Strawberry Crest senior Damien Torres points to his teammates after his leadoff triple in the top of the 10th. Torres scored the decider in the next at-bat, crossing on a wild pitch.

By Jarrett Guthrie
BRANDON – Strawberry Crest was looking for a spark and found it twice as Alex Marshall tied things in the sixth with an RBI single, and Damien Torres tripled and scored the eventual decider in the 10th on a wild pitch as the Chargers capped the regular season with a 3-1, extra-inning win at Brandon.

Torres (who we featured today in the first of our senior profiles click here), was a bulldog on the mound, entering with the bases loaded and one out in the third and struck out a pair, before adding five shutout innings on the mound and keeping the Eagles from adding to it’s one-run lead.

“We both fought hard and Brandon is a good team and put up a battle,” Torres said. “I did everything I could to keep us in this game on the mound and at the plate.”

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Brandon senior Jermaine White was 4-for-5 in the loss
with a triple, two stolen bases and a run.

That run came in the first inning as Brandon (10-12) leadoff hitter Jermaine White singled, stole a pair of bags and scored on a Zach Pommier sac fly to right. White, a St. Michaels College signee, would add three more hits on the night including a one-out triple in the bottom of the seventh, but the Eagles failed to scratch out the winning run.

Strawberry Crest (14-8) made the smart play after the triple, loading the bases with a pair of intentional walks. Torres fielded a comebacker to the mound and sent a throw home for the second out, and junior catcher Joey Parrillo smartly saw the runner heading to first inside the baseline and fired the ball off the runner’s back to draw the runner’s interference call for the final out and send the game to extras.

It was the third time in the game Brandon couldn’t cash in with bases loaded as the Eagles left nine aboard in the loss.

Strawberry Crest P Jacob Heath

The Chargers got another solid relief outing on the mound from junior Jacob Heath, who worked the final two innings picking up the win.

“It feels pretty good to get the win in the last game of the season,” Heath said. “Brandon put up a heck of a fight, by no means was this easy, so I’m proud we got this one.”

Torres led off the top of the 10th lacing a liner to the left-center gap, and said once he saw the ball get past the centerfielder he ramped it up to motor around the bases. He crossed the plate easily as a pitch skipped to the backstop in the following at-bat.

“When I saw that ball get by him, I though I might be able to get three, but when I rounded second, I was just ready to go for it,” Torres said of his triple.”

Heath then followed up on Torres triple and run by doubling down the left field line and scored as Benny Pues traded places with him on his own double to left or some added insurance.

Brandon got a solid start on the mound from senior righty Wildiomar Roman-Morales, who worked four shutout innings, allowing just three hits.

Brandon SP Wildiomar Roman-Morales

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