Mater Academy Beats Brito In Offensive Festival

The fans in attendance at Westland Park enjoyed the top level of high school baseball on Wednesday, as the Miami Brito Panthers drove to Hialeah Gardens to clash against the always tough Mater Academy Lions. The Lions have come back from a season opening loss playing great baseball, and this afternoon was no different. Mater won the highly offensive game 16-6. This was the fourth victory in a row for them.

“This is our biggest complete game we have played,” Manager Mike Dirosa said. “We pitched well, we played great defense and we swung the bats really well. As a team we are always looking to play a complete game on all three phases.”

The Lions (4-1) took control of the game early, scoring five runs on five hits in the bottom of the first. After the lead-off hitter Michael Escarra drew a walk, right fielder Angel Ortiz hit triple to the gap scoring the first run of the game. This was followed by a couple of hard hits and two infield hits that added to three wild pitches and an error, all contributing to the five scored runs.

The Panthers (3-2) did not take long to answer. In the second inning Marco Bolano hit a deep double to center field and scored on a sacrifice fly.

The Mater Academy bats were never silenced; seeing five pitching changes on their opponents side, none of them capable of putting off the fire of the Lions offense. The Lions ended the game with 18 hits, and all nine of their starters of their players reached base.

The Lions were extremely patient through the game, getting on base six times by walks and a couple of hit by pitches. They added six more runs in the fourth inning, capped by a bases-clearing three RBI triple by Ortiz, that missed the fence by inches. Ortiz reached base in all of his five at-bats.

“Today was one of those days,” Ortiz said. “I was feeling it. I thank God and everything came out alright.”

The Lions starting pitcher, Kevin Fuentes, was pulled from the game in the third inning. His Manager said that Fuentes arm was bothering him a little bit, so they took him out of the game for precautionary reasons.

In his relief, the Lions brought lefty Joshua Mendez, a strike throwing machine, who was never afraid to pound the zone with his pitches. Even if it cost him, Mendez kept coming at his opponents. He gave up a couple of home-runs, one to shortstop Julio Gonzales and the other one to the opposing pitcher Mauricio Amarar. Still, the crafty lefty finished the inning strong.

“I had my first baseman always helping me out. He gave me tips on how to stay in the game,” Mendez said.

The game ended in the sixth inning by the mercy rule, when a couple of doubles by Chris Cabrera and Joel Jimenez scored the final run.

“This is the first time we lose against this school by a margin as this,” Brito Manager Pedro Guerra said. “We always had really competitive games against them.”

“My starting pitcher didn’t came out pitching too good,” Guerra said. “He was getting hit easily. Even after we had a good offensive game, you cannot create many plays without pitching.”

Guerra stated that for this season his team was going to get better, since they are young and careless they have to understand a lot of the basics still.

“Sometimes you need to fall down, and fall as bad as we did today,” Guerra said. “To realize that not only with talent you can win ballgames.”

After the game, the winning pitcher Mendez was  bold and predicted that his team will win it all this year, something that his teammates took very fondly, surrounding him and cheering him up.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!