Forest Hill Steals District Win from Dwyer

Forest Hill’s Jorge Hernando had two hits and a sensational defensive play from third base.

Luck is preparation meeting opportunity. The Forest Hill Falcons were fortunate to have one of 7A District 13’s fastest runners on third base when a very narrow opportunity arose, resulting in a 2-1 victory over the host Dwyer Panthers Thursday night.

A true pitchers’ duel unfolded with eighteen strikeouts, no walks and just one error per team. The game came down to a few momentous plays which were a half-tick from going either way.

Max Howard led off the Falcons’ sixth with a solid single to right-center. Josh Katinger’s sacrifice bunt and a passed ball during Kylan Barnett’s at-bat put Howard on third with one out. With two strikes on Barnett, the immediate preparation came from Forest Hill Manager Russ Milliken.

“He is, without a doubt, one of the fastest guys in the league,” Milliken said of Howard. “I had just finished telling him, if he strikes out and the throw goes to first, you’ve got to go.”

On Dwyer starter Colton Rendon’s tenth strikeout of the night, the ball was one-hopped to catcher Jack Iervolino, who looked Howard back to third before firing to first to complete the putout. Howard broke to the plate and a momentary double-clutch on the return throw home gave him the daylight he needed. With a fall-away slide over the outside of the plate, he scored the deciding run under what seemed to be a simultaneous swipe tag by Iervolino. A different runner might have meant a different call.

“Speed is my thing; I want to keep it in my game,” said Howard. “I used to play football but I’ve played baseball since I was three.”

Speed was also crucial to the Falcons’ first run coming in the third inning. With one out, Raymond Sanchez singled to right. Jose Torres then placed a sacrifice bunt deftly past the third baseman and the mound. A throwing error meant Sanchez came all the way around to score the tying run.

The Panthers had scored first an inning before. After a four-pitch first inning, Falcons’ starter Mike Entenza struck out the leadoff hitter. Entenza’s teammate from last year’s summer league, Dylan Jones, worked the count full. With the bases empty, Entenza opted for the challenge fastball. Jones drove it deep towards the sun setting above left center and over the wall for a home run that put the Panthers on the scoreboard with a 1-0 lead.

Winning pitcher Mike Entenza went seven innings, giving up two hits and zero walks

“I knew the kid. I threw him a fastball and left it down the middle,” said Entenza. “Props to him for hitting it out.”

Entenza’s Manager was nevertheless impressed.

“It could have been real easy for him to get rattled, but he didn’t,” said Milliken. “He settled right down in there and did a great job.”

It was just a brief hiccup for Entenza, who went the distance giving up only two hits, no walks and one hit batsman.

“Best I’ve felt in a long time”, said the Falcons’ right hander. “My command, my velocity, everything was just working.”

Luck came into play once more as the defensive play of the game (and perhaps the season) “unrolled” in the bottom of the third. The Panthers’ Danny Lynch reached on an error and moved to second on Rudy Chacon’s sacrifice bunt. Lynch held at second on a ground out to short. Myles Colangelo drilled a two-hopper down the third base line that Jorge Hernando was able to snare with a feet-first slide. Lying on his back, Hernando exhibited an extremely quick release, rolling and uncorking an amazingly accurate, no-look lob to first base that just beat the runner. Keeping the ball in the infield saved a run in a tight game and his unexpected throw ended the inning.

Both Hernando and his Manager were happy about the play.

“I knew the go-ahead run was on second so I was just trying to keep it in front. I just did what I had to do to get it to first,” said Hernando, who also had two hits. “Sometimes, you get a little lucky in this game.”

Milliken admitted he might have put in a phone call to Bristol, Connecticut to Sportscenter.

“I told Jorge if that wasn’t the ‘ESPN Play of the Week’, then they need to cancel ESPN,” Milliken joked.

Colton Rendon took Thursday’s hard-luck loss despite a fine effort. He finished seven innings with thirteen strikeouts, giving up just four hits and no walks.

The man who homered for the Panthers appreciated the effort.

“Great job off the mound by Colton Rendon,” said Jones. “We just didn’t pick him up. It was a great outing for him. One run isn’t enough to win a game.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!