By Lynn Ramsey - Florida Catholic
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Archbishop Carroll High School players hold up their trophy after winning the 3A District Championship game vs. Sagemont 5-0, and advancing to the Regional Semifinals. After winning there they reached the State Semifinals for the first time since 2001. Despite a 6-0 loss there May 26, the Bulldogs wound up with a 26-3 record for the season.
FORT MYERS | Jacksonville University Christian scored three runs in the first inning, Darien Smith pitched a three-hit shutout, and Archbishop Coleman Carroll High capped a successful season May 26 with a 6-0 loss in the FHSAA Class 3A state semifinals.
Archbishop Carroll (26-3) had not advanced beyond the second round since a 2005 3A second-round loss. But the Bulldogs found a way to reach the state semifinals for the first time since a 2001 state runner-up finish. They faced a University Christian (21-8) team that had won three state titles but had not been to the state semifinals since 1993.
“We knew they were going to be tough,” Archbishop Carroll coach Andres Blanco said. “They’ve had a good tradition.”
University Christian jumped quickly on Bulldogs starting pitcher Salvatore Lorenzo-Lugo. Alejandro Visaez hit an RBI double, Dylan Richman singled in another run and Visaez scored on an error to cap the first.
Lorenzo-Lugo kept UC in check in the middle innings, allowing only a fourth-inning leadoff single by Michael Ruiz.
“He took a 10-pitch at-bat (from the leadoff hitter). He threw 35 pitches in the first inning, and that hurt,” Blanco said. “But he bounced back. He’s been tough like that all year long. He carried us all year. Unfortunately, we had three losses, and all three were his. That’s because all three losses were in big games.”
University Christian got to Lorenzo-Lugo in the fifth. Smith scored on Lorenzo’s errant pickoff throw to first base to put the Christians up 4-0. Two pitches later, Connor Johnson’s sacrifice bunt scored Gage Dixon for a 5-0 lead. Dixon doubled in Cody Melton in the seventh inning for University Christian’s final run.
Lorenzo-Lugo (8-3) allowed five runs, two earned, on five hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out eight. Alfred Silva pitched the last two innings for the Bulldogs, allowing an unearned run and two hits.
Meanwhile, Smith kept Archbishop Carroll under control, walking only one and striking out 12.
The Bulldogs did not get a hit until Jonathan Leon hit a line-drive single to left with two outs. They did not get much of a threat until two outs into the sixth inning. Ryan Pereda and Rey Gonce hit back-to-back singles. Smith induced Leon to ground out to third to end the threat.
“They had a pitcher who was very deceptive,” Blanco said. “He set the tone early in the first inning, getting us out in 7-8 pitches. Anytime you see a pitcher once or twice through the lineup, you tend to pick up something. He also tired out a bit. It was just too late.”
Gabriel Figueroa drew a two-out walk from Smith in the bottom of the seventh, but Smith induced a groundout to end the game.
