St. Brendan Holds Off Miami Senior For 4-3 Victory

Miami Senior bent St. Brendan but fell just short of breaking it, as the Sabres held off a late rally to take a 4-3 win on Monday.

The Stingarees were down 4-1 going into the top of the seventh but then came up with two runs with two outs to make it a one-run game. After two flyouts, Gustavo Miranda walked, Jordan Ibarra singled and Mario Morales walked to load the bases. Gamaliel Rivas came up and, on a 1-2 count, lined a ball into center to score Miranda and Ibarra. Closer David Perez induced a flyout on the next batter to end the game.

Michael Torrente reached on a error and came home on Nick Bermudez’s sacrifice fly to give the Sabres (5-2) a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. St. Brendan held on to that lead until the top of the fifth when a walk by Manny Garcia, a single by Enrique Rivero and a hit-by-pitch by Oney Pino loaded the bases for Miranda, who was walked to bring in Garcia.

The Sabres recaptured the lead in the bottom of the inning. Luis Lamarche led off with a line-drive single to left as part of a 2-for-3 day. Bermudez and Ryan Hernandez walked to load the bases. Abraham Sequera then smacked a line-drive double to right field to score Bermudez, before Michael Perez singled home courtesy-runner Christian Centeno.

Hernandez’s single in the bottom of the sixth brought in Robert Almeida to make it 4-1 for St. Brendan.

Frank Melero got the win for the Sabres, tossing four shutout innings. He struck out five, walked four and gave up one hit.

St. Brendan had a balanced offense in which nearly every batter produced a hit. It was a difference from Thursday’s 7-5 loss to LaSalle, Manager Tito Rodriguez said.

“The approach today at the plate was better,” Rodriguez said. “We tried to put the ball in play more. It was good. We left too many guys in scoring position against LaSalle. Today, we struck out just four times. We got more on base.”

Rodriguez said he’s also pleased with what some of his reserve players are doing to help the team to five wins.

“I’m very happy with the job the guys are doing so far in the season, but I’m impressed with the job my guys from the bench are doing,” Rodriguez said. “All of them are doing something for the team.”

Centeno, a freshman, has scored six times running for catcher Hernandez. Almeida, a junior, has had two pinch-hits in three at-bats. Seniors Ryan Denis and Charles Diaz are doing well coming out of the bullpen.

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