Forest Hill Runs Away From Lake Worth 17-2

Forest Hill’s Odlandier Morales squares off against Lake Worth pitcher Sean Steele.

Forest Hill coach Russ Milliken always wants to have his team running.

After seeing Lake Worth’s pitcher struggling with his command early on, Milliken started giving all his runners the steal sign.

And steal they did.

Five stolen bases in the first inning alone catapulted the Falcons over the Trojans 17-2 in the Forest Hill City Tournament on Wednesday.

“We were watching the pitcher and we thought we could run on him. We work on running a lot and thought we might as well try it,” Milliken said. “I think they just had a bad game and we had a good game. It was one of those combinations where you come out hitting the ball and wherever you hit it it falls in and they had a lot of trouble with their pitching.”

With two outs in the bottom of the first, Juan Garces got the rally going with a two-run single. Eight more batters came to the plate, including Madison Milliken, who roped a two-run base hit of his own in the eight-run inning. Garces finished 2-for-3 with four RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base, while Millikan was 1-for-2 with three RBI.

“That was great to see,” Miliken said. “Our guys hit the ball great with two outs. Sometimes you get a club where they get two outs and the guys think they’re finished, but tonight that’s not the way they were looking at it. It didn’t matter if there were two outs or no outs, they just kept going after the pitches and doing what they were supposed to at the plate.”

The Trojans offense always seemed to be one hit away from keeping the game close but just couldn’t get the timely hit when it needed it in the first few innings.

With the bases loaded in the first, Troy Steele grounded out sharply to first to end the threat.

A great snag by Falcons third baseman Christopher Batista erased two runners in scoring position in the second and the Trojans again left the bases loaded in the third. Following a Steele RBI single, Forest Hill pitcher Dylan Jamie was able to strike out Wayne Panton for the final out.

“A hit here or there [for them] and that game could have been a different situation. It could have been a lot closer,” Milliken said.

While the Trojans were stranding eight runners through the first three innings, the Falcons (1-1) kept piling on.

Dylan Barahona capped a three-run second when he beat out a potential inning-ending double play at first base to plate two runs.

Alex Hernandez’s two-run double down the line highlighted a six-run third.

Batista went 2-for-3 with three runs and two stolen bases for Forest Hill, and Mike Murray was 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored.

For Lake Worth (0-2), catcher Chase Forrest reached base all three times he came to the plate, including two walks.

The Falcons will face Cardinal Newman in the final day of the tournament on Thursday, and Lake Worth will look to get pick up its first win of the season against Seminole Ridge.

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