Charles W. Flanagan High School Baseball

The Falcons moved one step closer to the Final Four with a 3-0 win over the Douglas Eagles in the Regional Semi-Final last night.

The scoring started when leadoff hitter Oscar Rodriguez reached 1st base on a HBP in the bottom of the 1st inning. With one out, Andres Visbal was awarded 1st base due to a catcher interference call. Ryan Dodge came up with 1 out and runners on 1st and 2nd. Dodge deposited a fastball into deep left centerfield for a double scoring Rodriguez from 2nd. Visbal was thrown out on the play attempting to score from 1st base to keep the score at 1-0 after the 1st inning. The score stayed 1-0 into the bottom of the 6th inning due to some great pitching and great defensive plays by the Douglas Eagle defense. Andres Visbal led off the bottom of the 6th inning with another catcher interference call and was awarded 1st base. Visbal was put in motion and Ryan Dodge delivered once again with his 2nd double of the evening when he drilled the pitch into the left centerfield gap. Visbal was able to score easily this time to give Dodge his 2nd RBI on the night and make the score 2-0. Alex Sarmiento came in to pinch run for Dodge and Luis Barranco was called on to pinch hit for Kharlin Sued. With no outs and Sarmiento on 2nd, Barranco's job was to bunt him over to 3rd base. Barranco did just that when on a 3-1 pitch he laid down a perfect bunt and moved Sarmiento to 3rd. Daniel Oliveri came up with an RBI when he was able to drive a fly ball deep enough to centerfield for Sarmiento to tag up and make the score 3-0.

Fortuno (9-0) was on the mound and was not going to be denied last night. He pitched one of his best games he had pitched all year and it was when it really mattered the most. With the offense giving Fortuno 1 run to play with in the 1st inning, he knew he had to bear down and keep the damage to a minimum. He pitched out of jams twice during the game. In the top of the 2nd inning and runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, Fortuno got a strikeout and then a weak ground ball to second base to squash the threat.

The score stayed 1-0 when in the top of the 5th inning the Eagles got the lead off hitter on. They attempted to steal 2nd base and catcher, Miguel Presno, came up big by throwing the runner out for the first out of the inning. That proved to be very important, because the Eagles threatened again after getting back to back 2 out singles. With 2 outs, Fortuno again came through striking out one of the Eagles best hitters for the third out to end the threat. After a quick top of the 6th, Fortuno was able to relax a little as the Falcons added 2 runs in the bottom of the inning which made the score 3-0. Fortuno closed out the 7th inning with 2 strikeouts and a weak grounder to 2nd base to end the game. Fortuno had at least 2 strikeouts in each of 4 innings including the 5th, 6th and 7th innings.

Fortuno's final line on the night was 7 IP, 6 H, 0 runs, 10 K's, 1 BB. Fortuno stays unbeatened in his high school career with a career record of 17-0.

The Falcons will host the Jupiter Warriors from Palm Beach County in the Regional Final on Friday night at 7pm at Falcon field. The winner of this game will take a trip to the Final Four being held in Ft. Myers on May 17th.

After the rain finally let up to let the games begin the Falcons edged out the Jaguars 4-3 in the Regional Quarter-Final to move on to the Regional Semi-Final against the Douglas Eagles.

The game was suspended on Thursday afternoon with the Falcons leading 3-0, and coming to bat in the bottom of the 2nd inning. The scoring started with 2 outs when Andres Visbal got HBP and stole 2nd base. Ryan Dodge came up with a 2 out single to score Visbal and put the Falcons up 1-0. Daniel Oliveri followed that up with a single and the Falcons had runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs and Kharlin Sued coming to bat.  With a 2-2 count Sued drilled a double into the right centerfield gap to score both Dodge and Oliveri to put the Falcons up 3-0. Gentry Fortuno had started the game on the hill for the Falcons and threw 2 innings only seeing 7 hitters.

The rains came and the game was suspended til Friday.

When the game resumed the Falcons quickly got on the board when Miguel Presno, who was 2-2 on the day, got a 1 out single and stole 2nd base. Presno moved to 3rd on a groundout by Oscar Rodriguez. Eric Rivera came up to bat and drove Presno in with a 2 out base hit to make the score 4-0. It looked as if the Falcons would start to run away with the game but the Jaguars held tough and didn't give up another run the rest of the way. The Falcons came back with Alex Sarmiento on the mound on Friday. Sarmiento got through the 3rd inning without any trouble but found it in the 4th when the Jaguars mounted a comeback. The Jaguars fought back and were able to score 3 runs in the 4th inning off of Sarmiento to make it a 4-3 game.

The game was in limbo when in the 6th inning, the Falcons made a costly throwing error and put the tying run at second base with no outs. The runner than advanced on a wild pitch. With the tying run on 3rd and no outs the Falcons turned to Gentry Fortuno to try and squash the situation and that he did in dramatic fashion. Fortuno struck out the side to keep the score at 4-3. In the top of the 7th the Jaguars went down 1-2-3 to end the game, 4-3. Sarmiento threw 3 innings and got the win while Fortuno threw the first 2 innings and the last 2 innings of the game to get the save. 

The Falcons (19-5) will play the Douglas Eagles at home in a Regional Semi-Final on Tuesday at 7pm.

Flanagan won their 8th District Title in the last 9 years Friday night against the Lightning from Cypress Bay. The Falcons mustered enough offense to score 4 runs and on the arm of Alex Sarmiento were able to shut out the Lightning 4-0.

Alex Sarmiento (6-1) pitched a complete game shutout giving up 5 hits while striking out 2.  Sarmiento got into trouble in the first inning with runners on first and second and only one out, but was able to get the next two batters to fly out to left and then to center. Sarmiento only allowed 4 more base runners the rest of the night. 

Andres Rios was the offensive star with a 2-2 night driving in 2 RBI's in the bottom of the 4th inning to give the Falcons a 3-0 lead.  Ryan Dodge led off the 4th inning with a catcher's interference call and Kharlin Sued followed that up with a sharp infield single of the pitcher's glove. Daniel Oliveri came up to bat and hit a line drive single to center field for an RBI and gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead. Rios then stepped up and drove in two with a sharply hit line drive to right center which put the lead at 3-0. The Falcons ended up stranding two runners and the score remained 3-0 going into the bottom of the 6th. With one out AJ Munoz walked  and Rios followed that up with his second hit of the night. Kevin Mora then pinch hit and walked. The ball got away from the catcher on a strikeout and Munoz was able to score to make it 4-0 to end the scoring on the night.

The Falcons (18-5) will host the Coral Glades Jaguars in a Regional Quarter-Final game on Wednesday at 7pm.

The Falcons needed a 1 out walk off double in the bottom of the 7th by Oscar "Bui" Rodriguez to score pinch runner Alex Sarmiento from second base to move past the Everglades Gators 1-0 in the District Semi-Final game last night. The Falcons will now play in the District 12-8A championship Friday night at 7pm against the Cypress Bay Lightning and owe that priviledge to sophomore pitcher Gentry Fortuno who had a masterful performance on the mound.

Gentry Fortuno (8-0) turned what had to be one of his better performances of the year. If he hadn't, the season would of been over for the Falcons. Fortuno threw 89 pitches in a complete game shutout. He gave up 2 hits on the evening while striking out 11 and only walking 2. He retired 11 straight hitters at one point and only allowed 4 base runners on the night.

The Falcons had chances along the way to score a run here and a run there but couldn't get the clutch hit when needed, that is until Rodriguez stepped to the plate iin the bottom of the 7th. Andres Rios led off the 7th inning off with a bunt base hit. Miguel Presno tried to sacrifice him to second base but a very good play by the Gators first baseman prevented that from happening by gunning down Rios, the lead runner, at second on the bunt. Alex Sarmiento then came in to the game to pinch run for Presno with one out and Rodriguez up. Sarmiento was able to steal second base and with 2 quick strikes called on Rodriguez, Oscar got a pitch up in the zone and drove it into the left centerfield gap for a double to score Sarmiento with the game winning run and a walk off victory.

 The Falcons (17-5) will move on to play Cypress Bay in the District 12-8A championship Friday night at 7pm at home.

The Falcons wanted to send off the 3 seniors, Andres Visbal, AJ Munoz and Daniel Oliveri, in grand fashion with a win on their last regular season home game. They did not disappoint them or the crowd as the Falcons beat Dwyer 5-1.

Kharlin Sued (3-2) got the start and the crowd enjoyed watching a great performance as he pitched 6 innings,  giving up 1 earned run on 1 hit while striking out 7 and walking 2. Chris Rodriguez came in to pitch the 7th and had a 1-2-3 inning with 1 K.

The Falcons struck in the 1st inning when Eric Rivera got the 1st of his 4 hits on the evening and Ryan Dodge followed him up with a 2 run blast that might still be going for 2 RBI's. The same two got the offense going again in the 3rd inning when they led off the inning with back to back hits.  Rivera was able to score on a strikeout when the ball hit the dirt and the throw to first had to be made. Rivera timed it just right and broke for home and was safe. With 2 outs, AJ  Munoz came up big with a 2 out RBI single to score Dodge and make the score 4-0.  It stayed that way until the top of the 5th when Dwyer put 1 on the board to make the score 4-1. The Falcons got that run back in the bottom of the 6th when Andres Rios singled with one out. Then pinch hitter Eddie Schissler made it back to back hits with a line drive base hit. With 2 outs, Eric Rivera got his 4th hit of the night which drove in Rios and made the final score 5-1. 

The Falcons (16-5) will take on Everglades on Wednesday at 7pm at home in the District Semi-Final game.