PARKLAND — Stoneman Douglas junior Lorenzo Laurel couldn’t contain his emotions following a two-out, two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally the host Eagles to an 8-7 Class 7A regional championship victory over West Broward on Thursday night.
Laurel’s team-leading sixth home run of the season, on an 0-1 delivery from junior pitcher Adrian Bermudez, capped a furious four-run rally that sends the Eagles back to the state final four as they attempt to make history by becoming the first team in FHSAA history to win five consecutive state championships.
“I have seen him throw before to my teammates and he always started off with a curveball,” said Laurel, a University of Florida commit. “I just had to keep my composure and stay calm. I wasn’t trying to swing out of my shoes on the first pitch.”
Stoneman Douglas has beaten West Broward four times this season and 16 straight dating back to 2014.
“It’s hard, man,” said Laurel, who finished 2 for 4, with a run scored and two RBIs. “I’ll admit, I thought about (losing the game) for a second when you see a grand slam go over your head. Anything can happen in that moment, but champions fight back no matter where they are. It’s a big win and it puts us in a better spot for where we want to go.”
The Eagles are tied with Archbishop McCarthy (2010-2013) with four straight state championships. Stoneman Douglas also won a state championship in 2015.
The Eagles will play in the state semifinals next Friday at Hammond Stadium at Lee Health Sports Complex in Fort Myers.
West Broward erased a 4-2 deficit to take a 6-4 lead in the top of the sixth on the grand slam by junior Ethan Lindor, his third home run of the season and fourth of his career.
“They went up, and we battled and started stringing some hits together,” said West Broward coach Howard Stein. “We stayed with the game plan of hitting the ball the other way and we grind, and we grind and we grind and then hit the big grand slam to take the lead.”
The Bobcats were able to get out of back-to-back jams in the fifth and sixth innings with Stoneman Douglas runners on second and third with less than two outs.
“We just couldn’t close it out,” Stein added. “We had our best guys out there; they threw good pitches and that’s the reason these guys are four-time state champs. We had all of the confidence in the world going into the seventh inning. We just couldn’t get it done I guess. My guys battled. I love these guys.”
Graduating 12 seniors, including five starters and his top two pitchers, Stoneman Douglas coach Todd Fitz-Gerald wasn’t sure what to expect out of the season.
“There is something special about this place,” Fitz-Gerald said. “Lorenzo Laurel has the propensity to come up big and I couldn’t be happier for him. Sometimes you are a team of destiny. We took our foot off the gas early, which is a credit to (West Broward). We fought back. These guys have the heart of a champion. This is unbelievable. It’s unreal.
“We honor the 17 every time we play here,” Fitz-Gerald said of the 17 lives lost in the Parkland shooting in 2018. “I always say we have angels on our back. I really believe that.”
For the second consecutive game against the Bobcats, Stoneman Douglas scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first and second innings as Cade Raley lined a two-run single in the bottom of the second to score Brody Gargiulo and Erick Torres to extend the margin to 4-0. Bennett Gary and Jake Rizzo scored in the first for the 2-0 lead.
West Broward cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth on an RBI singles by Reggie Rodriguez and Anthony Sanchez that scored Bermudez and Manuel Sarcos.
Stoneman Douglas (29-2) swept the best-of-three series after winning Wednesday’s game 6-0. Had West Broward (21-14) won, in a fluky scenario that has raised eyebrows around the state, the Bobcats would have hosted the deciding game, despite being the lower seed.
Nick Diaz, Gio Rojas also had two hits for the Eagles, while Sanchez was 3 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI, and Bermudez was 3 for 4 with a run scored in a losing effort.
“It was just two heavyweights going toe to toe,” Fitz-Gerald said. “We find a way. These guys know how to win. We got the knockout blow.”