Westminster Christian holds off Miami Springs, hoping it can end baseball title drought
Just three outs away from completing what would’ve been an impressive 10-run mercy rule victory over Miami Springs on Tuesday afternoon, the Westminster Christian baseball team wound up getting a lot more than it ever bargained for.
The Golden Hawks showed why they are considered one of the top programs in Miami-Dade County by gamely battling back, scoring twice in the bottom of the fifth to extend the game and then put on a furious four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases and bringing the tying run to the plate with two outs.
But Austin Weigandt, who was the Warriors’ third pitcher of that inning came in and induced a game-ending infield groundout off the bat of Jordan Perez as Westminster hung on for a 12-8 victory at Springs’ Shelly Dunkel Field.
It was a bounce-back win for Westminster, which started 7-0 including an extra-inning win over Columbus last week, lost their first game of the season, a 10-5 decision to Gulliver Prep, four days earlier.
Now 8-1 and ranked No. 6 in the Miami Herald’s South Florida rankings which include Dade and Broward teams, the Warriors will set their sights on much bigger things in an effort to get back to state a year after dropping a slugfest heartbreaker in the regional finals to eventual state champ North Broward Prep.
“At the end of the day, you can’t give a good ball club second chances,” Westminster coach Emil Castellanos said. “Clearly we capitalized on some big plays early on with big two-out hits but Springs is a great ball club, a contender every year for a state title run, a first class program and credit to them, they didn’t quit. They took us to the final out. You have to put teams away when you have the chance, especially good ones.”
Leading 2-1 after three innings, the Warriors seemingly put the game away by sending a dozen batters to the plate in the top of the fourth. Westminster scored eight runs (on six hits) to take a 10-1 lead.
Two more runs in the top of the fifth made it 12-2 and all they needed was three outs in the bottom half. But starter Aaron Hernandez, a ninth grader who has already been offered and committed to Wake Forest, couldn’t close it out as Springs (5-3) rallied to score twice.
“It definitely got a little more interesting there at the end than we thought it would but we’re a good team, we’re gonna fight and who cares if the game gets a little scary at the end, I’ll put all my faith in our team every day,” said Ethan Puig, a junior and University of Miami commit who transferred over from Gulliver Prep after last season and who enjoyed a 3-for-4, 3 RBI day. “We have some dogs, we’re gonna fight. You might look at us and might think we don’t have any crazy names but you can’t count us out. We’re a really good team.”
Castellanos said his team hasn’t forgotten about that tough loss in last year’s region final but that right now, he’s focused on keeping his kids focused on the next game and not beyond.
“We’re not really thinking that far down the road,” Castellanos said. “We’ve got Florida Christian on Friday, then an out-of-town trip to Tennessee after that. They do remember that game so they’re working to eventually get back to that point.”
He’s also hopeful that the Warriors can end a frustrating eight-year championship drought. After winning the program’s 11th state championship in 2015 and tying Key West for the most titles in the state, Westminster is still looking for that elusive 12th to lay claim to the all-time lead.
“We’ve got a fun group of kids,” Castellanos said. “A lot of young guys, and I feel a great team. They do things as a team and that’s what special about this bunch. Hopefully this will pay off the dividends down the road.”
