Durant rewards Rowland with late-game win
Story by Jarrett Guthrie, Editor
Photos by Mike Camunas, Creative Director
CITRUS PARK – Durant senior Blaine Rowland stormed off the mound at the end of the sixth, his third inning-ending punchout elicited a burst of enthusiasm as the 6-foot-3, 205-pound righty waded through the mob of teammates headed back to the dugout.
Rowland dealt all night, but it was this final animated march off the field that saw his Cougars’ offense catch a spark and reward the University of Florida signee for his effort, scratching across a seventh-inning run on the road for a 1-0 victory against defending Class 6A state champions, Sickles, on Opening Night.
“This was absolutely the kind of game we were expecting,” Cougars head coach Butch Valdes said. “(Sickles coach) Eric (Luksis) has a heck of a program over there, and we knew traveling out here, facing the defending state champion, it was gonna be a battle.
“But our team is something special, and we saw what Blaine can do out there … this was a good start.”
Sickles senior ace Cameron Guise struck out six.
Conversely, Gryphons senior ace Cameron Guise was a methodical counter-puncher, racking up six strikeouts before his luck ran out in the final frame.
“I thought Cam was great,” Luksis said. “He gave us everything that we could ask of him. When you pitch that well and only give up one run, you expect to win a baseball game. His breaking ball was working, he had guys off-balance all night, and his changeup was pretty good, too.”
And Luksis wasn’t shy about praising Guise’s counterpart on the mound.
“(Guise) was a complete pitcher tonight, but you know what? So was the other guy on the mound,” said Luksis, who will return to the Cape Cod League again this summer as the pitching coach for the Wareham Gateman. “Blaine does everything you need to do to be good. He has all those abilities … he competes extremely well. It’s definitely a name I’m gonna keep in mind next summer when we’re doing invites for the Cape.”
In the seventh, Durant senior Noah Morales reached base by wearing a breaking ball to the back, and senior Chase Mobley followed that up moving his teammate into scoring position with a hard-hit single. Morales would eventually score the deciding run on an RBI sac fly from Jackson McClellan to shallow right.
“When (McClellan) hit it in the air I saw it was pretty shallow and I looked at (Coach Valdes) to ask him, ‘should I go’,” Morales said. “Zero-zero and we had nothing to lose, so I just went and we got a little lucky. I was just happy to be there in that position.”
Senior Noah Morales rushes home scoring the game’s only run as the Durant tops Sickles, 1-0.
Rowland said when he saw his catcher take that hit-by-pitch to lead off the seventh he knew that would help secure the win for his team.
“I knew the moment (Noah) got on, we were getting that run,” Rowland said. “This lights the fire, I think we will cruise after a start like this.”
Durant senior Chase Mobley watches his line drive scream into right field in the seventh.
But the inning’s hero might just have been junior Cooper Hughes, who took to the box after Mobley’s smashed line drive single, for his first varsity at-bat. Tasked with moving the runners up a base, Hughes dropped down a picture-perfect sac bunt and was mobbed by teammates returning to the dugout with two in scoring position.
“Cooper Hughes off the bench, where we felt a little more comfortable with a lefty coming back in there,” Valdes said. “We’ve seen what he can do in practice. He is an up-and-comer for us.”
Cougars junior Cooper Hughes dropped down a sac bunt to move runners, setting up the games lone score.
“This is a work in progress,” Hughes said. “There was definitely some pressure walking up there, but I knew I had this family behind me, and that made me know I’d succeed.”
Lead in hand, Rowland returned to the mound with confidence. But the Gryphons weren’t going to fall without a fight, and Michael Bynum (who had two of his team’s three hits) sent a ball tailing away from the left fielder, Brody Lissy, who was unable to come up the sliding catch allowing Bynum to slide into second. But that was all the excitement Rowland would allow as two fly outs to centerfielder Devin Suero sealed up the complete-game, shutout effort at exactly 100 pitches.
Despite a nearly one-hour delay in Durant’s arrival, Rowland (who struck out 10 and walked two) said he and his teammates were fired up even with the extended wait.
“Knowing they were state champions, everyone came off the bus hyped,” Rowland said. “We were ready to go – everyone wanted this. Out of the gate. One of the best teams in the county. Everyone fought to get this done.”
The complete-game showing was no surprise for Morales who has been battery-mates with Rowland since they were 13.
“Our chemistry is pretty strong,” Morales said. “We trust each other. He doesn’t shake me off very often, because I know what he needs. He shoved, and did exactly what we expected him to do. He’s ready to do it all season.”
Durant senior Noah Morales was all smiles after the Cougars win on opening night.
Tristan Brown singled on a hard ground ball through the left side of the infield for Durant’s (and the game’s) first hit in the second inning; while Sickles’ Jaden Nazar lined a single into left in the home-half.
Sickles offense had a scoring opportunities throughout the night but couldn’t find the timely hit.
“We had our opportunities,” Luksis said. “We had a guy on second base in five innings. If you’d have told me that before the game, I would have thought we’d have scored a run but we just didn’t get the big hit.”
Sickles will get a chance for that first “big hit” as the Gryphons host Alonso on Thursday; Durant has its home opener on Friday, hosting Sumner.
⚾
#2 Durant 1, #3 Sickles 0
D 000|000|1 – |1|2|2
S 000|000|0 – |0|3|1
W – Rowland (1-0); L – Guise (0-1)
2B – Bynum (S). Records – D (1-0); S (0-1).
