Broward County high school baseball made another claim to Florida’s best region with back to back wins in the state championship finals on Friday.  Archbishop McCarthy edged Pensacola Pace 4-3 to match Miami Westminster Christian as the only teams to win three straight state titles.  The Mavericks were led by pitcher Andre Martinez who was solid for six innings before giving way to sophomore lefty, Brian Gonzalez to record the final outs.  In the nightcap, American Heritage breezed past Jacksonville Ponte Vedra 9-0 behind the 1 hit pitching of Alex Seibold.  It was the second state championship for the Patriots and the first under first year head coach, Bruce Aven.  Since 2003, Broward County has recorded 12 state champions and 3 national champions. Congratulations to the Mavericks and Patriots for proudly waiving the 954 banner on the victory stand!

NOTE:  Baseball 954 Magazine finished a perfect 4-4 in the state series bringing our 2012 playoff predictions to 52-10!  Our batting average of .838 places us #1 in the world predicting Broward high school baseball!

Plantation American Heritage and Archbishop McCarthy both advanced to Friday’s state championship games behind the arms of Shaun Anderson and Nick Travieso.  Heritage started the action on Thursday against the nation’s top ranked Tampa Jesuit and came away with a dramatic extra inning 3-0 win as senior, Brandon Diaz delivered a 3-run homer in the top of the 8th inning to advance the Patriots to the Class 5A title game on Friday at 7:00pm in Port Saint Lucie.  Patriots pitcher Shaun Anderson out dueled projected first round draft pick Lance McCullers Jr. to record the win.  Heritage plays Jacksonville Ponte Vedra who beat Green Cove Springs Clay 1-0 in 9 innings.  Archbishop McCarthy used a 5 run second inning to distance themselves from Bradenton Lakewood Ranch in the 6A semi-final.  Travieso allowed only 1 run through six innings but needed a little help from teammate Andre Martinez to quiet a 3 run rally by Lakewood to bring the final score to 6-4.   The Mavericks will face Pensacola Pace, 5-0 winners over Melbourne, tomorrow at 4pm in Port Saint Lucie.  It will be the fourth straight state championship appearance for Archbishop McCarthy.

Note:  Baseball 954 Magazine correctly predicted American Heritage and Archbishop McCarthy to advance to the state finals.  Our prediction record for 2012 now stands at 50-10! Our batting average is now .833 for the playoffs.

(6A) State Championship:  Pensacola Pace vs Archbishop McCarthy, 4pm.

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION:  Archbishop McCarthy 6 Pace 3

(5A) State Championship: Ponte Vedra vs American Heritage, 7pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION:  American Heritage 5 Ponte Vedra 1

The last two Broward County teams still playing in the 2012 high school playoffs have combined to win three state championships and two national championships in the past four years.  For Archbishop McCarthy and American Heritage, the opportunity to add more championship hardware to their already impressive programs is expected.  Archbishop will play Bradenton Lakewood Ranch at 7pm on Thursday (5/17) at Digital Domain Park in Port Saint Lucie in a 6A semi-final.  The Mavericks are making their fourth straight state championship series appearance behind a balanced offensive attack and strong pitching.  They are led by senior pitchers Nick Travieso and Andre Martinez, who are no strangers to hoisting trophies having lifted the last two Florida championships.  Plantation American Heritage behind first year head coach, Bruce Aven, makes its first appearance in the state final four since winning the state and national title in 2008.   The Patriots will battle top ranked Tampa Jesuit,  who boasts big righty, Lance McCullers Jr (pegged as a top round draft pick in this year’s major league baseball’s draft).  Heritage counters with a solid pitching corps of Shaun Anderson (0.87 ERA), Alex Seibold (1.83 ERA)  and Dominick Mancini (1.22 ERA). The 5A semi-final match will get underway at 4pm at Digital Domain Park on Thursday (5/17).

NOTE:  Baseball 954 Magazine finished 4-1 in predicting the regional final results last week.  Our total for the 2012 playoffs now stands at 48-10! We remain the top ranked online publication with a batting average of .827.

(5A) Plantation American Heritage vs Tampa Jesuit @ 4pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION:  American Heritage 3 Tampa Jesuit 2

(6A) Archbishop McCarthy vs Brandenton Lakewood Ranch @ 7pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION: Archbishop McCarthy 5 Lakewood 2

Archbishop McCarthy headlines four Broward teams in their bid to make next week’s state tournament.  The Mavericks have been to the state final four tournament three years in a row and winning the last two championships. Joining ABM in the Regional Finals are Sheridan Hills Christian (2A), Nova Titans (7A), American Heritage Patriots (5A) and West Broward Bobcats(8A).  Sheridan Hills starts the action at 4pm on Friday, May 11th with all other games under the lights.

NOTE: Our predictions for the Regional Semi-Finals finished 4-2.  We correctly called West Broward’s big upset over Flanagan. Overall our 2012 playoffs picks now stand at 42-9.

Regional Finals, Friday May 11th:

(2A) Sheridan Hills Christian vs Miami Westwood Christian @ Miami 4pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION: Miami Westwood 10 Sheridan Hills 2

(5A) Suncoast Riviera Beach vs American Heritage @ AH, 7pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION: American Heritage 6 Suncoast 4

(6A) Naples vs Archbishop McCarthy @ Archbishop McCarthy, 7pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION: Archbishop McCarthy 4 Naples 2

(7A) Atlantic Delray Beach vs Nova @ Nova, 7pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION:  Nova 5  Delray Beach 3

(8A) West Broward vs Palm Beach Gardens @ Palm Beach Gardens, 7pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION: PB Gardens 5 West Broward 3

West Broward Celebrates

West Broward High School finally beat rival Flanagan in 2012, and they did it with the pitching of senior righty, Alex Zapata and a defense that kept the Falcons from the big inning.  Flanagan’s senior ace, Jose Mesa Jr had stifled the Bobcats with two no-hitters during the regular season, but barely escaped with a victory in the district championship.  Falcons coach, Ray Evans went with his ace one more time but the Bobcats were ready with a nail biting 4-3 victory at Flanagan High.

Falcon ace Jose Mesa Jr.

Nova 6 Monarch 3

The clock struck midnight on Monarch‘s Cinderella season, as Nova High School beat the Knights in a game influenced by weather.  Monarch was supposed to have the home field advantage but with storms effecting Broward the past two days, it was decided to play the game at Nova.  The Titans out dueled Monarch ace, Andrew Pierson by collecting 6 runs on 9 hits. That was all Nova lefty, Trent Moynahan needed as he led the Green and Yellow to a Regional Final birth next week against Del Ray Beach Atlantic.

Archbishop McCarthy 2 Miami Belen 1

Archbishop McCarthy battled to a 2-1 Regional Semi-final win against a scrappy Miami Belen team in a game played in Southwest Ranches.  Senior Nick Travieso didn’t disappoint as he pitched six innings and allowed only 3 hits to take the Mavericks one step closer to a fourth straight appearance in the state final four.

American Heritage 6 Pompano Beach 3

American Heritage advances to one step away from the state tournament by beating Pompano Beach for the fourth time this year. The Patriots found themselves down by 2 runs with 9 outs remaining before rallying to score 5 runs to set up a Regional Final with Estero High School (Ft. Myers) on Friday May 11th.

Miami Pace 7 Coral Springs Charter 3

Miami Pace ended Coral Springs Charter’s season by scoring early and often with the help of Coral Springs errors to build a 6 run lead. Charter battled back behind the hitting of Christian Khawly (3-4, 2 rbi’s) but fell short in their comeback bid.   Pace moves on to face Miami Gulliver on Friday.

The heavens, Zion Lutheran and St. Thomas all shed tears on Tuesday as stormy weather on and off the field made headlines.  Only one game was played as spring showers halted Regional Semi-final action across Broward County setting the plate for “Makeup Wednesday“. Sheridan Hills Christian, behind senior pitcher, Chris Meyer shocked heavily favored Zion Lutheran 6-3.  Playing on the road against a team they had lost to three previous times this year, Sheridan Hills jumped to a 2 run lead in the fourth inning and never looked back.  Zion Lutheran found itself down 6-1 going into their final at bat and attempted a rally but the Sharks ended their hopes and season by recording the final out to punch the first Regional Final ticket in school history.

LAWSON RESIGNS FROM ST. THOMAS

Down the road at St. Thomas High School, news that long time coach, Robert Lawson had resigned added to the tone of the day.  Lawson compiled a 255-97 record that included a state 4A championship title in 2003.  Aquinas finished second in District 16-7A with a 14-9 record in 2012.

Heading into Tuesday’s Regional Semi-finals, Broward County is assured of at least 4 teams making it to the Regional finals with three of the six games being rematches of their district final championships.  West Broward gets a fourth chance to face Flanagan ace, Jose Mesa Jr. with Mesa winning all three contests.  But the last time West Broward collected 10 hits off their nemesis as they pushed across 3 runs and forced the Falcons to win in extra innings.  The fourth time is shaping up to be in the Bobcats favor as we predict an upset. Monarch looks to add their own playoff upset for a second week as they face Broward’s top ranked team, Nova.  The Knights will go as far as the lefty arm of Andrew Pierson takes them, but Nova has more depth and more pitchers to overcome Monarch’s home field advantage.  Archbishop McCarthy knows the drill as they take on Miami Belen at home. The Mavericks beat Belen earlier this year in Miami 5-1, it would take a Herculean effort to beat ABM at home.  American Heritage and Pompano Beach play for the fourth time as well as the Patriots host the Tornadoes.  Pompano shocked South Florida last week with a great win over a tough Palm Beach Jensen team.  AH has too many bats for Pompano to beat for seven innings.  Coral Springs Charter takes on Miami Pace at home as Pace is starting to remind people of their dominant teams from yesteryear.  Still, this game could turn either way, we believe Springs Charter’s 12-0 home record makes the difference.  In the three previous match ups this year, Zion Lutheran outscored district rival Sheridan Hills 38-5 in winning all three games.  We don’t expect anything to change come Tuesday.  Here’s a look at Tuesday’s games and our predictions:

8A

West Broward (18-6) vs Flanagan (18-4) @ Flanagan; Tuesday 7pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION:  West Broward 6 Flanagan 3

7A

Nova (22-1) vs Monarch (19-4) @ Monarch; Tuesday 4pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION: Nova 4 Monarch 0

6A

Miami Belen (20-8) vs Archbishop McCarthy (23-4) @ ABM; Tuesday 7pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION:  Archbishop McCarthy 7 Miami Belen 2

5A

Pompano Beach (12-10-1) vs American Heritage (23-4) @ AH; Tuesday 7pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION:  American Heritage 7 Pompano Beach 1

4A

Miami Pace (20-6) vs Coral Springs Charter (20-7) @ CSC; Tuesday 7pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION: Coral Springs Charter 3 Miami Pace 2

2A

Sheridan Hills (13-9) vs Zion Lutheran (15-7) @ Zion Lutheran; Tuesday 7pm

BASEBALL 954 PREDICTION:  Zion Lutheran 12  Sheridan Hills 1

Crusader Touki Toussaint

Coral Springs Christian stood toe to toe with defending state champion, Palm Beach Summit Christian for 7 innings but in the end poor footing cost the Crusaders a chance to dethrone the champs.  With bases loaded and one out in the top of the 8^th inning, Summit Christian’s attempt at a suicide squeeze looked to have failed as Coral Springs Christian pitcher, Touki Toussaint sprang off the mound to make a nice back-hand flip to catcher, Zach Butler but Butler lost his way around home plate and caught the ball two feet outside the irregular pentagon.  Summit went on to add 3 more runs before lefty closer, Sam Murphy dropped the curtain on Springs Christian season.  In other playoff action, Nova and Northeast locked up into a classic pitching battle between Nova senior, Trent Monaghan and Northeast senior, Cory Korenic. Monaghan allowed only one hit to shut-out the Hurricanes while Korenic stifled Nova’s bats allowing three hits while giving his team a shot at the upset.  Nova pushed across their lone run in the 5^th inning with Ryne Saxner delivering the game changing double.  Across the county in Deerfield Beach, Monarch upset favored St. Thomas 5-4 on the left arm of senior, Andrew Pierson.  Knights first baseman, Nick Alsonso broke open a 1-1 game with a two run homer in the fourth inning as Monarch never looked back.  St. Thomas lefty Alec Byrd pitched well for the Raiders but took the loss as the Saints end their season 14-9.  In 5A action, Pompano Beach travelled north to take on Jensen Beach, and the Golden Tornadoes came away with the biggest upset of the day behind Tyler Keller’s stellar pitching.  The junior lefty allowed only 2 runs on 4 hits to move Pompano Beach to the next round.  American Heritage had to hustle to avoid Palm Beach Suncoast’s bid for an upset.  Suncoast’s 9-12 season record was misleading as they pushed the Patriots to the brink before American Heritage’s Brandon Diaz crossed home with the winning run in the 6^th inning to win 3-2 .

CSCA's Ryan Cabreja

Regional Quarter Final Games:

8A

West Broward vs Coral Springs @ Coral Springs, May 3^rd, 7pm

Douglas vs Flanagan @ Flanagan, May 3^rd, 7pm

BASEBALL 954 MAGAZINE PREDICTION…

West Broward 5 Coral Springs 3;  Flanagan 7 Douglas 1

7A

St. Thomas vs Monarch @ Deerfield Beach H.S., May 2^nd, 4pm

Northeast vs Nova @ Nova, May 2^nd, 7:30 pm

BASEBALL 954 MAGAZINE PREDICTION …

St. Thomas 4 Monarch 3; Nova 10 Northeast 0

6A

Hialeah- Miami Lakes vs Archbishop McCarthy @ Archbishop, May 3^rd, 7pm

Pembroke Pines Charter vs Belen (Miami) @ Belen, May 3rd, 4pm

BASEBALL 954 MAGAZINE PREDICTION…

Archbishop McCarthy 8 Hialeah Lakes 2;  PPCharter 6 Belen 5

5A

Suncoast vs American Heritage @ American Heritage, May 2^nd, 7pm

Pompano Beach vs Jensen Beach (Palm Beach) @ Jensen, May 2nd, 7pm

BASEBALL 954 MAGAZINE PREDICTION…

American Heritage 9 Suncoast 3; Jensen Beach 8 Pompano Beach 3

4A

Archbishop Carroll vs Coral Springs Charter @ CS Charter, May 3^rd, 7pm

Pine Crest vs Monsignor Pace @ Monsignor Pace, May 3^rd , 7pm

BASEBALL 954 MAGAZINE PREDICTION…

CS Charter 7 Archbishop Carroll 4; Pace 5 Pine Crest 3

3A

Calvary Christian vs American Heritage Delray @ AH Delray, May 3rd, 7pm  Summit Christian vs Coral Springs Christian @ CS Christian, May 2^nd, 7pm

BASEBALL 954 MAGAZINE PREDICTION…

AH Delray 4 Calvary Christian 1; CS Christian 3 Summit 1

2A

Mater Academy vs Zion Lutheran @ Zion Lutheran, May 3^rd, 4pm

Sheridan Hills vs Champagnat (Miami) @ Walker Park, Miami, May 3rd, 7pm

BASEBALL 954 MAGAZINE PREDICTION…

Zion Lutheran 7 Mater Academy 6;  Champagnat 6 Sheridan Hills 2

BASEBALL 954 MAGAZINE 2012 PREDICTION RECORD – (29-2)