Stoneman Douglas returns to Florida high school baseball state playoffs

PARKLAND, FLORIDA – Reservations confirmed to the state playoffs.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas is heading back to Fort Myers aiming for a fourth straight state championship.

The Eagles officially booked their trip to the Gulf Coast by shutting out West Broward, 4-0, on Monday behind Jayden Dubanewicz’s three-hit complete game.

Dubanewicz, a senior committed to Florida, retired the first 12 batters he faced. With a fastball clocked at 92 mph on the night, the right-hander struck out six in seven innings.

The Eagles are now two wins away from another state title.

“Actually, being this close, it’s really starting to hit that we can make history,” Dubanewicz said. “And I feel like we are going to. We’re rolling right now, and I feel like we can take anyone on at this moment.”

Winners of 10 straight, the Eagles (24-5) handled Class 7A-Region 4 by outscoring their opponents, 23-2 in their three region games.

Next up, Douglas will face Region 3 champion Vero Beach, on Friday at 4 p.m. in the state semifinals.

Vero Beach (24-4) easily handled Harmony, 13-3, on Monday.

The past three seasons, Douglas has been crowned both state and national champions.

But this season has presented more challenges. The Eagles had a 59-game winning streak snapped early in the season. And they stumbled five times.

Questions of whether they could get back to Fort Myers arose on April 11 after they lost, 9-6, to Class 7A traditional power Columbus.

What wasn’t in question is the overall talent, depth and experience the Eagles have.

On April 16, some late-inning magic helped reset the Eagles’ swag, and they’ve been soaring since. That night, Niko Benestad belted a two-out, two-run walk-off home run to beat North Broward Prep, 6-5.

“The North Broward Prep game,” Douglas coach Todd Fitz-Gerald reminded. “Niko’s walk-off home run kind of let our guys know we can come from behind, and we’re as resilient as anybody. We’ve been in that situation before, at Tallahassee Lincoln, and we fell a little short. I think that was the turning point in the whole season.”

Monday’s game flipped in the Eagles’ favor in the second inning.

A two-out error by West Broward opened the door for the Eagles to grab a two-run lead. Nick Diaz reached on the error, and Gio Rojas smacked a single to center. Ethan Askin drove both runners home with a double.

Douglas did what good teams do. Capitalized on a mistake.

Those two runs turned out to be the only ones Dubanewicz needed. The right-hander had his fastball clocked at 92 mph, and he held the Bobcats without a baserunner until the fifth inning.

In the third inning, the Eagles produced another run. With one out, Devin Fitz-Gerald and Rylan Lujo singled, setting up first-and-second. Benestad’s single to left field made the score 3-0.

Douglas added an insurance run in the sixth inning on Alex Rodriguez’s RBI single.

Otherwise, West Broward senior starter J.P. Querales was terrific in a tough-luck loss.

West Broward threatened had some tough luck at the plate, hitting three balls hard but right at defenders in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, trailing by three, the Bobcats threatened. Alejandro Sardinas provided the first hit with a single to left, and Manuel Sarcos singled to center, putting runners on the corners with no outs. Sarcos advanced to second on a wild pitch, putting two runners in scoring position.

With the infield in, Ivan Sabater bounced to short, and Sardinas was tagged out in a rundown. Still, West Broward had second and third with one out.

The Bobcats’ chances to get back in it, however, were derailed when Isaiah DelValle’s sharp line drive knocked Dubanewicz glove off. However, the Douglas pitcher was able to retrieve the ball and throw DelValle out at first. The inning ended on Reggie Rodriguez’s groundout to first.

West Broward (23-6-1)has now closed out a terrific season. Looking ahead, the Bobcats will miss their senior leaders like Querales, outfielder Jason Wachs (Tulane commit) and Sardinas (Dayton commit) at short. But they have an extremely talented group of sophomores, like Sarcos, DelValle, Adrian Bermudez, Ethan Lindor, Sabater and Rodriguez.

The future of the program certainly is bright.

“I’m so proud of our guys,” Howard Stein said. “We battled. We competed all year. Seven sophomores. Three seniors that play every day. J.P. was as good as it gets. Wachs had some good at-bats. Sardinas played good defensively. I can’t say enough about our guys.

“We hit the ball hard. The first ball, they make a good play. We smoke a ball. They just made all the plays. My hat’s off to them.”

CLASS 5A-REGION 4: American Heritage 2, ARCHBISHOP MCCARTHY 0

Talan Holiday tossed a one-hitter and Luca Ramirez belted a home run and had three hits to lift American Heritage to a 2-0 victory over Archbishop McCarthy on Monday.

The Patriots (20-10) are headed back to Fort Myers looking to repeat as Class 5A state champions. On Friday at 1 p.m., they will face the Lincoln Tallahassee-Clay winner.

For Heritage, the story of the night was again Holiday, the junior committed to North Carolina. The right-hander, who threw a perfect game against Taravella on April 18, held the Mavericks hitless until the fifth inning before Bryan Arrieta singled.

Holiday issued just one walk, and struck out three, while going the distance.

Ramirez sparked the offense with a single, double and a home run. Sebastian Garavito drove in a run with a single and RJ Machado scored a run.

McCarthy’s Stephen Joyce allowed two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts in six innings.