Smith fans 10 as Brandon holds off East Bay

Brandon senior Fisher Smith struck out 10 in 5 1/3 innings pitched, helping the Eagles defend Don Powell Field in a 6-3 win over East Bay.

By Jarrett Guthrie
Editor

March 9, 2022

BRANDON – East Bay hitters allowed Eagles senior pitcher Fisher Smith to set the tone Tuesday night and the righty hurler was happy to oblige, breaking his high-set on the mound and filling the zone, retiring hitter after hitter, working five-plus innings and striking out 10 as Brandon turned away the Indians in a 6-3 win.

“I didn’t have my best stuff tonight,” Smith said. “But I still had to go out and attack. This team did a great job behind me. All we need is someone to step up and throw strikes and we will compete with anyone.”

Smith retired the side in order to start the game, then worked around a pair of walks and a hit batter through the first four innings. His first hit allowed – a fifth-inning single through the right side by East Bay’s Brenden Hone – was quickly erased when Eagles backstop Marlon Garcia saw the runner’s lead off first, ran toward him and fired to second to catch him trying to steal.

On offense, Brandon (2-2) took little time to get ahead as junior Carson Junttila (2-for-3, also with a double) smashed a triple, splitting the outfielders in left-center. Johnny De La Rosa quickly made the three-bagger hurt with an RBI sac fly to center field.

Brandon’s Carson Junttila starts the swing that would turn out to be a standup triple in the first, and the junior would score the game’s first run and add a double later in the game.

The Eagles piled on three more in the second, started by a single from Garcia, who was replaced by speed-up runner Reginald Faison, who promptly stole second base and advanced to third on a balk. Therran Cooper singled in the next run, and a DayJuan Lawrence ground a ball to the left side added one more and aggression added a third. The Eagles weren’t happy with just one on Lawrence’s batted ball, and as the Indians tried to turn two, Brandon head coach Rowland Ruiz, Sr. sent Cooper around third and to the plate.

“We have been working on aggressive base-running, taking advantage of them coming up slow,” Ruiz said. “As they tried to turn two, I saw the first baseman was stretching and I figured he wasn’t going to be able to come up and pop off to the plate. We are going to try and exploit that if we have the chance, every time.”

Smith was certainly the beneficiary of the support, but said the added runs in the second boosted the whole team.

“Whenever we get energy like that,” Smith said, “I feel like we can’t be stopped.”

East Bay (1-3) finally found a way to Smith in the sixth as the pitch count started to tick upward, and his fourth and fifth walk of the outing sandwiched his 10th strikeout, forcing him from the game.

“I felt like he was dealing up there, he’s always a dog,” Junttila said of Smith. “And once he gets going he will stay there, he won’t let up.”

: Brandon RF Johnny De La Rosa lays out for a catch in the fifth inning.

: East Bay’s Brenden Hone connects on the Indians first hit of the game.

Ruiz said he felt that Smith’s outing was solid, but he’s quickly come to expect production on the mound from his senior.

“He didn’t have his ‘A’ day today, but he continued to compete even though he had a ‘B’ day,” Ruiz said. “But he is one of those guys I’m going to give the ball to and let him ride until he feels he doesn’t have it anymore.

“He’s an absolute competitor day-in, day-out, and a leader on this team by example and through his play.”

From there, Faison took over on the mound for Brandon with a first-and-third situation and the Indians were able to get two runs across, as Anthony Williams’ RBI sac fly added the first run, and (after an error) Hone pushed a runner across drawing a bases loaded walk.

East Bay senior Anthony Williams on the first of his two RBI sac flies in the sixth inning.

The Eagles though, answered back immediately when De La Rosa tripled to open the home-half and scored on a wild pitch, followed two outs later by Smith scoring on another wild pitch.

The two late runs added a bit of a cushion as East Bay battled to the last out, scoring one as Tate Gran (hit-by-pitch, two runs, two stolen bases) scored on an RBI sac fly – again off the bat of Anthony Williams – to left field, but the game ended as the Indians tried to push a second run across on the play but the Eagles recorded the final out at the plate.

Junior Tayton Laing worked well in relief for the Indians, despite two unearned runs, striking out four in 1 2/3 innings pitched. East Bay catcher Kayleb Wright hosed a pair of runners in the loss.

⚾⚾⚾⚾

Brandon 6
East Bay 3

Check back on our website on Wednesday afternoon for our full breakdown of this game.

EB 000|002|1 – |3|3|0
B 130|002|x – |6|6|2
W – Smith; L – Potsic; S – Faison
2B – Junttila (B); 3B – Junttila, De La Rosa (B). Records – EB (1-4); B (2-2).