Elder finds groove as Brandon rallies on Spoto
Brandon sophomore Robert Elder earned his first high school win on the mound, pitching 6 2/3 innings and allowing two earned runs.
By Jarrett Guthrie, Editor
BRANDON – It took a while for Brandon sophomore Robert Elder to find a rhythm as visiting Spoto’s top of the lineup swung aggressively and peppered early hits off the young righty Tuesday night.
But after a pair of first-inning runs, the Eagles answered right back, and after the Spartans again regained the lead with a run in the second – everything clicked for Elder, who was unflappable on the mound, coming just one batter shy of a complete-game as Brandon rallied for a 4-3 victory against the previously unbeaten Spartans.
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“I just settled in and relied on my teammates,” Elder said. “They love me no matter what – I can feel it when I’m out there – and we just battled.”
Eagles senior 3B Charles Revi Rodriguez throws across the diamond for an out in the first.
Elder, making his third appearance on the mound this year, worked 6 2/3 innings, allowed two earned on six hits and struck out three to pick up his first high school win.
“Robert is a special kid,” first-year Brandon head coach Devin Delorenzo said. “He’s a sophomore, so he’s a really young arm that we are developing. He’s really taken things by the reins and decided that he wants to be our ace. And he’s shown it. He’s got good off-speed stuff and his arm is strong.
“I couldn’t ask for more than 6-7 good, strong innings.”
New Brandon head coach Devin Delorenzo goes over the field of play in the pregame meeting with the umpires.
Brandon (now 3-1) was for many years a force in Hillsborough County baseball, but has had some lean times in the last decade, where the Eagles have had five different head coaches in that stretch. Delorenzo is looking to bring the Eagles back to a prominent position and has a core of young players with which to do it.
Spoto junior David Ruiz pitched well (3+ip,) but was pulled in the fourth after 55 pitches. He worked through the third, before seeming to tweak something on an excellent fielding play to end the inning. He returned to the mound in the fourth, but was pulled during a Brandon at-bat.
In turn, former first-round draft pick and six-year MLB player Lastings Milledge has taken over a Spoto team looking to find prominence in the county for really, the first time in the school’s history. The Spartans have some experienced returners and plenty of young players poised to break out and lift the program over the next few seasons.
Former MLB outfielder Lastings Milledge is in his first season as the head coach at Spoto, after serving as an assistant there and at Brandon in previous seasons.
Milledge said the game had all the feel of a rivalry game between the two nearby schools, and said despite the loss there were positives to see the growth for both teams finding a strong early footing.
“We knew this was a rivalry, and we knew with the attention we’ve received for playing good ball early (in the season) that we have a little target on us,” Milledge said. “The same for Brandon, they’re fighting for respect. We’re fighting for respect because we’ve been the bottom of the barrel for a long time.”
This Jeremy Pacheco single started Brandon’s fourth-inning rally.
Once Elder took control, the Eagles rallied again in the fourth, Jeremy Pacheco starting things off with a single to right, Jacob Sjerven tied the game with a ground-ball hit through the right side, and Nicolas Rodriguez went the other direction with a hit to put up the deciding run.
“We’re a wolfpack,” Delorenzo said. “We thrive off of somebody scoring on us first. We need to answer back, that’s something we try breed every day in practice as we try to build a frim culture here again.”
Jacob Sjerven tied the game in the fourth with this hard chopper the opposite way into right.
Nicolas Rodriguez put Brandon ahead with this single through shortstop.
At the game’s start, the top of the lineup for Spoto (4-1) came out swinging. Junior Devin Dukes sent a hard single down the left field line to lead off, moved up on an error and passed ball, then trotted home on a double lined over the first baseman from sophomore Levert Sims Jr. Sims quickly stole third on the pitcher’s first movement and scored on the same pitch when it bounced in the dirt and skidded to the backstop.
Spoto’s Levert Sims Jr (2-for-4, run, RBI, SB) singled in a run in the first, then stole second on the pitcher’s first move and kept going all the way across the plate on a wild pitch.
The Eagles responded in its first-inning at-bats, as Elder would start off a string of excellent two-out hitting with a single flared up the middle, followed by a Francis Ovalles Texas-leaguer hit to center, and a hustle infield single (despite an outstanding diving stop by Spoto SS Qwenlen Bennett) by the Eagles lone senior Charles Revi Rodriguez that drove in his team’s first run. Austin Willett lined a single to left to tie the game for a brief point, as all four hits came with two strikes.
Spoto catcher Nate Rodriguez applies a tag on Jacob Sjerven, finishing off a double-play which started with a catch and throw from centerfielder Levert Sims.
The Spartans offense came right back in the second, regaining the lead also employing some solid two-out approaches, starting with a Braylon Bird line drive single to right, a walk and another RBI hit for Sims (2-for-4).
Spoto 2B Greg Hornsby hustled into foul territory, making a snow-cone catch for an out.
But that was all the damage Elder was willing to allow. He retired the next eight batters he faced, before an error allowed Sims to again reach base in the fifth, and then issuing a four-pitch walk. Another error behind him and a hit batter was all Elder would give up until he reached his pitch-count limit when Bennett lined a single into shallow right-center with two outs in the seventh.
Eagles junior Francis Ovalles was 2-for-2, with a walk and a run scored, and closed out the game on the mound with a strikeout for the save.
Ovalles took the ball to close out the game and Bennett stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch before the junior righty closed out his save with a punchout.
“Congratulations to Coach Delorenzo and his team, they deserved this win, and they blanked us for five innings” Milledge said. “But I like to see both teams out here giving it everything they have. This was a beautiful game and we just came up a little short today.”
Sophomore Qwenlen Bennett was solid at shortstop for the Spartans.
Bennett, who was 2-for-4 in the game, had an outstanding defensive showing for the Spartans. His diving stop going across the second-base bag in the first kept a single from being extended, he made a great charge on a ball and throw for an out with a runner aboard in the third, and provided sound defense for a 15-year-old sophomore.
“He’s been with me since he was 11(-years-old),” Milledge said, “I trust him out there. HE coaches with my 10 & 11U teams. He’s always around the game, all to be ready for these moments in the game. A lot of blood, sweat and tears from him, and Qwenlen is going to make a real name for himself.”
Brandon 4
#10 Spoto 3
S 210|000|0 – |3|6|0
B 200|200|x – |4|13|2
W – Elder (1-0); L – Hansen (0-1); S – Ovalles (1)
2B – Sims (S); Sjerven (B). Records – S (4-1); B (3-1).
