The 2022 Marathon Dolphins baseball team’s season has been nothing short of historic. On April 29, ahead of the Fins’ South Florida Baseball Conference (SFBC) championship game against Ransom Everglades – the squad’s first appearance in the game since 2012 – the team made a clean sweep of several individual awards. Standout senior outfielder Ben Hiller was honored as the SFBC Player of the Year. Head coach Joey Gonzalez capped off an impressive regular and postseason run as the SFBC Coach of the Year. 10 Dolphins earned All-Conference team nods.
And yet, just a few hours later, the team had every right to feel robbed.
Trailing the Raiders by only one run in the top of the seventh inning, with the top of the Fins’ lineup due up to the plate if they could retire three Ransom Everglades players, a constant rain both teams had played through over the course of the game turned hazardous as lightning strikes moved into the area. After multiple weather delays, the game was finally called off, squashing any chance for walk-off heroics from Marathon’s most consistent bats and handing the Raiders the conference tournament title.
“It was honestly just heartbreaking to know that my team and my coaches worked all of our varsity careers to get to this stage,” said Hiller. “We were playing an amazing game all game. … Then the lightning struck, and they called the game, and all the emotions came out.”
The Dolphins opened with a strong showing, stringing together multiple-run innings en route to a 7-3 lead before a furious Ransom Everglades rally in the top of the sixth forced Marathon to pull starting pitcher Dylan Ziels. The Raiders retook the lead, scoring four unanswered runs to go up 8-7. What would eventually become Marathon’s final chance to tie the game came at the end of the sixth inning, when Hiller found himself stranded on third base as Ransom Everglades notched the final out of the game before the lightning strikes.
“There’s nobody to blame,” said Gonzalez. “I’m really, really pleased with what we were able to do.”
The players had no reason to hang their heads, as their body of work was enough to secure the school’s first-ever regular season conference championship. And while they undoubtedly wish Friday’s result had been different, it was the first time the team had reached the game since 2012 – when Gonzalez himself was on the roster.
“I have (our regular season title) up in my classroom right now for all the boys to see when they come through,” Gonzalez said. “And then, of course, our runner-up title for the tournament. It gives them a lot of motivation. We know we’re going to be in that position next year as long as everyone continues to stick to the plan.”
Though both Gonzalez and Hiller deflected praise and deferred to the team’s accomplishments when speaking to Keys Weekly, the pair’s well-deserved awards recognized critical contributions as the team reached encouraging new heights – both on the diamond and beyond.
“Ben is the face of what we’ve been able to do for the past four years,” said Gonzalez. “He knows what he wants for the team, and he’s going to push every single guy to their limits to make sure we get to that point.”
Though Hiller’s contributions as a batter, outfielder and closer were remarkable – a .500 batting average, a .605 on-base percentage and a .672 slugging percentage, with 29 hits and 14 RBIs – Gonzalez believes Hiller’s character and professional conduct made him a true standout.
“There was so much excellent talent in our conference … but I told him going into this that (character) matters a lot more,” said Gonzalez. “They are going to take into account what type of person you are. And there’s not a person on that baseball field better and more kind-hearted than Ben.”
Hiller and fellow seniors Corbin Neller, Cole McDaniel and Delvin Solis have been coached by Gonzalez since the sixth grade, when he started the head of the middle school team. Hiller spoke glowingly about the coach who’s been with him through every part of the historic ride.
“He helps all of us on and off the field in so many ways,” said Hiller. “Not even just how to field a ground ball … becoming a leader, being a man, being respectful, academics first and then baseball. He’s taught us all how to just grow up.”
And though the team has leaned heavily on Gonzalez’s steady leadership on and off the field in the midst of a special postseason run, the coach was effusive in his praise for assistant coaches Luis Gonzalez Sr., Luis Gonzalez Jr., Kyle Pierce and Rafael Cordova as he spoke about his own personal accomplishment. Both he and Hiller especially noted the contributions of Pierce, who returned to the team as a pitching coach this year to solidify Marathon’s rotation on the mound.
“It says my name on the plaque, but at the end of the day, that plaque represents our entire coaching staff and the kids who trusted us and put their belief in us to lead them to thrive,” said Gonzalez.
