Delaney Helps American Heritage Clinch Postseason Berth

Anthony Delaney went six strong for the win

Although the American Heritage Delray baseball team hopes to be playing well into May this season, they have secured their postseason spot just eight days into April.

With Monday’s 7-3 victory over Pope John Paul II, the Stallions clinched the 3A-13 regular-season title, the number one seed in the district tournament and a spot in the regional quarterfinals.

“For us, it’s comforting,” Heritage Manager Carm Mazza said. “It’s been a long, hard season. It’s nice with all we’ve worked hard to do, and with the tough schedule, that it’s led to this.”

Just as they did in March’s 6-3 win over the Eagles, Heritage got to ace Josh Parker early Monday and knocked him out of the game. The sophomore right-hander lasted just one and two-thirds innings, allowing five runs on six hits with just a single strikeout.

Meanwhile, Stallions starter Anthony Delaney reached six innings and almost 100 pitches, giving up three runs on only three hits with seven strikeouts. He threw 65 of his 98 pitches for strikes.

“He’s a bulldog, no matter what,” Mazza said of Delaney. “He’s going to find a way, and that’s what he does. He’s going to throw strikes.”

While Delaney was having himself a solid night, Parker, who gave up four runs over three and one-third innings in the March matchup, found himself deep in an early hole.

Lucius Fox had a great day at the plate Monday.

To open the game, he allowed back-to-back hard-hit singles to Anfernee Seymour and Jonathan India, and then an RBI single to Lucius Fox, who went 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored in the game.

Connor Power then stepped up and drove in both India and Fox with a crushed double to left, only to be thrown out at third while trying to stretch his hit into a triple.

The top four Stallions hitters were 9-for-12 on the night.

It took Parker 26 pitches to get out of the first, and things didn’t go much better in the second when Tyler Frank crossed the plate on an India sac fly, and then Fox drove home Todd Isaacs to make it a 5-0 game and end Parker’s outing.

Delaney took 24 pitches himself to get out of his first inning and struggled to find his groove early on a little. Pope took advantage in the second when reliever Alex Bialakis stroked an RBI double and Dominic Baldino followed with a sac fly.

The stocky senior settled down though, and allowed only one batter to reach second base in his final four innings of work. That batter was Chris Graffeo, who scored the third and final Eagles run in the fourth.

Pope’s Alex Bialakis struck out seven in 5 1/3 relief innings

The Stallions (10-11, 4-0) had already extended their lead to 6-2 by that point, however, and tacked on another run in the seventh when Chris Canavan’s sac fly brought in Fox.

With his pitch count close to triple digits, Delaney made way for Seymour in the seventh, and while the fireballer did allow two runners to reach, he struck out two to finish things off.

“We were aggressive,” Mazza said when asked what his team’s key to victory was. “We got fastballs to hit and we jumped on them.”

The Eagles (12-8, 2-2) will now have to face Summit Christian in the district semifinals for a spot in the postseason, with the winner to face Heritage for the tournament title. Pope John Paul won both meetings with the Saints this year, 1-0 and 2-1.

“They got the hits in key situations, and we didn’t,” Eagles manager Peter Graffeo said. “Delaney pitched another great game, and we just didn’t get it done.”

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