Coral Gables Wins Behind Big Bats And Cabezas’ Arm

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The buzz around Miami coming into the 2015 season was that Coral Gables was going to be one of the teams that had potential to be good. Not even the most loyal of fans could have predicted they would be this good, this early.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Cavaliers traveled north to face one of Broward County’s top teams, West Broward. Leaving little doubt as to who the better team was on this day, Coral Gables hit three home runs, racked up 13 hits, and served notice to the rest of Miami and Class 8A with a 9-3 victory.

Elijah Eusebio provided the offensive prowess on the afternoon, launching a pair of two-run homers that each traveled nearly 400 feet, and, in a show of discipline, had a ground-out in the middle of the two home runs that moved a runner from second to third. After the game, it was clear which of the at-bats meant the most to Eusebio.

“I feel like the fundamentals are more important than the home runs,” said Eusebio. “When it comes down to the end of a tight game, or we are in a state game, it’s going to be the little things, the fundamentals that help us win the game, not always the big blast.”

That statement was echoed by Cavaliers Manager Phil Wisser.

“We knew what we were going to get from the top of our order, but today we had seven hits from our seven, eight, nine hitters,” said Wisser. “On top of the home runs, they executed offensively in different areas, and that is great to see this early in the season.”

With Eusebio providing Coral Gables with an early lead, they turned to Andrew Cabezas on the mound to shut down the Bobcats. Cabezas, after giving up a run in the first, settled in with a variety of pitches, including a low-90s fastball, a change-up, and a cutter. Cabezas struck out the side in the third, and ended the day going four innings, giving up three hits, and striking out eight.

“We had a big hit from Elijah to get us started, and I was just focusing on throwing all of my pitches for strikes,” said Cabezas, who had such pinpoint control that he started the game by throwing 16 straight strikes. “If we can throw strikes, and score like we did today, we are going to always have a chance to win.”

While Cabezas held West Broward down on the mound, the offense was able to string several rallies, putting up crooked numbers in the first, second, and fifth innings.

Ryan Maya added a two-run homer for the Cavaliers, one of his two hits on the day. Anthony Valdez had three hits, while Joan Gonzalez pitched in with two of his own. Frankie Montesino added two singles and two RBIs for Coral Gables.

West Broward Manager Sergio Ambros took the loss in stride, especially having coached many of the Cavaliers players the past few summers. Ambros, assistant coaches Jorge Miranda and Richie Palmer, and Gables Manager Wisser are all coaches for the Elite Squad summer program. Boca Manager Scott Morrison is also a part of Elite Squad, which led to the three teams playing a round-robin series to start the 2015 season. Boca beat West Broward on Tuesday, and will face Coral Gables Friday night.

“These guys played a great game today,” said Ambros. “Andrew was strong on the mound, and they hit the ball well. We didn’t do the little things today we needed to to win the game.”

Ambros also knows that the season is long, and there was a method to scheduling such tough games early in the year.

“The last two years, we have lost in the district semifinals, and that has not sat well with us,” Ambros said. “I wanted to make sure that we played the toughest schedule possible this year, so when we get late in the season we will have been battle-tested.”

Wisser agreed that the focus was not on the early-season, but later down the road.

“This is a good start for us, but there is a lot of baseball left to be played. We have a tough district, and our schedule is loaded with good teams. It’s going to be a fun year,” Wisser said.

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