By: J. Daniel Pearson for Positively Osceola
First-year head coach Armando Perez says he not only wants to not only build one of the better baseball programs in Osceola County but he wants to be one of the better programs in Central Florida. His young team took a big step in the right direction on Friday night, taking a 3-1 decision over Lake Nona to push to their season record to a county-best 6-1.
“These are the type of games you want to win if you are trying to build a program and establish a winning culture,” Perez said. “They have had a winning program for a long time and we’re kind of the new kids on the block. Historically, these are not the type of games people expect us to win and it’s a victory we can build on.”
Lake Nona has averaged 19 win in each of the last three years, advancing to regional play in all three seasons. Tohopekaliga on the other hand has never been past district play and set a school record with a modest 12 wins last year.
They are certainly well on their way to changing that this season, starting with Friday’s win over the previously undefeated Lions.
After falling behind 1-0 through two innings, Tohopekaliga answered with a three-spot in the top of the third to take the lead. Sebastian Aquino would begin the rally with a one-out single out of the number nine hole. Doug Pena would then crack a double to left and Anthony Segarra would load the bases with a bloop single to third. Samuel Isturez would bring in the first run with a sharp single to right and Fernando Ferrer knocked in a run on a fielders’ choice, with Segarra also scoring on the play after a throwing error.
It would be all the offense the Tigers would need as starting pitcher Tyler Sheffield and Ellian Urena would combine on a six-hitter. Although the two would allow just one run and strike out 12 batters, they had to battle the entire night.
After allowing a run in the second, Sheffield was able to strand runners at second and third by leadoff hitter Diego Reyes to ground out to second. He then got out of a bases loaded jam and left a runner in scoring position in the fourth. He ended up three hits, but walked three and hit two batters in his four innings of work.
Other than when he struck out the side in the sixth, Urena faced troubles in both the fifth and seventh innings. With only one out and runners on second and third, Urena got a strikeout and flyout to end the fifth. After he allowed an infield hit and two walks to load the bases in the seventh, Urena was able to get Andres Segura to ground out to short to end the game.
“Both guys did a great job of bearing down, not only when they fell behind in the count but when they had runners in scoring position,” Perez said. “It’s a tough thing to do when you are facing a good team on the road. I’m really pleased with how this team has performed in the first couple of weeks but we have a lot of work to do.”
Making those big pitches in tough situations was the key to the win. Lake Nona ended up stranding 12 runners on base for the game—including nine that were in scoring position. Four different times in the contest, Tiger pitchers came back from 3-0 or 3-1 counts to retire Lake Nona hitters.
The road will not get any easier for the Tigers. After returning to action with two games next week against Wekiva on Wednesday and Choate Rosemary High (Connecticut) on Saturday; the Tigers will face two huge challenges when they take on state-ranked Lake Mary on Mar. 19 and nationally ranked Donnie Bosco Prep (New Jersey) on Sat., Mar. 23.
