Berean Christian Falls 4-3 In Nine Innings

Kevin Gutierrez had the winning RBI double.

Kevin Gutierrez played a big role on both sides of the field Monday afternoon to lead Coral Springs christian to a 4-3 walk-off victory over Berean Christian in a 3A-7 quarterfinal. After delivering a quality start with six solid innings on the mound, Gutierrez came up big in the ninth. Coby Mayo drew a four-pitch walk and stole second base to get into prime scoring position, and Gutierrez lined a shot to center field to send him home and lead the Crusaders (10-16) into a semifinal meeting with top-seeded John Carroll.

Trailing 3-1 in the fifth, Coral Springs Christian plated two to even things up. Mayo got it started with a double to center, Gutierrez reached on a fielder’s choice and Louis Pagan was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Austin Marks pushed in Mayo on a fielder’s choice RBI, and Rubin Guante tied things up at 3-3 by pushing Gutierrez home on a fielder’s choice RBI as well.

Marks and Berean’s DJ Lawlor kept it deadlocked there over the next three frames, before the Crusaders struck again for the exciting conclusion. Mayo paced the offense by going 2-for-3 with three runs.

The Bulldogs (13-9) jumped ahead early on, as Noah Adams was hit by a pitch and then scored on an RBI single from Ralph Perez in the top of the first. After Coral Springs Christian evened it up in the third, Lawlor then sparked another scoring burst with a lead-off single in the fourth. Perez and Jordan McCullough both walked to load the bases, and Lawlor scored when Malachi Kearney reached on an error. Perez then touched home thanks to an RBI single from Luke Yeargin.

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