Storm rally, hold off Hillsborough for 10-9 win
Storm quad-captain and closer Aidan Felix gets emotional after his defense turns a double play to lock up a 10-9 victory over Hillsborough.
By Chuck Frye, Senior Staff Writer
TAMPA – Winning is never ugly but the road to get there sometimes is.
Continuing one of the longest running rivalries in the 8-1-3 on Tuesday night, host Chamberlain and Hillsborough struggled in the early going. Spiked pitches and passed balls, errors in fielding, throwing, and base-running … execution was challenged on an evening where temperatures dipped into the mid-40s.
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Trey Sharpe looks out to the field after scoring one of Chamberlain’s five first-inning runs.
But as erratic as periods of the game were, the compete level never dissipated for either team. Big deficits were erased as the lead changed hands three times. When push came to shove, Chamberlain created just enough separation in the middle innings to defend its turf, fighting back to edge the Terriers, 10-9.
“It’s always fun against Hillsborough,” Storm head coach Stephen Martin said. “Everybody knows each other from the coaching staff to the kids, and we knew this was going to be a tight game.”
Chamberlain senior Dairon Benitez smiles toward his bench after his second-inning double.
The game’s defining blow came in the bottom of the fourth inning. Trailing 6-5, the Storm (now 2-4) got production from the bottom of their order as Michael Medina walked and Dylan Wormack launched a rocket to deep centerfield. Weak base running decisions turned the blast into a single and caused Martin to send pinch-runner Aiden Felix in for Medina.
“One of the things we talked about is when someone loses their head, we’re going to correct it very quickly,” Martin said of his battle to create a winning culture in the program. “Everybody has everybody else’s back, you’re going to sit and you’re going to come back right.”
Smiling head coach Bryan Burgess greets Geisel Perez at third base after the sophomore’s game-tying second-inning grand slam.
Lead-off man Justin Estevez tapped a shallow grounder down the first base line with Wormack beating the throw to second to load the bases for Xavier Ether.
“I was just looking to put the bat on the ball and get people running around the bases,” Ether said of his approach to the defining at-bat.
Hillsborough junior Magglio Rojas (26) glides past the tag of Chamberlain catcher Brennan Kay to score on Juan Pena’s third-inning sacrifice fly. Rojas walked three times against the Storm, scoring twice.
Facing a drawn-in infield intent on retiring Felix at home, Ether lofted a soft line drive that just cleared leaping Terriers’ second baseman Marquez Thornton and crawled into the outfield grass. Felix and Wormack scored and Chamberlain was back on top again. Estevez later scored when Brennan Kay reached on an error, then Ether scored on a passed ball to make the Storm lead 9-6.
“We’ve definitely been hitting a lot more than we had last year, and we obviously have been playing more as a team,” the quad-captain, Ether, said of his squad’s nine-hit evening. “We pick each other up and we stay positive.”
Storm junior Dylan Wormack (11) is greeted by teammate Nahz Taylor (12) after scoring on Xavier Ether’s fourth-inning, two-run single.
That didn’t slow the roll of Hillsborough (2-3) in the slightest, shaving a run off the lead in the fifth when Angel Smith singled, stole second, moved to third on a passed ball, and scored on Argemis Monier’s ground out. And when Ether restored the three-run advantage with an RBI base hit in the fifth, Hillsborough’s offense ignited once again.
“I liked the fight in the guys (Tuesday),” Hillsborough head coach Bryan Burgess said of his numbers-challenged squad.
Hillsborough sophomore Argemis Monier gets a helmet tap from first base coach John Russell after his second-inning single.
Chase Dennis lashed a double to right-centerfield to score Thornton (hit by pitch), while clean-up batter Smith followed with a hard-hit sacrifice fly to bring in Rocco Sabella (single).
But with the tying run in scoring position, Felix – Chamberlain’s fourth pitcher of the night – shut down the sixth-inning rally with a strike out, then induced DH Elijah Brown to line into a double play to end the game.
“We had three games last week and we have three games this week,” Martin explained. “This early in the season, we don’t like to run pitch-counts up and we like to go by committee and make sure everybody’s OK for the next few games. We stuck to the plan (Tuesday) and everything worked out.”
Chamberlain reliever Aidan Felix worked the final two innings of Tuesday’s victory over Hillsborough.
An error and two wild pitches got Hillsborough the lead in the top of the first, but the Storm answered with a five-spot in the bottom half led by Chris Rojo’s sacrifice fly, Medina’s run-scoring single, a fielder’s choice, a balk and a wild pitch.
The Terriers drew even in the second in dramatic fashion when No. 9-batter Geisel Perez, just returning to the lineup after an illness, drove the first pitch he saw over the rightfield fence for a grand slam, then took the lead in the third on Juan Pena’s RBI sacrifice fly.
Chamberlain shortstop Chris Rojo lost the handle on the ball, allowing Angel Smith to complete his fifth-inning stolen base.
Play for the pair will continue Thursday as Chamberlain will continue its pitching-by-committee philosophy at home against Bloomingdale; while Hillsborough, which could take the field with just 11 players due to injuries, illnesses, and exits, will start Smith when it hosts Freedom.
“We’ve had some close ones where things have gotten away from us and gotten out of hand,” Martin concluded. “It was nice (Tuesday) to see them kind of minimize and stay in front of things.”
Terriers sophomore Marquis Thornton rounds third and heads home on Chase Dennis’ sixth-inning RBI double.
“We’re preaching to keep it close and fight to the end,” Burgess said. “I love my guys. I just wish I had more of them. But we don’t throw parties worrying who’s going to come. We party with who we’ve got.”
⚾
Chamberlain 10
Hillsborough 9
H 141|012|0 – |9|7|1
C 500|410|x – |10|9|3
W – Medina (1-1); L – Dennis
2B – Dennis (H); Benitez (C); HR – Perez (H). Records – H (2-3); C (2-4).
