Perez Guides TERRA Past Miami Springs

Good pitching is the key to winning baseball games, and for the TERRA Institute Wolves it got them their second victory of the season with an 8-3 win against the Miami Springs Golden Hawks.

Andres Perez got the start against Golden Hawks lefty Alex Iruela, and he was lights out for the most part of the afternoon. Perez went five innings, scattering six hits while allowing just a two-run inning in the second.

TERRA Manager Hernan Adames has had confidence in this young program and won’t back down from any competition. Adames believes that his squad is able to play anywhere against anybody as he looks to keep demonstrating his full-on dedication to the program.

“This year, we’re the big boys, we want to play anybody, anywhere, anytime, because we’re good enough to compete at a high level,” said Adames. “I don’t want to coach anywhere but at TERRA with the type of troopers that I got around me, that are gamers and that prepare mentally and physically. They work extremely hard to be able to be in this situation we’re in at this moment.”

The game started with a patient Wolves team that scored first in the opening frame, following an RBI single by catcher Reuben Pino to score Yasser Santana. Santana got on with a walk and stole a base to lead off the game.

During the second inning the Wolves (2-0) made sure they didn’t lean on their one-run lead and scored four runs in the frame. Angel Mestre opened with a walk, followed by a single from Nick Lopez, and Ozzie Millet got on base to load them up. Alex Saavedra then came through with a hit to right, scoring two more.

After Iruela issued two more walks, Manager Willie Vazquez went to his bullpen and brought in Joseph Fernandez. Chris Wydler made sure the scoring didn’t stop there, bringing in two more runs before Joseph Fernandez recovered and struck out the next to batters.

That long inning seemed to have an effect on Andre Perez.

The Golden Hawks (1-1) wouldn’t go down without a fight. The Golden Hawks’ bats came to life when Domingo Cedano, Carlos Santana and Marlon Castillo opened the bottom half of the second with a double, a single and a double, respectively, scoring two runs. Perez settled down from there and recovered to get the next three outs to escape the jam.

After that it was all Perez.

Perez showed great poise on the mound, unfazed by errors on the field, and making the pitches that had to be made to be successful. His combination of fastballs and curveballs were effective throughout the game, as he surrendered just three hits the rest of the way while totaling seven strikeouts.

The Wolves went on to add three more runs, scoring a run in the third on a wild pitch that brought in Yasser Santana. Another runner came home in the fourth after a hit-by-pitch to Jose Varela and a single from Nick Perez that knocked Varela in. The final run came on a Andres Valbuena sacrifice-fly to center-field, scoring Alex Saavedra.

The game didn’t go by without a web-gem though. During the bottom of the sixth, Marlon Castillo put a charge into a ball that looked like a double and Angel Valbuena ran back and jumped to make the catch crashing into the left-field fence in the process.

Chris Cuba came in for the sixth and seven innings to close out the game for the Wolves. After retiring the side during the sixth, the Golden Hawks sparked a one-out rally by scoring once after Julio Mendez crossed home on an Austin Voeller single to center field. But that would be the only harm done, with Cuba getting the final two outs of the inning.

Perez gave some light to what his mindset was the whole game.

“The game plan for pitchers is just to dominate with strikes in the beginning, because once you get first-pitch strikes then the hitters at the plate start thinking, and that’s when hitters aggressiveness is a pitchers best advantage,” said Perez. “That’s how our pitching staff goes along; with the first-pitch strikes and doing what our catcher calls behind the plate.”

Being one of the couple seniors on the team, Saavedra expects the most out of his last season with the Wolves. He expects his team to go all the way.

“I’m just trying to lead them, show them how to play fundamental baseball and play the game right,” Saavedra said.

As the Golden Hawks look to rebound against the Miami Brito Panthers, Manager Willie Vazquez already knows what has to be done in order for his team to be successful, not only in their next game but throughout the whole season.

“I think we need to be up more,” Vazquez said. “We’re not focused on what the sequence of pitching is, we weren’t focused on the field for the plays, we weren’t throwing strikes from the beginning, and we fell behind very early in the ballgame. I think that if we actually go on and not get behind in ballgames and attack instead of being the person being attacked we should be ok.”

One bright sign for the Golden Hawks was Juan Kirk, who went 3-for-4 with two singles and a double, while also reaching on an error to reach base in all his at-bats. Kirk said his mindset for the day was simple, hit the ball where it’s pitched and hard.

TERRA starts the season looking forward to extending their two-game winning streak against the Belen Jesuit Wolverines at home in a 6A-16 District matchup.

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