Lefty Showdown Sees Goleman Take Down Coral Gables 4-2

It was a battle of the arms as the Barbara Goleman Gators (5-4) defeated the Coral Gables Cavaliers (3-6) by a score of 4-2 in a lefty-lefty match-up.

Senior Aidan Aguilar was lights out in his outing. He was a leading force in his teams win as he pitched a commanding six innings in which he allowed two runs, stuck out eight and only walked one. The four year letter-men is the number two arm in his teams rotation, however he put on a show as if he was the ace on his squad.

“I felt great the whole game,” said Aguilar when asked about his performance. “Today we had a pep-rally at school, so the energy was there all day.”

He started the game using his fastball and slider as his primary pitches. The slider was working well as he was able to land it for a strike when he needed to, but also get hitters to chase. Manager Jose Lopez was elated with his number two arm in the rotation.

“Aidan’s been here for a while, he’s one of the guys that stayed and believed in the program, and today was his best performance of the year so far” said manager Lopez when asked about Aidan’s outing and and time with the team.

To close out the seventh inning, the Gators turned to junior right-handed pitched Joan Nunez. Nunez threw a 1-2-3 inning to earned the save for his team. His confidence was undeniable, which makes sense considering it’s a big part of his game. When asked about whether or not he thought the last inning would go as smoothly as it did, he replied emphatically, “Yep. I felt good”

The Gators are now on a four game win streak, and Lopez had nothing but admiration for his team following the win.

“Since we started picking it up, we have a lot of energy, and it’s worked out” said Lopez about the win streak.

Offensively, the Gators tallied two hits and racked up four walks. Defensively, they had a polished performance as they failed to commit a single error all day, helping them get the victory.

The Cavaliers battled hard behind left-handed pitcher and Montreat College commit Justin Bohanon, who too pitched quite the game. Justin went five powerful innings, in which he gave up one earned run, struck out five and walked only 2. With a fastball, change-up, curve ball mix, he relied greatly on the fastball, and while early in the first inning he struggled to find his rhythm, he was able to settled down and pushed his team forward.

“In the first inning, I wasn’t feeling myself, wasn’t really warmed up yet, but once I got into a rhythm, I felt really good,” said Justin on his outing.

Cavaliers manager Antonio Rodriguez was impressed with his starters performance stating “This was a real confidence boost for him, he needed to show his abilities… we know he has good stuff, but for him to come out today, it was really good to see him go out there and compete”

The Cavalier actually put up more hits than the Gators, as they doubled the Gator total earning four hits. Rodriguez emphasized situation hitting needs to improve moving forward if they want to steer the ship in the right direction.

“We need to focus on timely hitting. I’d rather have five hits and five runs than 10 hits and two runs. Yeah, were swinging the bat well, but timely hitting is crucial.”

The Gators will face off against the Killian Cougars (3-3) next, as the Cavaliers take on the Felix Varela Vipers (7-0-1).

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