Seacrest Country Day Falls In Extras Of 2A State Semifinal

Tyler Lopes made his second career start in the state tournament for Seacrest Country Day.

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Christ’s Church Academy prevailed in a tight, 10-inning battle to edge Seacrest Country Day 2-1 in a Class 2A state semifinal Wednesday morning at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers. Richard Polinsky lined a single past first base to drive in Cole Berger with the deciding run in the tenth, putting an end to a tight battle with the walk-off victory.

The Eagles (25-3) advanced to face Trinity Christian Lake Worth in Thursday’s 2A state championship, after the Warriors downed Trinity Christian-Deltona 8-0 in the other 2A semifinal.

While the final result was not in their favor, Seacrest manager Mark Marsala was pleased with the way his guys competed throughout. Playing in the state tournament for the second time in the last three years, the Stingrays (17-12-1) matched Christ’s Church the entire way. Senior starter Tyler Lopes delivered a gritty performance on the hill and the Seacrest defense backed him up with several big plays.

“It was a great high school baseball game; it doesn’t get much better,” Marsala said. “We went to the bottom of the tenth inning and worked our way out of jams all day. Defense was our Achilles Heel all year; we’ve been able to hit and pitch all year. But the defense showed up today. These guys left it on the field and I have nothing to be upset about. I’m very proud of them and what they represented for our community. They did a fantastic job out there today.”

While the effort was there, the Stingrays struggled to get much offense going against Eagles’ starter Caleb Gay. The right-hander went eight strong innings, allowing just one earned run on six hits and a walk. Gay lived in the strike zone, throwing 75 of his 106 pitches for strikes to record nine strikeouts.

On the other side of the diamond, Lopes also delivered strong to keep his guys in the fight. The senior lasted until there were two outs in the sixth, scattering four hits and three walks to allow one earned run. It was a solid follow-up to his previous outing in the state tournament two years ago, when he tossed six shutout innings.

“I don’t know if pitching here before makes it any easier, but this is a big game and I love pitching in these big games,” Lopes said. “I love pitching and I have been doing it since I was a little kid. Even though my parents didn’t let me pitch until I was eleven years old I always told them that I wanted to. I love pitching and it is games like these that make me want to play baseball.”

In just over 12 innings pitched in the state tournament during his career, Lopes surrendered his only run of that stretch when the Eagles struck to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Ty Van Duyn worked a lead-off walk, advanced thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Joseph Mansour and scored off an RBI double from Josh McDonough.

The Stingrays answered right back to even things back up in the top of the sixth. Josue Rivera singled to center, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Matt DiNorcia came through with an RBI single past second to send Rivera the final 90 feet needed to tie it up, where it remained deadlocked for the next four frames.

“These guys don’t quit. The bigger the game, the better they play,” Marsala said. “Momentum shifted back and forth all game. As good as our guys were pitching, they were pitching just as good. They threw the ball well today. We had opportunities, but the bottom line is that if we put the ball in play we could have made some movement happen. But we didn’t.”

The heart of the Seacrest order is made up of underclassmen, and even with the loss of three seniors the club will still be young and return most of the roster next season. Having reached the state tournament in two of the past three seasons, the program has raised the bar a notch for the next group to chase.

As a departing senior, Lopes is now set to pass the torch on to his fellow teammates to lead the club forward in its quest to return right back here. Heading into the playoff stretch Lopes asked to be trusted with the ball in his hands, and Marsala admitted that was a big reason why the team made it as far as it did.

“The work ethic and the fight, he just has the heart of a lion out there,” Marsala said of Lopes. “That’s rubbing off on our younger guys all the way down to the sixth-graders. So the future looks bright, and Tyler is a big part in what set us up with that.”

While Lopes was not willing to take all the credit himself, he was quick to share how special his career at Seacrest has been.

“I came to Seacrest as a sophomore looking for an opportunity and I never would have imagined that by the end I would have gone to two state tournaments,” Lopes said. “It’s been an unbelievable ride. Setting a precedent was never really my goal, but of course you always want to leave behind a good legacy and set the precedent for these younger guys to know what it tastes like in those moments.”

That torch passes to several experienced veterans that have also been a big part of the program, including Rivera, catcher Erick Chavez, Harry Solomon and Matt DiNorcia, who all also played on both squads that reached the state tournament.

“When you are a catcher, you always have to be a leader and be the quarterback,” Erick said. “I feel like it is a big step, but I can make that step. I probably am not going to be as good a leader as Tyler was, but I will try my hardest.”

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