Charles W. Flanagan High School Baseball

The Falcons had beaten the Bobcats in the three previous meetings this year, but it was not meant to be this time. In an intense game, the Bobcats were able to hold off a furious 7th inning rally to beat the Falcons 4-3 and essentially end their season in the Regional Semi-Final. The Falcons end the season with a District Championship and an 18-5 record.

Jose Mesa (9-2) pitched another great game but didn't have the defense to back him up at times. He gave up 4 runs with only 2 being earned. Costly errors in the infield helped the Bobcats gain a lead they never relinguished. The Falcons offense never really got going against the Bobcats starting pitcher, Alex Zapata. Andres Visbal was the lone highlight on the night, going 3-4 with an RBI.

The Falcons put together a rally in the bottom of the 7th with one out and the score at 4-2. Visbal collected his 3rd hit of the night and Andres Sanchez got HBP. Rick Sanchez got walked on 4 pitches to load the bases. The Bobcats changed pitchers and brought in Matt Hardy to stop the rally. Jose Mesa stepped up to the plate with a chance to tie the game. Mesa hit a deep fly ball to right to drive in Visbal from 3rd and make the score 4-3. Andres Sanchez moved to 3rd base on the play as well. With runners on the corners and 2 outs, Ryan Dodge stepped to the plate. He ended up working the count and walking as well. With bases loaded and 2 outs, Daniel Oliveri came to the plate.  Hardy settled down and got Oliveri to strike out to end the game and essentially the Falcons season.

 

The Falcons had a great season and the coaches are very proud of the way they handled themselves not only last night but throughout the entire season.  I speak for the entire coaching staff when I say that it has been a pleasure to be out there day in and day out with these young men this year. I want to thank the players and all of you parents for that.

 

Coach Evans

 

The Falcons beat the Douglas Eagles 6-1 in front of a packed crowd in the Regional Quarter Final game. The Falcons came out swinging and had 12 hits on the night. Every hitter in the lineup had at least 1 hit.

Jose Mesa pitched a great game going the distance and giving up only 1 hit while striking out 11. He also contributed to his cause by going 2-3 with 2 RBI's. Ryan Dodge and Daniel Oliveri also had two hits on the night. Oliveri led off the bottom of the 6th inning with a solo homerun to make the score 5-1.  He finished the night 2-3 with 2 RBI's as well. 

 

The stage is now set to play West Broward for a fourth time. The teams will square off one last time this season in the Regional Semi Final on Tuesday night at 7pm at Falcon Field.

 

 

 

The District Title game took 11 innings for a winner to be crowned. The Falcons were able to outlast the West Broward Bobcats 4-3 on a night where one of the best high school baseball games of the year was played.

The Bobcats took the early 2-0 lead in the 4th on a walk and a two singles. The Falcons bounced right back with 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th when Rick Sanchez drove in his first 2 RBI's of the night. With 2 outs and 2 strikes on him, Rick drove a ball into the left centerfield gap to score Oscar Rodriguez and Andres Visbal to tie the game, 2-2.

In the top of the 6th inning the Bobcats capitalized on an error in left field to score the go ahead run to make the score 3-2. In the bottom of the 7th, and the Falcons last chance to try and tie or win the game, Rick Sanchez came up big again. With Christian Nelson on 2nd base, Sanchez was down to his last strike. He fought off a couple tough pitches before he deposited a single to shallow right centerfield to tie the game and put it into extra innings.

Both teams had chances to score but either a great defensive play or a great pitch prevented it from happening. Finally in the bottom of the 11th inning, the Falcons caught a break. Oscar Rodriguez led off the inning and was HBP. He was then sacrificed to 2nd by Christian Nelson. With Andres Visbal up, the pitcher balked which sent Rodriguez to 3rd with 1 out. The Bobcats decided to walk the next two batters to load the bases to get a force out at home and try to turn the DP. They brought an extra infielder to give them 5 infielders and only 2 outfielders. That set the stage for Rick Sancez and his heroic night. He was already 3-5 with 3 RBI's and having the best night of all the players on the field. He got up with the score tied at 3 with 1 out and bases loaded. With two strikes on him he drove a ball that almost went out of the ballpark against the centerfield fence for the 4-3 win and put an end to the 11 inning marathon game. Rick Sanchez ended his night 4-6 with all 4 RBI's on the night.

The pitchers were doing everything they could to keep the game close. Jose Mesa started the game and went 8 innings giving up 3 earned runs on 10 hits, while striking out 11 hitters on the night. Although Mesa didn't have his electrifying fastball this night, he was still able to battle and keep the Falcons close. Michael Emigh came on in relief in the 9th and pitched the final 3 innings to get the win. Emigh gave up no runs, no hits and struck out 5. Emigh did a great job getting ahead of the hitters and keeping them off balance.

 

The Falcons (17-4) will host the Douglas Eagles (15-8) in a Regional Quarter-final contest to be played on Thursday at 7pm.

 The Falcons (16-4) came out sluggish Wednesday night against an eager Everglades team ready to upset the   # 1 seed. After the dust settled the Falcons had put away all hopes of that happening with a 13-3 win in 6 innings.

The Falcons got on the scoreboard first when Andres Visbal led off the game by getting HBP. Two batters later Rick Sanchez, who was 2-4 with 2 RBI's on the night, drove a ball to the right center field gap to score Visbal from first to make the score 1-0.  

In the 2nd inning Daniel Oliveri led the inning off with a walk. Oliveri moved to second on a groundout and then Christian Nelson drove a ball down the left field line for an RBI single to make the score 2-0.

In the top of the 3rd inning the Falcon defense took an inning off when it committed 2 errors that helped the Everglades Gators take a 3-2 lead. It was shortlived when the Falcons exploded with 4 runs in the bottom of the 4th with a barrage of 3 hits and 4 walks making the score 6-3.

In the 6th inning the Falcons ended the game by the mercy rule after scoring 7 runs in the inning. Daniel Oliveri, who was 2-3 with 2 RBI's, led the inning off with a double and finished the inning with a 2 out 2 RBI single that ended the game 13-3.

 Gentry Fortuno pitched a complete game giving up 1 earned run while striking out 9 on the night. The freshman improved to a perfect 8-0 on the season. On a night where everything was on the line, Fortuno battled through adversity to help his team advance to the district final. He did a great job keeping his composure when the Falcons made a couple errors and fell behind. He gave the offense a chance to get it together and give him the support needed to take control of the game.

 

 

The Falcons (16-4) will play West Broward in the District 12-8A Final this Friday, at 6pm at Cypress Bay. Wear all green to the game in support of the Falcons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Falcons will take on Everglades on Wednesday at 7pm at Cypress Bay in the District Semi-final. Come out and support your Falcons and cheer them on to victory.