Mediavilla Hurls Mater Past SLAM In Hall Of Fame Opener

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Mike Mediavilla has a big role on the Mater Academy baseball team.

As a big intimidating left-hander with dangerous stuff, the senior has the distinction of being the team’s ace and leader. Guys look up to him and they also simply love to play baseball behind him, because when he is on it is a treat to watch.

Tuesday night in the late game of the Hall of Fame Classic Spring Tournament, Mediavilla rewarded the many fans who waited for their late contest to finally start after the weather pushed the games at Pompano Four Fields back throughout the day. With a first pitch coming around 8:30 PM, the real diehards that remained were treated to seeing Mediavilla lighting up the radar gun and mowing through batters to pitch his way to a victory.

Mater Academy supplied some late offense to break open a scoreless affair, and went on to down SLAM Academy 8-1 to cap an exciting opening day of tournament baseball.

“Mike can beat anybody in the county when he’s on, and he’s pretty dominant when he’s throwing strikes,” said Lions Manager Mike DiRosa. “He gets himself ahead in the count and then he mixes in his breaking ball and his changeup. Our team really does rally behind him because they feel that every time he takes the ball we can win and we’ve got a good chance of winning. They actually love playing behind him, and it picks up the pace a little bit too, which can be something good.”

Mediavilla understands the expectations that come with such responsibility. But the big southpaw has embraced what he has earned and he knows what matter the most is playing team baseball and going after the wins.

“It’s just a great group of guys and you’ve got to play for them,” said Mediavilla. “Playing the role I have you have got to be unselfish and play for your team. You have to do your best to pick everybody up and have everybody confident in doing what they have to do and staying focused in the game.”

Mediavilla set the tone right out of the gate by striking out the first two batters he faced and delivering a 1-2-3 frame. After walking Jeter Downs to lead off the second, he retired the next three hitters in order. Javier Camacho connected for the Titans’ first hit when he lined a single past second leading off the third, and his club threatened for the first time as Anthony Vilar walked and they both advanced on a ball in the dirt. But the left-hander responded to strike out the final batter swinging to escape unharmed.

“I felt real good. I had one inning where I was kind of shaky, but then I found it and I settled down,” Mediavilla said. “I started getting lower and my curveball started falling, and my changeup started falling. I started making my pitches good, so it was just a good night. I knew whatever pitch I threw, I threw with confidence. I knew it was going to be a battle tonight and it was a good game tonight.”

Mediavilla put up two perfect innings in the fourth and fifth and retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced.

“Their lefty, we probably wouldn’t have scored on him in about two weeks,” said SLAM Manager Rich Hofman. “It wasn’t a matter like we feel we should have beaten him, but it’s how we played that matters most to me. Tonight our guys just didn’t perform defensively and it was actually embarrassing.”

The Lions broke the game open late after some Titans miscues opened the door. Angel Ortiz reached base on an infield error, and then Danny Reyes reached when a high infield popup managed to hit the field untouched. From there the Lions pounced on the opportunity, as Mediavilla walked to load the bases and Chris Cabrera delivered the winning hit as he ripped a two-RBI single through the right side. Michael Escarra came on as a courtesy runner for Mediavilla, and he also scored in the inning on an RBI walk from Patrick O’Brien.

Mater put things away with a big five-run sixth inning. Reyes had an RBI double, while Cabrera, Deyvid Silva and Lazaro Rodriguez all supplied RBI singles as they batted around the order.

“I don’t think we did very well; I think our defense stunk and I think our lack of pitching depth showed tonight,” said Hofman. “We did OK for four innings, but the game is seven. So I guess I compare my defense the last three or four games, that used to be our strength, but is sort of as helpful as a screen door in a submarine. I am very unhappy about the way we played defense tonight; that’s supposed to be our strength.”

SLAM got a strong start from Andrew Velez, who tossed three scoreless frames thanks in part to a big play from center fielder Brian Frias in the second. After Silva singled and Lazaro Rodriguez walked, O’Brien laid down a nice sacrifice bunt to move them into scoring position. Alex Rodriguez then did his job and sailed one deep to center. Frias made the catch and then prevented the run from scoring by gunning the ball home to Titans catcher Adrian DelCastillo to record the out at the plate.

DelCastilo also delivered an RBI double to score Kevin Garcia in the seventh and avoid the shutout.

It has been a strong start for the Titans in their inaugural season, but on Tuesday they met the same fate that many teams have endured against Mediavilla.

It was a nice win for the Lions, who will next be tested by an equally potent Miami Brito squad during second-day action Wednesday at Pompano Four Fields. Playing against some of the toughest teams in the area and also from around the country, Mediavilla and his Lions helped to work themselves right into the thick of things as they chase after the tournament title.

“Getting a win is always important,” agreed DiRosa. “You want to start off on the right foot and you want to get yourself in that winner’s bracket and keep going.”

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