Killian Rallies For Two Wins To Reach Regional Semifinals

Box Score

When the stakes were the highest, the Killian Cougars found their best stuff.

The Florida High School Baseball State Playoffs welcomed a return to a best-of-three series this year, and on Thursday afternoon the Cougars hosted the Pine Crest Panthers in the rubber match of the 3A Region 4 quarterfinals. Pine Crest earned an 8-5 win in the opener, but then Killian responded with an 8-7 game two win that forced Thursday’s elimination showdown.

Although the Panthers struck first with a run in the opening frame, Killian answered back to secure a 3-1 victory to win the series and advance into the regional semifinals.

“Losing game one and knowing it’s a win-or-go-home situation, we leaned into what we do. We work,” Killian Manager Chris Leon said. “This is why we practice as hard as we do as a program, players, coaches. There are not many days off here at the K. Rent is due everyday. The opponents we face, the places we go, it is all for moments like Tuesday and today. It doesn’t matter what happened; the boys didn’t blink. We used basically our whole roster in this series, and we ended up on top.”

Killian did all of its scoring early on. The Cougars (14-13) answered back to tie things up in the bottom of the first, on an RBI single from Jonathan Acosta that drove in Kendry Blanco. Lucas Arcaute then came in with the winning run on a sac-fly RBI from Kevin Nunez in the third, and Antonio Lesizza added an insurance run off an error in the fourth.

Staked with even just the slim lead, the Cougar pitching staff did the rest.

“I had one of my best on the mound today at Killian, senior Zach Fernandez. In a win-or-go-home game he did what he has done since I met him – he gave us a chance,” Leon said.

Fernandez was efficient and effective, giving his team six strong innings to earn the win. The right-hander allowed four hits and four walks, and he struck out three. Sebastian Perez then closed the door with a scoreless seventh to earn the save.

“Pine Crest under Rob Conver is a team that plays the game the right way. They play hard and they left it all on the field this series versus us. So my hat goes off to Coach Conver and his boys,” Leon said. “But now we are going to enjoy this victory, as my players have earned the right to do. Friday and Saturday we will prepare for Round Two of the Regionals.”

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