Terrapins hold off Crusaders, as older brother wins pitching battle

By Jarrett Guthrie
Editor

TAMPA – Tampa Prep’s Will Sotiropoulos admitted to a little pre-game smack talk with brother Alex prior to Tuesday’s meeting between the Terrapins and Tampa Catholic – typical big brother-little brother stuff, nothing new according to the older Will.

But the back-and-forth, which took place in the bullpen off Cass Street in downtown saw the brothers gearing up for a showdown, Will in Terrapins red and Alex in Crusaders green and grey, prior to the two brothers facing off from the mound in the early-season showdown.

“It was exciting and I got to tease him a little,” Will said. “But we live together, so he’s used to the chirps. I think we both enjoyed that opportunity. We are both competitive and this was a fun experience.”

This round though, belonged to the older Sotiropoulos as Will worked five innings on the mound, allowing just one run and striking out six to earn the win as Tampa Prep held off a late rally from Tampa Catholic, 8-5.

“TC definitely does that, and we know it only takes a few hits and they are right back in it,” Will said. “But we kept getting hits and kept going and came out on top tonight.”

Tampa Prep (2-1) head coach AJ Hendrix said he expected his pitcher to be looking for success, but expected both starting pitchers to be prepared for the challenge.

“I’m sure the older brother, the senior, wanted the W,” Hendrix said. “I think they were competing to see who could throw harder in the bullpen, and I’m sure this was tough for their family, but they both handled it well and with great class.”

Tampa Catholic (3-1) found itself at a considerable deficit after two early-inning errors spotted the Terrapins a six-run lead, but the Crusaders scratched back and had the tying run at the plate in the final at-bat, before senior Ty Jones punctuated a game-ending strikeout and yell on his way off the mound. Jones said that he was pleased with the win, especially with some familiar faces across the diamond as three former Tampa Prep players transferred to TC this year.

“With some of those guys – they are still our friends and we love them – but we definitely wanted to win this game,” he said.

In the first, Will Sotiropoulos worked around a leadoff single by Maddox King to start the game, stranding King at third. And it was the Terps senior who led off the home-first against the Crusaders sophomore right-hander, and reached on an error. A nice Grant Varner sac bunt, and a groundball later and Noah Sheffield put the Terps on the board with a single that scored Will.

However, it was the second inning that would spoil the length of the brothers’ showdown as the Crusaders sophomore hit a batter, walked three (including an RBI BB from Will Jennewein) before a costly error – again off the bat of Will Sotiropoulos extended the inning and chased Alex Sotiropoulos from the game. Jones then sent a groundball to third with the bases loaded, but no throw went across the diamond as he reached with an infield, RBI single. Jaden Holder made that indecisiveness sting a bit more with a two-run single to right.

Entering in a tough situation, Tampa Catholic junior Bransen Angel kept the damage from spiraling any further out of hand, and worked four innings, striking out eight.

But Angel himself, ran into some late trouble in the sixth walking and hitting a batter to start the inning, runners who would score as Gage Mills pushed across one with an RBI sac fly, and Roger Haughey singled in the other.

The late cushion for the Terps proved pivotal as Tampa Catholic mounted it’s comeback. TC added one in the top of the sixth when Rolando Jimenez (2-for-3, two RBI, two runs) walked and scored on a balk. Down to the final three outs, the Crusaders got to a quick roll in the seventh as Ethan Frame picked up his second single of the game to turn over the lineup, before a walk and a wild pitch set up Danny Lazaro to drive in Frame, followed by Jimenez’s second RBI single of the game, and later a Tony Calvo sac fly cut the lead in half.

Tampa Catholic loaded the bases and had the tying run at bat, but Jones got himself out of the jam, pumping a called strike-three in on a full count to end the game.

As they warmed up in the outfield before the seventh inning, Jones said he had discussed with Sotiropoulos the possibility of pitching the final outs if TC cut the lead, and admitted he may have been a bit nervous issuing the two walks before recording the final out.

“I was telling Will, as we talked in center, about how anxious I was to get in and I may have had the jitters as I went out there,” Jones said. “It was a pretty cool moment to finish this out here and get a strikeout looking at the end.”

Tampa Catholic will face a tough challenge on Thursday welcoming former district foe Clearwater Calvary Christian (3-0), while Tampa Prep travels to Bishop McLaughlin (0-3) on Thursday.

Tampa Prep 8
Tampa Catholic 5

TC 001|001|3 – |5|6|3
TP 150|002|x – |8|6|0
W – W. Sotiropoulos (1-0); L – A. Sotiropoulos (0-1); S – Jones (1)
Records – TC (3-1); TP (2-1).