delgado sacrificed Orly Menedez, who had been hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, to second base. Marlon Romero followed with an RBI single, and went to second on a heads-up play when nobody covered the base. Jordan Cox drove home Menendez with the second run of the frame, giving Mater Lakes a 2-1 lead.

That is where the score stayed until the sixth inning.

Hernandez was cruising into the sixth, but then he endured his first jam of the afternoon. The first two outs of the inning came easily. Danny Sirven and Eric Pacheco then singled, ending the day for Hernandez. Luis Perez relieved him, and Soto immediately singled, scoring Nico Lares with the tying run.

In the top of the seventh, the Sabres called on closer Renny Tolentino, who relieved Emilio Valdes. The young Valdes had shut out the Bears for two innings in middle relief. Three walks and a couple of errors brought Cox to the plate with one out and the bases loaded. The senior fouled off several pitches before getting one he could handle. He promptly drove a sacrifice fly to center-field, making the score 3-2. The Bears tacked on one more run in the inning.

After a one-out hit by pitch, and a single by Nick Pinto, Temes summoned his closer from the bullpen. Danger Guevara was given the task of closing out the first district game ever between the two teams.

After running the count to 3-1 on Christian Martin, Guevara induced a fielder’s choice ground ball to third. The closer then struck out Lares looking to end the game and give the Bears the win.

Despite the strikeout, it was a 3-1 pitch to Martin that Guevara felt was the difference on this day.

“When I came in with guys on first and second, and the count went to 3-1, I knew I had to throw the best curve ball of my life,” said Guevara. “I let it go, and it dropped in there. Then the next pitch I got the ground out. This was a big win for us to start the district off.”

Mater Lakes had been struggling to score runs coming into the game, and Cox’s seventh inning sacrifice fly showed the adjustments that Temes had been preaching to his squad.

“My approach was to just get something I could put in play and lift to the outfield,” said Cox. “I have been lunging at the ball a lot, and the coaches have been trying to get me to stay back. I was able to do that in that at-bat.”

The loss for St. Brendan means the team will now have to dig out of an early-season district hole. Manager Luis Padron knows it is a long season, and that his team needs to improve, especially on the defensive side.

“This was outstanding,” said Padron. “These are good teams, and even this early you can see the rivalry growing. We are young, and we are going to make some mistakes. The pitching today was lights out. We made some baserunning mistakes and a couple of errors, and that cost us the game. This is going to happen early. We just have to get it cleaned up as the season goes along.”

One of the keys to the game for Mater Lakes was their strategy to crowd the plate. The team worked four hit batsmen, a result of an early-game adjustment by Temes and his coaching staff.

“We noticed their approach was to go hard inside in the first two innings,” said Temes. “This is a short porch in right field, and I know Coach Padron dealt with the same thing last year at Westwood Christian. So we talked to our hitters, and told them to get up on the plate and turn on the inside pitch. With that approach, we were able to also lean into a few.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!