Santaluces Captures GGI Championship Crown

The Chiefs won four in a row to claim the GGI Classic trophy.

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Spring Break has been good to the Santaluces Chiefs. Just before it began, they snapped an eight-game losing streak by beating the Forest Hill Falcons, 3-2. They then went on to win their next three to qualify for the GGI Classic title game on Friday Night at Dave Manzo Field in Lake Worth, against the same Falcons they had beaten ten days earlier.

Capitalizing on some early miscues, the Chiefs were able to once again get the better of Forest Hill, winning by a score of 6-2 to run their streak to five and claim the tournament crown.

“It feels great,” said Austin Smith, the Chiefs starting pitcher. “We had a rough start in the beginning of the year and now we finally are getting some timely hitting and playing together as a team. It feels great to actually win a few in a row.”

Before he ever even took the mound, Smith helped his own cause at the plate. With one out in the top of the first, Luke Stemle was hit by a pitch. He stole second base with Anthony Nichols at the dish then came home when Nichols reached on an error. Smith then drove in Nichols with a single to left field for a 2-0 lead.

The Falcons bounced right back in their first at-bats, improvising on the base paths to bring home an unexpected run. Max Howard drew a walk with two outs and advanced to third when Kylan Barnett singled into right field. With Jorge Hernando at the plate, Barnett broke for second. Howard waited until Santaluces catcher Chris Morgia made the throw to nab him before heading home himself. Both runners were safe and the Falcons cut the lead in half.

The Chiefs piled on in the second inning though. They brought all nine of their hitters to the plate and took advantage of two Forest Hill errors, a passed ball, wild pitch and RBIs by freshman Justin Anglin and A.J. Orrico to score four runs.

Once again, the Falcons fought back in their half of the frame. Rafael Debrand led off with a double to left-center and Effrain Torres sent him home with a double of his own two batters later. With one away and a runner at second, the Falcons were in position to further eat into the deficit, but Torres was stranded as Smith set down the next two batters to end the inning.

After early trouble, Hector Perdigon rebounded for a solid outing.

From there, the pace of the game picked up as Smith settled in. Through the first two innings, he had walked three batters, hit another with a pitch and allowed two runs on three hits. Through the next two, he gave up just one hit, a swinging bunt by Hernando, and issued no base on balls.

“This is my first year pitching,” said Smith. “I started in the fall and have been getting progressively better. In the beginning of the game I struggled a little bit and then I beared down and just got in my groove.”

He gave away two more inconsequential free passes in his fifth and final inning, but also notched his sixth K of the night. It was the longest outing of the senior’s career and his first win.

“Austin Smith is now a veteran pitcher,” claimed Santaluces Manager Nick Franco. “In the beginning of the year he hadn’t pitched a whole lot but he pitched very well for five innings tonight.”

Forest Hill starter Hector Perdigon also found his groove after the second inning, but more importantly, so did his defense. The pitcher allowed just one more base hit through the fifth inning and also benefited from an amazing diving catch by Hernando at the hot corner. Like Smith, he also took a seat to start the sixth.

“He should have pitched his way out,” said Falcons Manager Russ Milliken about his pitcher’s early troubles. “We didn’t back him up as far as our fielders are concerned but by no stretch of the imagination did he pitch poorly tonight.”

The Falcons did make one more last ditch effort to get back in it in their final at-bats. With Chad Tworek on the mound for Santaluces, the Chiefs committed their first error of the night to allow a lead-off baserunner, Jose Torres. A one-out single by Howard moved Torres to second and a ground out to first by Barnett put him on third, but Tworek induced another ground ball out to first base to strand him there and finalize the score at 6-2.

The winning streak puts the Chiefs at 6-10. While acknowledging the significant production from freshmen like Anglin and Orrico, Franco attributes the turn-around to the team getting healthy and the seniors.

“We had good senior leadership,” said the skipper. “Even though we were struggling they kept on working hard. They’re showing the young guys that it’s a long season and it doesn’t matter how you start, its how you finish.”

Austin Smith recorded his first career win for the Chiefs.

The sloppy play by the defense makes the loss a tough one to swallow for the Falcons. But Milliken concedes that the Chiefs earned their victory.

“I have a lot of respect for Santaluces’ ball club,” Milliken said. “They’re well coached. Nick Franco does a really great job over there so when you come to play Santaluces, you better come ready to play.”

While the tournament helped Santaluces to turn their season around, it was also a boon for the Falcons. Their earlier loss to the Chiefs was their second of three in a row and found them losing ground in a tight district 7A-13 race with a 5-7 overall record. But after going 3-1 during the break, they are back to .500 and ready for the final stretch.

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