Charles W. Flanagan High School Baseball

The Flanagan Falcons have successfully defended 2 of their 3 Championships from  a year ago winning the Region 3 Championship and will have the opportunity to defend their State Title as they make a repeat trip to Sarasota and the State Final Four. Flanagan (27-3) ranked #3 in the State polls held on late for a 8-7 win over #1 ranked Palm Beach Central (28-2) in Wellington. The game lived up to all the hype as 2 of the states premier 6A teams went toe to toe for 7 innings. With all the returning starters the Falcons had from 2005, they looked to a couple of newcomers to carry them to Sarasota. Sophomore 3rd baseman Rolando Gomez was spectacular defensively making 3 crucial plays yet his speed helped the Falcons advance. Roly beat out a chopper to the 1st baseman in the top of the 7th inning, stole 2nd base, advanced to 3rd on a sacrifice fly and would score the winning run on a wild pitch. The Falcons might not have been in a spot to win if not for another 1st year Varsity player. 1st baseman Mitch Massard came thru with his biggest hit as a Falcon in the top of the 6th inning. The junior laced a double to left centerfield scoring 2 runs with the Falcons trailing 7-5. The hit tied the score at 7-7 and helped Flanagan regain the momentum and eventually the game. D.J. Swatscheno started the game and would get into some trouble in the 3rd inning allowing 2 runs on just 1 hit, a walk and an error. The PBC lead was short lived as the Falcons responded in the 4th inning scoring 5 runs off of Broncos ace Mike Gipson (10-2) Swatscheno would be relieved by Glenn Witkowski in the 5th inning after PBC scored 1 run on 2 hits. Witkowski would get roughed up as the Broncos scored 4 runs capped by a 2 run home run by A.J. Regoli. The Flanagan moto has been "Refuse to Lose" all season long and they did just that, they refused to lose. 3 starters have carried the Falcons all year and all 3 played a role in the win on Tuesday. Swatscheno started, Witkowski came in and Coach Evans turned to his sophomore lefthander R.J. Fondon to close the deal. R.J. would pitch the 7th inning and after striking out the 1st batter on 3 pitches he would hang a curve ball that was drilled into the right centerfield gap for a double. After a fly out to deep centerfield, which the runner tagged up on and moved to third, PBC would bring up Regoli with 2 outs and the tying run at 3rd base. Coach Evans would roll the dice and intentionally walk the winning run bringing up Jon Atteo the pitcher who relieved Gipson and the person responsible for the wild pitch that allowed the go-ahead run to score. The lefty-lefty match up would end in the Falcons favor as Atteo hit a soft liner to left field that had a chance to drop in, but J.D. Martinez would race in to catch the ball in the air and the team would mob Fondon on the mound. Witkowski would get the win improving his record to 13-0 while Fondon earned his 1st Varsity Save. Flanagan will take on Hialeah in the State Semifinal on Friday May 19th @ 10:00am, at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. The winner will advance to the State Championship game on Saturday.