Quevedo’s Walk-Off HR Sends Mater To Regional Semifinal

Box Score

Trailing by five runs and running out of outs and the chances they provide, the Mater Academy Lions stormed back for an unforgettable comeback victory, in Tuesday’s Region 5A-4 quarterfinal playoff. After rallying to even things up and force extra innings, Yodelkis Quevedo hit a two-run home in the bottom of the eighth inning to walk-off Mater Academy with a 7-5 victory over the Suncoast Chargers.

Mater (19-8) advances to the regional semifinals for the first time since the 2022 season.

“We had a great, great hitting performance,” Mater Manager Humberto Bencomo said. “So we’re excited to have another day and another action with another opponent.”

The Lions will travel north to take on the American Heritage Patriots on Friday night, in a 5A regional semifinal. The defending-state champion Patriots (18-10) advanced with a 2-0 win over the Pembroke Pines Charter Jaguars.

All tied up in the bottom of the eighth, Quevedo delivered to be the last hero of the night. After Eiker Noguera led off with a walk, he jumped on a 2-0 offering and launched it over the center field fence for the winning blast.

Early on, it was the Chargers (19-8) who looked to be in control, after they erupted for five runs in the top of the fifth. Lee Ellis did the biggest damage when he came up with the bases loaded, with a bases-clearing, three-RBI double that also led to him scoring off an error to make it 4-0 and have the affect of a grand slam. Ellis was 3-for-5 on the night.

But Lions reliever Jonathan Leyva came on to put out the fire. The senior provided four valuable relief innings to hold the rope and give Mater the opportunity for the comeback.

“We had Jonathan Leyva come in as a reliever and pitch four innings, with eight strikeouts,” Bencomo said. “In the top of the eighth, he had a runner on second with nobody out and he struck out the side to leave that runner there.”

When things were at their bleakest, it was Quevedo who also delivered the first big spark. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Jacob Amador was hit by a pitch, Noguera singled and Brandon Lorenzo was also hit by a pitch to put a base runner on every bag. Quevedo then laced a two-RBI single to left to get Mater on the board, and sophomore Bryan Fernandez pushed another run across with a bases-loaded RBI walk.

Fernandez played an even larger role later on, when he tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with a two-run home run. Quevedo singled to start the inning, as he was 3-for-5 on the night, and then Fernandez connected on a 3-1 pitch and crushed it to center field.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!