After Carrollwood Day suffered a crushing 11-0 loss to North Port their last time out, a 9-2 win over Canterbury helped the team right the ship on Friday night.
For Carrollwood Day head coach Nick Rodriguez, he enjoys playing games with a teams whose schools have similar backgrounds as his own ball club. But the Patriots season has presented many challenges especially in the tough 3A District 7.
“We have been a real roller coaster team this year,” said Rodriguez. “We were doing a lot of things that don’t help you win baseball games such as hitting fly balls and walking players. We are in a tough district with Tampa Prep and Bishop McLaughlin and I think because we hit rock bottom last week, it was a big key for us moving forward.”
The starting pitchers would be Bryce Benedict for Carrollwood Day and Steven Valentine for Canterbury. For Benedict, he had to keep his everything in check when on the mound.
“Coach just told me to keep throwing strikes and pounding the strike zone while not letting up,” said Benedict.
The Patriots would get the game off to a very strong start. After Valentine walked catcher Jack Syron, third baseman Colin Campbell singled to center field. An error at home would bring in Syron for the first run. An additional error would bring in Campbell and the Patriots would hold a 2-0 lead.
But Valentine would be no match against the bottom half of the Carrollwood Day lineup.
First baseman Jordan Ramus, left fielder Harry Gonzalez and Syron would bring in runs in the second. Short stop Alex Gionis would bring a big double to center field fence allowing Ramus to score and a single to right field by Gonzalez bringing in Gionis. The Patriots would lead 7-0 after the top of the third inning.
Valentine would be pulled out after the third after only 61 pitches. The Crusaders would turn to freshmen Dalton Shettle to try and keep the game under control.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Canterbury would try to put some points on the board. With bases loaded and one out, DH Alec Hower would single to left field bringing in Doug Poland and third baseman Spencer Landers. Carrollwood Day would hold a 7-2 lead at the end of the fourth inning.
The Patriots would answer back with runs by Gonzalez and Ryan Verscharen. The score would stay at 9-2 for the rest of the game. The Patriots would send in Gonzalez and the Crusaders would send in Devin Levi to close the game out in the seventh.
“For this game, we had to keep our emotions up,” said Rodriguez. “We hit the top half of the baseball hard and flat. I stressed to these guys all week about being the team that hits line drives and hard ground balls, and they came to this game as that team and ready to play.”
The Carrollwood Day Patriots (12-7) will be at home to face the St. Francis Prep Terriers on April 11. The Canterbury Crusaders (10-9) will be at Shorecrest Prep facing the Chargers (5-14) on April 14.