Weather Interferes on Day Two as Two are Eliminated From Play
GM 4: No. 1 Seed Southeastern 11, No. 2 Seed St. Thomas 7
Records: Southeastern (48-9), St. Thomas (43-13)
Game Time: 3:39
Pitchers of Record: W: Romero (4-1), L: Graña (5-2)
Weather: 82, partly cloudy
Location: FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach, Fla.
St. Thomas grabbed a 3-0 lead after the opening inning of the elimination game, as the Bobcats were able to push all the runs across with two outs already recorded. Alejandro Rivero’s single up the middle drove in two. The Bobcats threatened for more in the bottom half of the third frame, but with the bases loaded, the Fire went to reliever Heibert Romero who earned the third out with a strikeout to keep the Fire’s deficit at three runs.
Southeastern then plated their opening two runs of the game in their next at-bats. Mike Taylor Jr. first laced a two-out RBI single into right field, then after a walk, Willi Estrada singled to center field to bring in Taylor Jr. and draw the Fire to within a single run at 3-2 St. Thomas.
The Fire’s momentum continued in the top of the fifth inning, as back-to-back solo home runs from Dan Valerio and Ivan Nunez on the first pitch of each at-bat put the fire in front 4-3. St. Thomas responded with a deep ball of their own in the bottom half of the frame, as Rivero got a hold of one to drive in three runs and put the Bobcats right back ahead, this time at 6-4.
The St. Thomas lead didn’t hold for long however, as the Fire scored four in the sixth after a three-run shot to left field from first baseman Noah Strohl and another two-out RBI single from Taylor Jr. that brought the score to 8-6 in favor of Southeastern. The Fire lead swelled to 11-6 following three more runs manufactured in the seventh and Romero continued to plug along on the mound until the ninth inning when he gave way to Keven Long after the first two Bobcats reached base.
A St. Thomas single then loaded the bases with no outs yet recorded, and Chris Garabedian’s sacrifice fly brought one run home to make it 11-7. The tying run was brought to the plate but any batting heroics were not to be, as a strikeout from Long concluded the day’s opener and eliminated the Bobcats from the tournament.
GM 5: No. 6 Seed Thomas 12, No. 4 Seed Keiser 3
Records: Keiser (32-21), Thomas (26-24)
Game Time: 7:00
Pitchers of Record: W: Rogers (3-2), L: Abreu (2-4)
Weather: 80, rainy and cloudy
Location: FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach, Fla.
Coming off a 4-3 victory over the top-seeded Southeastern on Thursday, No. 6 seed Thomas struck first with a run in the top of the second inning on a fielder’s choice RBI from Keefer Beaty. Inclement weather arrived in the third inning, and for the second day in a row weather interrupted the day’s intended schedule.
The game resumed at 7:30 p.m. with two runners on base for Thomas, and the Night Hawks quickly made it 7-0 with six runs in the inning after batting around the order. Landon Boyette had a two-RBI single and Chase Hinson a two-RBI triple to highlight the big inning for the Night Hawks.
Keiser’s offense came alive for two runs in the third to cut into the deficit as Josh Aprea had a sacrifice fly and Garrett Hall doubled to left field for an RBI. In the top of the fourth however, Thomas’ Jake Bryan hit a solo shot to up the Night Hawk advantage to 8-2. The Night Hawks added one more run to place the score at 9-2, but the Seahawks then neutralized that last run with a run of their own to place the score at 9-3 in favor of Thomas through four stanzas played.
Thomas, led by Bryan, maintained the torrid offensive pace as the Night Hawks only tightened their grip in the ball game. Some small ball yielded a run in the fifth before Bryan struck again with a two-out RBI single to make it 11-3. Later Bryan improved to 5-of-5 from the plate with an RBI double that brought it to 12-3 in the seventh, and the junior finished the game 5-of-6 from the dish to lead the Night Hawks to the 12-3 victory while eliminating Keiser in the process.
GM 6: No. 3 Seed Webber International, No. 5 Warner
Due to the extensive weather delay, the game between the Warriors and the Royals was moved to be played on Saturday with the first pitch set for 9:00 a.m.
Saturday’s schedule will be rolling, with games beginning approximately 30 minutes following the conclusion of the game immediately before it. The complete schedule and the full results from the 2019 Sun Conference Tournament so far are located at the
Tournament Central.