Latchmansingh’s Two HRs Not Enough For Royal Palm Beach

The Taravella Trojans started their 2017 with two weeks, and four games, on the road. On Wednesday night, the team returned to Coral Springs for their home opener. With their ace, Jack Sinclair on the mound, the Trojans’ bats woke up and made the home opener a happy one with a 6-4 win over Royal Palm Beach.

Sinclair, in what appeared to be his tune-up game before facing district rival Douglas next week, threw 5.1 innings, striking out nine, and picking up the win.

“It was an important game for us with our district schedule starting later this week,” said Sinclair. “It was a good atmosphere and we tried to get on a roll going into district play.”

The Trojans had trouble early on with Royal Palm starter Alex Morejon. The lefty was using his tailing fastball and change-up effectively while maneuvering through the first two innings.

With the game scoreless into the bottom of the third, baseball once again showed how the small things often start big innings. Darian Saunders, the Trojans nine-hole hitter on the night, beat out a ground ball for an infield single, and advanced to second on a throwing error. From there, Justin Rivera singled, Sinclair doubled into the left-field corner, and Nathan Housen singled. Suddenly the Trojans had built a 3-0 lead.

In the fourth, the Wildcats battled back. After a David Rodriguez single, Tarik Latchmansingh hit what would become the first of his two home runs on the evening. Suddenly, the Trojans’ lead was cut to one.

The Trojans added a run in their half of the fourth, and then two more in the fifth.

With the game seemingly in hand, Latchmansingh had other ideas. With the count 2-2, Latchmansingh showed patience laying off a curveball that had fooled him a pitch before. Then, with a full count, he launched his second homer of the game.

“Tarik is such a smart hitter,” said Wildcats Manager Tom Coates. “That at-bat was a great example of how he adjusts from pitch to pitch. He looked bad on the curve ball. Then had the presence to pay off the next off-speed pitch, and get something he could drive in the 3-2 count.”

Junior Nick Toney then made things interesting, belting his own home run to left-center, and cutting the lead to 6-4. At that time, the Trojans went to the bullpen and were able to avoid further damage.

In the seventh, Royal Palm Beach was unable to get to get anything going off reliever Preston Clark, who picked up the save.

For the Trojans, the win was crucial as they enter their district play Friday against Monarch before a showdown next Tuesday with defending 9A champion Douglas.

“This was a big game for us offensively,” said Saunders. “We needed to get some confidence before we start districts, and we did that tonight. Hopefully this will carry over into our district play.”

Royal Palm Beach will have to move on from the loss quickly, with district rival Seminole Ridge coming to town Friday in a key, early-season 8A-12 match-up.

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