Charles W. Flanagan High School Baseball

The smoke from the concession stand floated across the field like a fog and when the air cleared the Flanagan Falcons stood tall as District Champions for a 3rd year in a row. The 2007 Championship game had the look and feel of a heavyweight fight but this opponent wasn't Cypress Bay, it was Paul Liotti's South Plantation Paladins. A team on a mission they gave the Falcons a barrage of shots early taking a 3-0 lead after one inning on back to back home runs from Alex Hoeg and Cody Phelps. Flanagan would answer with a 3 run homer from catcher Nick Navarro in the bottom of the inning tying the game at 3-3. South Plant would look for a knock out in the 2nd inning scoring 6 runs capped by a 3 run home run from Matt Sergey, yet the Falcons would overcome that deficit with 6 runs of their own. Jesse Mesa cut the lead to 9-6 with a 2 run shot to deep right center field and 5 batters later Luis Penate would tie the game at 9-9 with a 2 run homer of his own. The 2 teams would finally settle into the game. Flanagan would look to sophomore lefthander Diego Delgado to keep the game in check and the young man delivered with 3 and 1/3 innings of 1 hit relief. He struck out 5 in the outing. The offense would reward his efforts in the 5th inning when senior 1st baseman Mitch Massard got into the home run party with a 2 run blast to right field giving the Falcons an 11-9 lead. Coach Evans would call on junior ace RJ Fondon to close out the game in the 6th inning. He would pitch 2 innings allowing a run without a hit and striking out the final two batters to earn the save. Diego Delgado was credited with his 1st Varsity win of his career. Both teams will advance to the Regional Quarterfinals next week. Flanagan will host Taravella on Tuesday May 1st at 7:00pm while the Paladins will travel to Douglas on Tuesday at 4:00pm. Records: South Plantation(17-11) Flanagan(20-7)