Spanish River Opens Season With 5-3 Win Over Rival West Boca

Alex Demchak carried the Sharks with his performance on the mound Tuesday.

Imagine having one of the biggest games of the year coming up against a crosstown rival. Now imagine that game taking place on the first day of the season. That was the situation facing Spanish River and West Boca on Tuesday evening. The two teams began the season in a crosstown match-up for the second year in a row.

As was the case last year, Spanish River came away victorious, with a 5-3 win behind the strong pitching performance of Aex Demchak. The senior went five innings, allowing only one run. It was a performance Manager William Harvey will come to expect from his ace.

“Alex is our horse this year,” said Harvey. “We thought we might have to go elsewhere a couple of times tonight, but he asked to hold on to the ball. He stepped up and made some really good pitches when he had to. They are a really good club over there, so it was nice to see him pitch well against a quality hitting team.”

The game was expected to be a pitcher’s duel between Demchak and Bulls ace Sean Gabel. The matchup never materialized, however, as Gabel had to be removed from the game after facing only three batters in the bottom of the first. The junior was visibly upset with having to come out, but trainers felt precaution was needed.

“We’re not sure exactly yet,” said West Boca Manager Nicholas Siano, when asked about the extent of Gabel’s injury. “Obviously he’s going to have to be evaluated. The trainer was here tonight, and he said it looked like it may just be some stiffness in the elbow. But anytime you’re dealing with the elbow you have to be cautious, so we’ll just wait until Sean is evaluated to see the prognosis.”

After the teams traded runs in the first inning, Spanish River put up two more in the second inning and one in the third. Despite giving up the three runs, reliever Chris Brown settled down and threw the ball well after being pressed into service after the Gabel injury.

The score remained 4-1 until the sixth when the Sharks added an insurance run. Cam Weinberger threw 1.1 in relief of Demchak, but ran into a little trouble in the seventh. West Boca loaded the bases with one out, and a Sean Kuchta single chased Weinberger and put the tying runs on base.

Spanish River turned to Sam White to close out the game, and the left-handed junior did just that, getting a popout and a ground ball to second to secure the save.

Chris Brown pitched well in relief for the Bulls.

Ryan Berger and Boomer Saraga were in the middle of the offensive action all night for the Sharks, with Berger going 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and Saraga finishing the game 2-for-3.

With the rivalry game behind them, Spanish River is hoping to carry the intensity they brought on Tuesday through the rest of the season.

“We were really jacked up for this game,” said Demchak. “Being that they are a rival, and its the first game of the year, it was hard to keep the emotions under control. If we stay focused and make the plays we did tonight, we should be in good shape.”

On the other side, Siano and the Bulls will have to rebound from a season-opening loss for the second time, a task he believes his team is up for.

“We just didn’t come out today ready to swing the bats,” said Siano. “It may have been a little rust. It’s still very early in the season, and we just need to clean up the defense a bit and knock the rust off on offense, and we should be ok.”

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