Charles W. Flanagan High School Baseball

Behind a six run, six hit outburst in the bottom of the sixth inning that saw them send eleven batters to the plate and overcome a 9-4 deficit, the Flanagan Falcons (22-3) rallied to defeat the Pembroke Pines Pines Charter Jaguars (14-9), 10-9, on Senior Night at Falcons Field on Wednesday night.

After a pregame ceremony honoring the nine graduating Falcon seniors, the Jaguars aimed to be spoilers, picking up three runs in their first at bat of the game off senior starter Diego Delgado.  Flanagan would bounce back immediately, cutting the Jaguar lead to 3-2 after Justin Frias (1-3, R, 2 RBI, HR, BB) slammed his ninth homer of the season, driving in Ricky Santiago (4-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B).

In the top of the second inning, senior southpaw Mark Peterson ended a Jaguar threat with two strikeouts in relief of Delgado.  The Falcons would then knot the game at 3-3 in the bottom half after a solo shot from freshman 3rd baseman Nick Basto (1-3, R, RBI, HR, BB).  However, after picking up a run in the third, the Jaguars would pick up four more in the fourth, capitalizing on 3 walks and 2 Falcon errors.

That 8-3 Jaguar lead would hold until the bottom of the fifth, when back to back doubles by seniors Zach Jackson (2-4, 2 R, RBI, 2 2B) and Danny Rojo-Campos (2-3, 2B, BB) were followed by an RBI groundout from Corey Janson (1-2, 3 RBI, 2B).  However, Pines Charter would get that run right back in the top of the sixth inning, leaving the home Falcons down 9-4 with two at bats and six outs left.

It was up to centerfielder Geoff Jimenez (3-4, R, RBI, SB) to start the rally, and he did with a single up the middle.  After a flyout to center, Santiago doubled in Jimenez and would score on consecutive wild pitches, but a strikeout would make it two outs, and concern began to set in for the Flanagan faithful.  A single from Pichi Torres (1-3, R, HBP, SB) would keep it going for Jackson, who delivered an RBI double.  With a man on second base and the base open, the Jaguars opted to intentionally walk Rojo-Campos to pitch to Janson, who made them pay with a two run double to tie it at 9-9.

After a passed ball and a walk put men on the corners, it was back to where the dramatics had started with Jimenez, and his second hit of the inning drove in pinch runner Robert Collin for the go ahead run.  After the inning ended, Torres was called upon in the top of the 7th to close the game out for Adam Quiles (2 2/3 IP, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 H , 3 K, 0 BB), who earned the victory, running his record to 4-0.

The Falcons, as the #1 seed in District 12-6A, will next play in the district semifinal at McArthur High School at 3:30pm on Wednesday, 4/29, awaiting the winner of the #4 Cooper City VS #5 South Broward matchup.