Florida Christian Comes Back 7-5 Over Monsignor Pace

A playoff atmosphere accompanied a playoff-caliber game on Tuesday night at Patriots Field in Olympia Heights. The two team’s regular-season District 4A-15 finale was a back-and-forth contest all the way through. Florida Christian came from behind to earn a 7-5 victory over Monsignor Pace to shake things up in the district.

The Patriots (10-10) finished district play with a 6-4 record, tying district rival Mater Lakes for third place. Meanwhile the Spartans (13-9) fall into a tie at the top of 4A-15 with St. Brendan, both with a 7-3 district record. In both cases, the teams split the two meetings during the season.

“This is an absolutely huge win,” Patriots Manager Chris Brigman said. “Anytime you can get a district win, especially over a quality opponent like that, I just can’t be more proud of our guys and of our coaches. We feel really blessed right now. That’s just another night in 4A-15: two tough teams getting after it. We will try to finish tough here down the stretch, and look forward to the district tournament in a few weeks.”

With the game tied at three runs apiece in the bottom of the fifth, Florida Christian went ahead for good thanks to a three-run home run from Christian Copiel. Ruben Someilan singled and Brandon Chinea walked to bring Copiel to the plate, and he went opposite field for the longball that put the Patriots back in front for good.

“I was happy I was able to do my job in that big spot,” Copiel said. “Early in the at-bat, they threw me high and inside. I tried to do my best with that, but I wound up fouling it off. After that I was just trying to protect and slash at it. I tried to get on top of it, but I got more backspin than topspin, squared it up pretty good and just put it out.”

Lefty Frank Chacon got the start for the Patriots and remained perfect for three innings. He limited his mistakes on the night and limited a high-powered Spartans offense to just three runs on three hits. Using a high-80’s heater mixed well with low-70’s breakers, the senior pitched to contact effectively, keeping the ball down and trusting his defense behind him. In his five innings of work, Chacon only allowed two balls to leave the confines of the dirt of the diamond.

The Patriots’ defense rewarded his confidence by playing flawlessly. The shortstop Chinea set the tone for the defense immediately, flashing the leather on a leaping play after Pace’s lead-off hitter laced the first pitch his way. The Patriots’ infield kept the ball in front of them all night long, recording six groundouts. On three of them, first baseman Jorge Gonzalez made fantastic stretches, allowing throws to beat runners and saving potential throwing errors.

“We have had some struggles defensively but today we picked it up really well. I know that we are going to continue that kind of play going forward,” Chacon said. “On the mound, I’ve kind of been on a roll lately. So I was just trying to stay consistent and let the bats go to work for me.”

After Chacon exited, Alex Nodarse got in and out of the sixth inning with the lead intact. Kendrick Garcia handled the closing duties in the seventh with style, shutting the door after just his ninth pitch.

“I can’t be more excited for our staff,” Brigman said. “We’ve been waiting a long time to get outings like that, and anytime your bullpen can come in and pick up quality starts like that, it’s huge. We just feel very fortunate right now.”

Copiel echoed his Manager’s sentiments on the night regarding the spectacular defensive effort.

“The way we played tonight was like no other game we’ve ever played before,” Copiel said. “We didn’t make an error and we were all able to stay in the moment. Pitching did their job and executed and we kept it short, sweet and to the point.”

Offensively, the Patriots’ 2-3-4 hitters lit up the scoreboard, going a collective 5-for-6 and reaching base in nine of the 11 chances they had. The trio staked their starting hurler to an early 1-0 lead in the first when Chinea singled, was moved to third on an error, and plated by Garcia. Garcia came through with another RBI in the third inning to plate Copiel, the first of two Patriots runs in that frame.

Although he was in no way surprised about the competitive nature of the game and the effort displayed on both sides, Coach Brigman was infinitely proud of his team for being able to eek out a huge victory against a very tough opponent and he hopes that the big win allow the Patriots to finish the season strong and head in to the playoffs on a positive note.

Monsignor Pace enjoyed similar production from the same area of their lineup, as its 2-3-4 hitters went 4-for-8. After falling behind early, the Spartans’ bats caught fire in the third inning. Following a double by leadoff man Jorge Arenas, he moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a fielder’s choice RBI from Gus Guerra.

Andres Sanchez then walked in front of Lorenzo Hampton, who connected on the first pitch of his at-bat for a long home run to deep left-center field, giving the Spartans the lead. Arenas and Sanchez each reached base again in the fifth inning and again were plated by Hampton, this time via a one-out double. Hampton went 2-for-3 with five RBIs.

“Lorenzo has been swinging the bat strong all year and he’s made some great adjustments,” Pace Manager Tom Duffin said. “Last year, he was missing a lot of two-strike pitches, but this year he’s shortening up and getting some big two-strike hits.”

The Spartans displayed some good mound work as well. Southpaw starter Manuel Rodriguez and reliever Peter Diaz each worked three innings. Both flashed good stuff, keeping the ball low in the zone to induce a combined 17 ground balls and fly balls. However, only 13 of them resulted in outs. Duffin equated the extra outs his team gave to the Patriots as a huge difference-maker in the final outcome.

“We had some miscues on defense and they were able to take advantage of them,” Duffin said. “A few spots in which we should have been out of innings without much damage turned into one and two-run innings for them. That’s the difference in the game. We will see them again in the playoffs though, so we will regroup and be ready for that.”

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