Spanish River Outlasts Olympic Heights 6-5 In 11 Innings

Boomer Saraga comes in for the tying run in the bottom of the 10th.

Olympic Heights and Spanish River started a new chapter in their rivalry Thursday night with fire and determination, taking each other to the hilt and beyond as the Sharks edged the Lions 6-5 in an 11-inning, four-hour marathon.

Boomer Saraga tied the game at 5 in the bottom of the 10th and hit a ball the outfield that was dropped to allow the winning run to score in the 11th. Spencer Diaz, who singled with one out, came home on the error.

“I had a man on second base, and I was just trying to do what’s best for my team,” Saraga said. “I got the hit and drove him in. A win’s a win. Any way we can do it as long as the team wins, that’s all that matters. It’s just a great game by both teams. At the end of the day, someone has to win.”

Asked what he saw in his team after such a long game, Saraga said “poise, perseverance, maturity. It was a long game. To go 11 innings, with some kids being 15, 16 years old, it’s remarkable, and we showed a lot of maturity.”

Cameron Matis, who finished 2-for-4 with an RBI, hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th to bring home Saraga to make it 5-5.

Nick Stachnik pitched well for Heights.

Heights (1-2) went ahead 5-4 in the top of the inning as Casey Furnas singled in Sal Beltran, who walked and stole second. Furnas finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and run.

Freshman Cam Weinberger’s sacrifice fly scored John O’Connor for the tying run in the sixth. O’Connor had a big night, going 3-for-5 with a triple and two runs.

River had chances to end the game in the seventh, eight and ninth innings, but big plays on defense by Heights and the pitching of Nick Stachnik blocked its chances.

“We’ve got to do a better job of coming through in the clutch when we have those opportunities,” River coach William Harvey said. “Fortunately we came out on top tonight. I’m happy for the kids. Anytime you can beat a local team, it adds a feather to the cap, but we have to play better. I told the kids I was happy for them that we won, but I’m not jumping and hollering like we just won the World Series.”

It was a neck-and-neck battle all game, and River went up 3-2 courtesy of Andrew Lopez’s RBI single.

Down 3-2 going into the fifth, Height went ahead 4-3 without the benefit of a hit as Conor Archer and Vinny Scambone reached base with a hit-by-pitch and walk, respectively. The each came in on errors. Scambone finished 3-for-6 with two RBIs and a run.

Ryan Berger singled, doubled and scored twice in the first two innings to get the Sharks (2-2) off to a 2-0 start, but Scambone’s two-run singled evened things up in the third.

Although his team lost the game, there was still plenty of positives to take away for first-year Manager Sam Howell, who returned to the diamond this season after being away from the game since 2004.

Spencer Diaz scored the winning run in the 11th.

“We became a team,” Howell said. “It’s unfortunate we didn’t win, but you have to crawl before you can walk. It’s a learning process. It’s a completely different club. It’s the same guys as last year who only won three ballgames. We haven’t turned the corner yet, but we’re getting there slowly but surely. It only counts at the end anyway in the district tournament.”

Saraga said the rivalry element added to the game.

“Any game you play, you’re going to have small rivalries within the county, but being from Boca both teams, we have friends on both teams and it makes a whole lot more fun, especially to go through a game like that,” he said.

Both Saraga and Harvey noted the improvement they’ve seen in Heights this year.

“The team has completely turned themselves around, and they have a very young team but they also have a lot of potential and they really showed it tonight,” Saraga said.

Harvey praised the efforts of Howell to get the program going on the right track.

“Olympic Heights is a much-improved ballclub,” Harvey said. “Sam’s done a great job coming back and getting them inspired over there to play good baseball.”

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