The Marathon Dolphins baseball team is riding a meteoric high entering the postseason.
Going into their final regular-season game on April 22, the team knew a historic opportunity was within reach: a home win on Senior Night over conference rival Westwood Christian would send the Fins into the postseason with an 8-2 conference record as the top seed in the South Florida Baseball Conference championship tournament.
“We’ve been part of the conference for more than 10 years, and we’ve never been in a position to be able to lock up that number one seed,” said head coach Joey Gonzalez.
Though the coaching staff had confidence in their team’s depth, Marathon’s sluggers still had to contend with talented Westwood pitcher Chris Estrada, a 6-foot-3 lefty capable of delivering fastballs over 80 mph.
“He did throw the ball really well,” admitted Gonzalez. “He struck out a dozen of our guys, but at the end of the day, we put the at-bats together when we needed them most, and we were the scrappier team.”
Marathon took an early lead while relying on the arm and bat of junior pitcher Ryan Yablon, who notched two hits while carrying the Fins through five innings of work on the mound before senior Ben Hiller took over for the final two frames. “We did the little things right,” said Gonzalez. “We didn’t really overpower them in terms of hitting, but we got on base and made things happen.”
The final out in the top of the seventh inning found the Dolphins rushing the field, caps thrown in the air with a 6-2 win in the books as DJ Khaled’s “All I Do is Win” blared across the field. The team’s celebration was short-lived, however, as the looming conference tournament found the Fins matched up against Miami Country Day Spartans just four days later on April 26.
But Marathon was more than prepared, as evidenced by a dominant 12-2 win over just five innings. Eager to avenge a shutout loss to the same team on the same field just three weeks prior, the Fins came out (literally) swinging.
Photos by CLARE MERRYMAN/Keys Weekly
“That didn’t sit well with us these last three weeks … and the switch that flipped yesterday was a switch that I’d never really seen before,” said Gonzalez. “The fire that was in these guys’ eyes was just amazing, and it translated from the very first pitch.”
Though the two teams’ previous contests this year were decided by a total of three runs, the Fins put the Spartans away early on Tuesday, with Marathon’s leadoff trio of Yablon, Hiller and sophomore Dylan Ziels going 10 for 10 in their first at-bats en route to a team total of 15 hits against only one error. The Fins again split time on the mound, with Yablon throwing the first four innings before allowing Ziels to use the fifth frame as a tune-up.
“Dylan has kind of been our workhorse all year, and we knew the long-term goal was to be able to have him on the hill in the championship if we were to make that game,” said Gonzalez. “All three of our main guys will be fully ready to go for Friday night’s championship.”
The lone obstacle standing in the way of a historic conference championship for Marathon is the second-seeded Ransom Everglades. Marathon split its previous two matchups with the Raiders, with each team claiming a road win in the season series.
Though a win would go down in the record books for Marathon, the team’s season has already been a resounding success. “It’s been a dream come true. It’s been everything for us, and we couldn’t have scripted it any better,” said Gonzalez, heaping praise on his assistant coaching staff for a well-rounded approach to the season. “Our end goal was to get to this conference championship game, and it’s been such a relief for me knowing that I have such a knowledgeable group of guys around me to help.”
Dolphins fans can cheer the team on in person at Miami Country Day School on Friday, April 29. A tournament awards presentation and all-conference team announcements will begin at 5:45 p.m., with the first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. For fans unable to catch the game in person, a live streaming link will be posted to the Marathon Dolphins Athletics Facebook page. FM 98.7 Conch Country will have a live broadcast of the game.
Go Fins.
