Columbus Edges Park Vista To Reach 8A Final

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The Columbus Explorers have played in a lot of big ball games against tough teams all throughout the season. Facing their greatest challenge of the year in a dangerous Park Vista squad, the Explorers showed all that they are made of to go punch-for-punch in this heavyweight bout.

With two of South Florida’s strongest programs dueling for the right to advance to the Class 8A championship, it was Columbus who landed just enough blows to emerge with a hard-earned 5-4 victory in Wednesday night’s state semifinal at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers. The Explorers (26-5) move on to play for a chance at their second state championship, having won it all once before back in 2003.

“I think the amazing thing is that last year we graduated seven scholarship seniors and we just kind of flew under the radar,” Columbus Manager Joe Weber said. “It was a group of kids that really didn’t have much experience, but they are pretty talented. We felt that as the year went on we would get a lot better, and that is kind of what happened. When I was younger I used to get pretty wrapped up in losses early on, but really it doesn’t matter. The record doesn’t mean anything; you just have to be hot at the end. That’s all we’ve talked about all year.”

Things came right down to the wire in the top of the seventh inning, after Park Vista put the tying run on second base thanks to a double from Jordan Poore. Columbus reliever Matt Marini dug in to record two strikeouts for the final two outs that ended the game and earned the big Explorers ace the biggest victory of his high school career.

“That’s what baseball is about is who can execute the best,” Marini said. “I was able to make the pitches and they all played pretty good defense. It’s nice to have guys that will do anything for the team. No one is going up there trying to hit a home run and be a hero. We don’t have those guys; we have guys who trust in each other. This team has just gelled together and there is a lot of team chemistry.”

It was a contest that featured two electric hurlers in Park Vista ace Austin Smith and Columbus workhorse Christopher Coipel. While the general expectations were that the game would likely be a low-scoring contest, instead both offenses found plenty of success to turn it into a slugfest. The two squads combined for 19 hits, with runners reaching base in nearly every frame.

Just moments before the scheduled start of the game, the stadium’s lightning detector sounded and forced a lengthy delay to the first pitch. After waiting three hours for the weather to clear, both teams admitted it was a struggle for the pitchers to get warmed back up and find their groove.

“For me, at least, my arm gets cold pretty fast and when I had to wait that long to start the game it just killed my arm,” Coipel admitted. “It wasn’t my day today; it was Matt’s day today.”

Marini was called into relief action early on. The veteran hurler has been struggling through a broken toe over the last few weeks, but in the heat of the moment Marini claimed he felt no pain. All he knew was that his team needed him, and he vowed to be there for them the way they have been there for him all season too.

“I think the adrenaline killed the pain,” Marini said. “I was just doing whatever I could to help the team get the win. I struggled in some games in the regionals, and Chris came in to back me up. I guess it was my turn to do it tonight.”

The Cobras (28-3) got things started right out of the chute. Matthew Mika led off with a double off the Green Monster and then stole third base to get within ninety feet of putting his team on the scoreboard. Dakota Julylia and Joe Genord both walked to load the bases, and Smith lined an RBI single through the left side to easily send Mika home for the 1-0 advantage.

Columbus erupted offensively in the bottom of the first inning to erase that deficit and take a commanding three-run lead. Danny Casals got things started with a single up the middle, and Dominick Reyes followed with a blast high off the top of the Green Monster for an RBI double. Alain Santana drew a walk, and Reyes advanced to third on a passed ball on the pitch to put runners on the corners. Third baseman Jackie Urbaez made solid connection on a hit-and-run to line an RBI single into center field, as Santana went from first to third on the play.

The Explorers had yet to surrender an out and held a lead they would not relinquish. With the pressure on, the batters kept pounding away. Urbaez stole second base to get into scoring position, and Gabe Rivera drove a shot into the right-center field gap to plate both runners. Rivera was gunned down trying to stretch the hit into a triple, but the damage was already done.

“Facing a guy like Austin, he is a great pitcher but I feel like our coaching staff helped us prepare and helped us minimize our swings,” Casals explained. “We had more team at bats, and that helped us put more balls in play and helped us score more runs. That ended up helping us win the game, just putting the ball in play and trusting the other guys.”

Park Vista was not ready to go down so easily. The club kept chipping away to answer back, scoring in each of the next two frames to pull within 4-3.

Columbus added the deciding run in the fourth to go up 5-3. Casals legged out a two-out double on a liner into the right field corner, and then moved on to third on a passed ball. Reyes delivered again with a grounder through the left side of the infield defense to send Casals the final ninety feet.

“When you have these guys throwing for you, it doesn’t take much,” Casals said of his two ace teammates. “One or two runs is all it takes to get us a win. It gives us a lot of confidence having these two guys out there on the mound, and if we get ahead early and get a couple early these guys are going to take us home. We were lucky enough to score five runs, but I think our team really believes in these guys. It gives us extra confidence to go up there and score runs and do us.”

Smith and the Cobras responded again in the fifth. The pitcher connected for another double on a shot to center, this time giving way to courtesy-runner Michael Razzo. A ground out to the right side from Poore pushed Razzo to third, and a wild pitch allowed him to come home and again pull the Cobras within a run.

Clinging to the small advantage, Columbus refused to break. The club has stood tall to adversity all year long, and in the final moments of this thrilling contest the players rallied together to close out the win.

“I think it was a typical win for us in that it was another one-run game,” Weber said. “We’ve been winning games in the regionals one to nothing, and all year this team has been figuring out ways to win. Tonight I thought we were going to be in a real tight, low-scoring game, and we banged out nine hits off a pitcher who is obviously very good. But that is the way they have been all year; they have found a way to win. They have an uncanny ability of pulling things out.”

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