John I. Leonard Outlasts Suncoast In 10 Innings

Lancers senior Eddy Moral awaits the delivery from Suncoast pitcher Braden Hartigan.

What started out as a pitchers’ duel eventually turned into a war of attrition.

With John I. Leonard and Suncoast both striving to pick up that coveted first win of the season, neither defense was willing to let the other team succeed.

Finally, in the bottom of the 10th inning, Lancers junior Victor Abreu got the key hit that each team had struggled for all night long and brought home Javier Casas for the 2-1 walk-off win over the visiting Chargers on Wednesday.

“Once it went through the infield, my first thought was to just get to first base,” said Abreu, who finished 2-for-5 with a stolen base. “When I got there, all I could think was ‘it’s over’ and ‘thank you.'”

When the Lancers (1-2) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth on a Roberto Lopez sacrifice fly, the game seemed to be in hand.

But Suncoast refused to quit.

With the bases loaded in the seventh, junior Carson Morris roped an RBI single up the middle that would have given the Chargers (0-5) the lead, but center fielder Austin Hernandez’s perfect throw gunned down Jack Granger at the plate to keep the game tied.

“Everybody was running on fumes — even the umpires — but we stuck in there, which shows good character by these kids,” Leonard coach Roger Vazquez said. “We’ve only got 13 players we rely on. We don’t come with 25 guys like other schools do, so this momentum is going to be huge for those guys going into our next game.”

Through the first five innings, both starters were cruising. Leonard’s Alberto Hernandez gave up just two hits and struck out four. Granger of Suncoast allowed just three hits before finally giving up the game’s first run in the sixth.

At the plate, Granger also reached base safely in four of his five trips, including two walks, and he stole a base.

Suncoast’s Jack Granger, who reached base in four of his five plate appearances, awaits the pitch.

Both teams were getting baserunners, with a combined 22 runners left on base, but just couldn’t string together enough hits to bring them home.

The Chargers even managed to load the bases in back-to-back innings, but the Lancers continued to deny access to home plate, with three outs coming at the hands of catcher Ariel Casas.

In the fifth, one base runner was thrown out at the plate after trying to advance on a wild pitch, and in the sixth, Casas tagged out Morris on a botched suicide squeeze to end the threat.

The key for the Lancers late was the relief pitching by Austin Hernandez. The junior tossed the final three innings and gave up just one hit while striking out three.

“Austin is one of the best arms we’ve got,” Abreu said. “He always keeps a positive head and he pitched great today.”

Eddy Morel was 3-for-5 for the Lancers and Noel Canete had a double and two stolen bases.

“Now we’re going into districts,” Vazquez said. “We’ve got a big district game at Park Vista on Friday, and that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

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