Atlantic Rides Big Fourth Inning To 8-1 Victory Over Forest Hill In 7A Quarterfinal

Atlantic’s Joey Ohannesian was 1-for-3 with a run as the Eagles cruised to a 8-1 victory over Forest Hill in a 7A regional quarterfinal.

Heading into Wednesday’s Class 7A regional quarterfinal between Forest Hill and Atlantic, the general consensus was that the audience would be witnessing a big pitching performance.

That assumption was correct, although it did not come from the vaunted ace pitcher everyone may have been expecting it to come from in Forest Hill’s Mike Murray.

Instead it was Atlantic senior left-hander Rigo Beltran who helped pave the way to the victory.

The host Eagles rode the momentum of a big six-run fourth inning to back Beltran’s strong pitching performance and upended Forest Hill 8-1 in a contest played at Little Fenway Stadium in Miller Park in Delray Beach.

The Eagles (20-7) will host district rival West Boca on Tuesday in a regional semifinal after the Bulls defeated Royal Palm Beach 5-3 in their regional playoff.

“I can’t say enough about how good Rigo Beltran was tonight,” Eagles coach Steve Wilson said. “Rigo had all three pitches working tonight, he was painting the corners with his fastball, keeping them off with his change-up and dusting the edges with his curve ball.”

Beltran went five full innings while scattering four hits and limiting the Falcons (16-9) to only one run. He recorded seven strikeouts and just one walk to earn the victory and improve to 7-3 on the season.

“We struggled all night and that got us. Unfortunately only one team walks away with a crown in the end,” Falcons coach Russ Milliken said. “They did a great job of coaching and executing, and they proved they did not get here by accident.”

After the Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Kyle Blank legged out an infield single to score Chris Brown, they broke it open with six more in the fourth inning.

After Beltran walked and Brad Myott singled leading off, junior Cody Bryant nailed a shot to the left center-field gap for an RBI double that drove in Beltran.

“I’ve known Mike for a while, and he gave me a fastball that I was able to put into left field,” Bryant said. “I love this team; we have the most energy every time we step on the field. It’s working and it’s a good time, and we just have to keep plugging away.”

The Eagles plugged right away, in fact, as Daniel Metz and Joey Ohannesian both reached to extend the inning.

Forest Hill’s Ryan Mahoney singles in the first inning.

Shortstop Bobby Borque then applied the back-breaker when he turned on a pitch and delivered it deep to the right field corner for a two-run standup triple. Two batters later, Jesse Kieffer singled to drive home Borque.

“I am so proud of the young men,” Wilson said. “We had an approach to go after Mr. Murray, and our approach was very good.”

Murray took the tough loss despite half the runs coming in unearned, falling to 8-3 to finish his senior season. The hulky right-hander stayed true to the type of pitcher and player he has been for this Falcons team in going the distance on 102 pitches in six full innings.

“I’m going to miss the laughter, the way we had the same mentality to have fun, get hits, play well,” said Murray, who will next be pitching for Florida Gulf Coast.

Bryant was 2-for-2 with two RBI and also walked to reach base in each of his at-bats to lead all hitters, and Kieffer was 2-for-4 with a double.

Trailing 7-0, the Falcons finally got on the scoreboard in the fifth when Dylan Barahona doubled to push across Chris Batista.

But Beltran recorded his final strikeout of the evening to escape the inning before turning the ball over to fellow lefty Sam Bergida. After allowing consecutive singles to Jose Crespo and Brayan Ofarrill, Bergida settled down and recorded the final six outs in order with three strikeouts to close it out.

“They played so well all year, and it’s always tough to lose that last game. But they wouldn’t keep score if it wasn’t important,” Milliken admitted. “I guess now what we’re looking for is asking ‘did the kids get better as ballplayers and as human beings?’”

Mike Murray goes for a pickoff attempt. Each team picked a runner off during their regional quarterfinal.

Atlantic will now face the Bulls for the fourth time this season, adding more fuel to an already lively new rivalry forged this season due to the new district alignments.

“I like the way Nick Siano coaches, and we are not looking forward to playing them again,” Wilson said. “But we’re happy to be playing them again, too. It is a great way to represent our district.”

The Eagles have gone 2-1 against the Bulls, including a victory at West Boca last week to win the district title. But Atlantic now is faced with the challenge of beating a team three times in the same season.

“We’ve been seeing West Boca all year,” Bryant said. “We’re ready to put it to rest and move on to the next one.”

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