St. Brendan baseball moves within one series victory from state final four
Two days after letting an opportunity slip away, the St. Brendan baseball team was not about to let it happen again.
The Sabres, who dropped a one-run, extra-inning heartbreaker on their home field in Game two of a Region 4-3A best-of-3 semifinal series with Miami Killian, traveled to the Cougars' home field Thursday afternoon.
St. Brendan took maximum advantage of a struggling Killian pitching staff that went through five pitchers and doled out a total of 12 walks to cruise to an easy 9-3 victory in Game 3.
The Sabres (19-13) advance to the regional final for only the third time in program history and first time since 2013. The No. 6 seed in the region, St. Brendan will travel to take on top-seeded Miami Springs for a best-of-3 series beginning Monday at 3:30 p.m. in hopes of securing their first trip to the state final four since they won the state title in 1983.
'We've been grinding these games out throughout the playoffs and today was more of the same,' St. Brendan coach Jorge Robles said. 'We just get out there and go seven innings as hard as we can, take it pitch by pitch and today we found a way to grinding things out again.'
The Sabres batted around and scored a pair of runs in the second without recording a single hit as Killian starter Alex Fonseca issued five walks and didn't make it out of the inning.
By the time senior catcher Rafael Rizo stepped up to the plate in the top of the fourth, the Sabres led 4-1, (thanks to three more walks, a hit batsmen and a Killian error) and still didn't have a hit yet. That changed when Rizo, with two on and two outs, rocketed a 3-2 pitch into the left field corner for a two-RBI standup double.
'I was just looking for my pitch, something belt high and not chase something down low and he gave it to me,stayed to my approach, got good barrel on it and away it went,' said Rizo of his big hit. 'Tuesday was a really rough game for us, probably our worse game of the playoffs because we had some big errors late in the game that cost us so we were a little down. But there was no time to mope around and sulk.
'We had to pull our heads together quickly and not dwell on that and we did that out there today.'
It was a choppy day for St. Brendan starter Gianncarlo Guzman but, like his team, he managed to muddle his way through five-plus innings of work while giving up just one run despite walking five and yielding five hits.
'He wasn't perfect out there but made the right pitches at the right time,' said Robles of Guzman. 'They (Killian) were looking for fast balls all day long but his best pitch is the slider and that's what got him through.'
After he recorded the first out of the sixth inning, Guzman maxed out on his pitch count and Robles went to his bullpen. Trailing 7-1, the Cougars (15-15) seized the opportunity by wrapping out three hits, scoring a run and still had the bases loaded with only one out and the top of the order coming up.
But Matthew Garcia then entered and got Kendry Blanco to foul out to third base and Lucas Arcaute to line out to center to end the inning and the threat.
'We're excited to be moving on and looking forward to taking on a great team in Miami Springs,' Robles said. 'They've had a great season so far know that it will be a challenge for us. We're just going to go in there, put nine guys out on the field and play as hard as we can play.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
Luke Raley's second RBI single
Sabres Pondering Whether Tuch Is Part Of Future Plans The Buffalo Sabres are in the process of putting together their plan for what to do with their roster this summer. Various reports have indicated that the club is taking offers for restricted free agent defenseman Bowen Byram, and are at least listening to teams on RFA winger JJ Peterka, but there is not a clear picture of what the future may hold for winger Alex Tuch. 2:20 Now Playing Paused Ad Playing
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Andrean's Charlie Sollars loves ‘that adrenaline rush.' Just wait until the state championship game.
If the Class 3A state championship game is on the line on Friday, Andrean senior outfielder Charlie Sollars wants to be the one at the plate. The Lincoln Trail commit doesn't shy away from those high-pressure moments. He embraces them. 'I just love to compete,' Sollars said. 'That pressure you have sometimes when the bases are loaded and there's a 3-2 count … I love the feeling of that adrenaline rush.' Sollars could get his chance when the 59ers (30-3), who are ranked No. 1 in the 3A state coaches poll, play No. 7 Jasper (28-6) at Victory Field in Indianapolis at 7 p.m. Friday. They will try to win their ninth state title and first since 2022. Although Sollars pitched earlier this season, he has made most of his impact with his bat. He's hitting .357 with six doubles, one home run, a team-high 36 RBIs, 38 runs scored and 12 steals. Sollars was in the cleanup spot during Andrean's 4-0 win over NorthWood in the LaPorte Semistate championship game on Saturday. 'He's been a consistent offensive player the whole year,' Andrean coach Dave Pishkur said. 'He's a competitor, and he likes the moment, whatever that moment may be.' Sollars has had plenty of moments like that during his high school career, which included time as an outside linebacker on Andrean's football team. He had 71 tackles and two interceptions for the 2A semistate runner-up last season. Pishkur said Sollars sometimes approaches baseball like he's on a football field. 'You'd expect him, being a linebacker, to take some of that mentality onto the baseball field,' Pishkur said. 'He doesn't do it in baseball because it's a different sport, but in football he's a talker. If he makes a tackle, he might say something to you as well.' Sollars noted that he doesn't have as many opportunities to talk like that because he's in the outfield for half of the game. 'Football's a much more emotional sport,' he said. 'Baseball is more of a mental battle, so you try to keep your emotions to a minimum.' It can be a different story during practices, however. Sollars takes advantage of opportunities to be heard by his teammates. 'Any way to create competition in practice is a good thing,' he said. Andrean senior catcher Blake Kouder said Sollars has a knack for making practices feel like game situations. 'He can get on your nerves for sure,' Kouder said with a laugh. 'There's no harm intended with it, but sometimes during practices it can be hard to find that competition, so he just implements it himself.' Sollars implemented that in the weight room during the offseason too. 'It's more about flexibility rather than just heavy lifting,' he said. 'Instead of getting on the bench press and trying to lift as much as you can, it's about explosive movements and power, moving the weights as fast as I can to build up the smaller, faster-twitch muscles for baseball.' Kouder said Sollars savors any chance to compete. 'It just comes with his personality,' Kouder said. 'He's not a guy who's going to stand down to anybody. He's just competing with the guy on the mound, and he's not going to let them beat him.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Donovan Solano's sliding stop
Tage Thompson Reflects On Teammates Lack Of Response After Noesen Hit One of the many low points of the Buffalo Sabres 2024-25 season was the lack of response to the hit on leading scorer Tage Thompson by New Jersey forward Stefan Noesen. Thompson was laid out by Noesen early in the third period of the Sabres 4-3 win over the Devils on February 2nd. Noesen was given a match penalty and game misconduct, but none of the players on the ice at the time of the hit or in the subsequent remaining 15 minutes responded to the hit, something that Thompson reflected on with reporter Andy Strickland. 2:20 Now Playing Paused Ad Playing
