Key West baseball fans enjoyed a flurry of action last week, beginning April 1 against Miami’s 5A Southridge Spartans. Despite being outhit 6-4, the Conchs made theirs count. Roman Garcia’s one-run home run, Kristian Master’s triple and a pair of singles from Kade Maltz and Nelson Ong were all Key West needed to defeat the Spartans. Maltz started on the mound and spanned six innings with five strikeouts, two walks, four hits and one earned run. Then Auggy Davila closed it out in the 2-1 win. Davila’s save, his eighth this season, surpassed the mark set by Darren Miller in 2013.
The next afternoon, the Lakeside School Chiefs visited the Rex all the way from Eufaula, Alabama. Donovan Thiery went the distance, striking out eight, walking two and surrendering three hits and no runs over seven innings. Garcia smacked a pair of doubles and collected two RBIs while Xavier Perez had two base hits. Maltz doubled and Davila and Thiery singled for a total of seven Conch hits. Eight walks boosted Key West’s offense to help fuel the 5-0 win.
An April 4 matchup between Miami High and Key West proved to be a lopsided one. The 7A Stingarees were effectively shut down by a perfect Key West defense, which logged a dozen putouts over the course of four innings. Cruz Holmes opened the game and threw for two hitless innings, then Nick Besson tossed another two to secure the shutout no-hitter.
The Conch duo struck out just one batter and allowed a single walk, trusting the defense to do the rest. Roman Garcia had the hot bat against the Stingarees. He was 3-for-3 at the plate with a single, double and triple. Tyrone Cervantes, Thiery, Darreld Tremino and Maltz had two hits apiece and Jackie Niles, Davila, Ong and Francisco Gonzalez accounted for the remainder of the whopping 15 Conch hits. The 15-0 win gave some underclassmen a chance to play and made for a three-game winning streak.
That streak stretched to four, all in one week, when Lakeside School took another shot at the Conchs later that night. Key West led through six and one-half innings when the Chiefs pieced together an offensive onslaught to tie the game up at 5. Fortunately for Key West, the lineup delivered with a Garcia walk, a Thiery single, then a bunt from Davila that not only placed him safely on first, but led to a Lakeside error, which scored Garcia for the walk-off win.
Thiery and Davila ended the game with two hits each. One of Thiery’s was a two-run home run in the fifth inning. Maltz, Ong and Niles had one hit each in the 6-5 win. Ong got the start for Key West, allowing just one hit and zero runs over six innings. Ong struck out seven batters and walked none. Christian Koppal and Davila each put in some relief work to put the Conchs at 21-3 with just one regular-season game to go.
A much anticipated contest between the Keys’ closest neighbors on March 30 delivered for Fins fans, as Marathon and Coral Shores faced off in the Middle Keys. Dolphin junior Dylan Williams got the start and, with the help of his defense, dispatched the first three ’Cane batters, then picked up the bat for a leadoff single. A Hurricane error and three hits later and the Dolphins had three runs on the board, a lead they would hold for the remainder of the game.
Williams finished six innings with nine strikeouts, three walks and a single hit allowed. Jack Chapman stepped in for one inning of work, striking out three and walking one to secure the win. Williams added a double and went 2-for-3 to lead the Dolphin offense. Miles Murphy, Curren Nicolay, Bradley Buigas, Gabriele Cirina and Massimo Quargnali had one hit each. For Coral Shores, Brayden Turner’s single in the second inning was the lone hit of the game. Senior southpaw Riley O’Berry had a solid showing on the mound, striking out five Fins, walking one and surrendering six hits over six innings. The 3-0 win for the Dolphins marks the team’s first win against the Hurricanes since 2014.
After their big win against Coral Shores, Marathon faced off with JC Bermudez on April 3. The aptly-named Thunder brought big bats, racking up a dozen hits against the Fins. Marathon managed four, with Roco Piscetello leading the way with a triple and a single. Buigas and Cirina added one apiece. Cirina pitched a majority of the game with help from Piscetello, Chapman and Rella to finish out the 9-4 loss.
The following afternoon, a visiting ABF Academy Homestead Black team squared off with the Dolphins. The relatively obscure Bandits, a derivative of the ABF Homestead team, acquired seven hits against Marathon. Like their prior game, the Fins managed just four hits, but when it comes to baseball, timing is everything.
In the bottom of the first, the Dolphins loaded the bases with walks, then Massimo Quargnali stepped to the plate and ripped a line drive to right field, resulting in a grand slam. They added another pair of runs in the sixth for good measure, and a 6-2 victory put the Fins at 13-8-1 for the season. Williams pitched a fantastic five innings, striking out 10, walking one and surrendering five hits and no runs. Piscetello and Rella shut the door on the Bandits. Cirina, Williams, Quargnali and Nicolay each had one hit with Cirina and Williams driving in one run each and Quargnali four.
The Hurricanes regrouped after their loss to Marathon and picked up a win against Keys Gate on April 2. Mason Clark got the start and Braylon Lindmar pitched four and one-third innings of relief in the win. Clark and Riley O’Berry had one hit and two RBIs each to lead the charge. Maykol Bonito and Jack O’Keefe had one hit and one RBI each and Brayden Turner and Keller Blackburn singled in the 7-4 win.
April 11 is the final day of regular season action for Florida high school baseball. District tournaments begin April 14.
Photos by Rocky Gonet and Tracy McDonald
