Clarke drives in four as CDS tops Tampa Prep, 4-1
Patriots teammate Allen Soriano (12) greets Christian Clarke at the plate after the senior blasted his first homer of the season.
By Chuck Frye, Senior Staff Writer
TAMPA – Closers don’t only work on the mound. Just ask Christian Clarke.
On a bounce-back Tuesday night at Tampa Prep, Carrollwood Day jumped out to a first-inning lead that slowly became tenuous. Momentum-breaking defense from the host Terrapins combined with a solo home run from sophomore DH Jordan Della Rocca to turn up the heat on the Patriots, while a potential seventh-inning squander looked to add fuel to the fire.
But when called upon, Clarke delivered big-time, lifting Carrollwood to a crisply-played 4-1 victory.
Tampa Prep sophomore Jordan Della Rocca elevates to high-five Will Futch after hitting his sixth-inning solo home run.
Bookending Della Rocca’s sixth-inning blast off the top of the scoreboard in leftfield, the Pats loaded the bases with none out in the top of the frame but didn’t score, then were one out away from stranding runners at second and third in the seventh.
Enter Clarke, who had produced at the plate all night starting with his first at-bat where he deposited an Erik Skiendziel offering over the shallow rightfield fence at Shimberg Field for a two-run homer.
“I try to keep my approach the same,” the Princeton commit said of the tempting opposite-field target. “I was lucky to get it out of the park.”
Carrollwood Day’s Julian Earle received kudos from head coach Tony Brewington while heading for the plate on Christian Clarke’s first-inning home run.
Following with singles and stolen bases in the third and sixth frames, Clarke was beyond ready when he strode to the plate with teammates Steven Vargo (single) and Julian Earle (third hit of the night) in scoring position.
“When I see my teammates have great at-bats, that encourages me to do well,” Clarke said.
Tampa Prep first baseman Liam Akins takes care of this fifth-inning grounder himself to retire the Patriots’ Charlie Cooperman.
The senior had plenty of encouragement, enough to drive a hard-hit grounder up the middle, plate the pair, and seemingly lock up the victory.
The career game was a godsend for Clarke, almost doubling his hit total for the year while raising his average 128 points to .391.
It also rewarded a gutsy pitching effort from sophomore Charlie Cooperman.
Carrollwood batterymates Matt Porta (left) and Ashton Brown talk strategy in the seventh inning of its game against Tampa Prep.
In his first career start, Cooperman yielded at least one base runner in each of his six innings of work, but didn’t give up a run until Della Rocca went yard.
“I missed one spot and paid for it,” Cooperman said of the sixth and final hit he allowed in the game. “(Tampa Prep) was just doing their job so I didn’t overstress about it. I just stayed calm, came back and battled.”
CDS shortstop Steven Vargo rears back and fires to first to complete a first-inning double play as Terrapins runner Dennis Martino slides helplessly by.
“He was one of our feature guys,” concurred Pats head coach Tony Brewington. “It was good to see the respect he earned from his effort (Wednesday).”
The defense of Carrollwood Day (6-3) also stepped up, turning a traditional double play in the first and a much more dazzling one in the second. Rightfielder Nick Riedel ranged into foul territory to track down a fly ball then rocketed a strike to third baseman Allen Soriano to catch a Terrapin runner trying to advance.
Tampa Prep (3-6) also rode strong defense to stay in the hunt.
Tampa Prep sophomore Erik Skiendziel battled through six inning on the mound, at one time retiring seven straight Carrollwood Day batters.
Submarine ball starter Skiendzel (six innings, six hits, four strikeouts, two walks) fielded his position well with three assists, while combining with catcher Grant Brooks to turn a sixth-inning wild pitch into an out at the plate.
Terrapins rightfielder Will Futch (double, single, and walk at the plate) also dazzled. The senior closed out CDS’ scoreless sixth, charging in for a hard-hit ball and nabbing the batter at first, then denied the visitors again in the seventh by throwing another Pats’ runner out at the plate.
“Erik competed hard and deserved to win, and we came up huge on defense,” said Tampa Prep head coach A.J. Hendrix.
Carrollwood first baseman Evan Mazur looks this fourth-inning popup into his glove.
But the Terps struggled for timely hits as shown in the seventh when they got the tying run to the plate with eighth grader Luc Thornton (second single) and Dennis Martino (walk) on, only to see CDS closer Matt Porta record his third K of the inning to finally lock up the win.
“We got a couple of hits from kids that haven’t been hitting lately,” Hendrix concluded. “We just need the kids that are swinging well to join them.
“We don’t lack in confidence, but we’ve got to find a way to get runs to the plate – two-out hits with runners in scoring position – that’s what we have to do.”
Senior Kyle Brill came in to pitch the seventh for Tampa Prep.
Brewington said: “Our best baseball is still to be played. We’re good with our chemistry, we just have to put the pieces together consistently. We responded in a competitive way (Wednesday).”
Carrollwood returns to action on Friday when it hosts the unbeaten IMG Black Ascenders, ranked third in the state by MaxPreps. Tampa Prep is off until Tuesday when it welcomes Tampa Catholic.
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#12 Carrollwood Day 4
Tampa Prep 1
C 200|000|2 – |4|9|2
T 000|000|0 – |1|7|0
W – Cooperman (2-0); L – Skiendzel (0-1); S – Porta (1)
2B – Futch (T); HR – Clarke (C); Della Rocca (T). Records – C (6-3); T (3-6).
Terrapins pitcher Erik Skiendziel tags out Carrollwood runner Julian Earle attempting to score on a sixth-inning wild pitch.
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Julian Earle watches this pitch sail by for a strike but didn’t miss many others in a 3-for-4 plate performance for Carrollwood Day.
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Erik Skiendziel helped his own cause with some solid defense, turning this fifth-inning grounder into an out.
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Carrollwood shortstop Steven Vargo battles a tough breeze to track down a popup that ends the sixth inning.
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Patriots catcher Ashton Brown.
