Seventh-inning rally falls short

PORT ST. LUCIE — Brandon King took a step back from his teammates and crouched down on the field. As his teammates and coaches reflected on the Mustangs near come-from-behind victory in the Class 6A state semifinals Thursday, May 17, the senior right fielder kept his eyes glued to the field. The gripping realization that after four years of hard work and dedication the time had come for King and the rest of his fellow seniors to hang up their Mustangs uniforms for the final time proved to be too much for King.

“It’s unreal how we’ve been playing ever since we were 4 years old, and now we’re 18 years old and seniors in high school playing on the same team,” an emotional King said. “It’s a tough loss, especially senior year. Some of us might not play baseball again, so it’s kind of hard to watch this all go after four years of working for this.”

King took another moment before joining the rest of his teammates in short left field, following Lakewood’s 6-4 state semifinal loss to Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy, to reflect on just how far they had come.

The Mustangs were a swing away from pulling off an improbable come-from-behind victory.

“I couldn’t be more proud of my kids,” Lakewood coach Mike Mullen said. “It just wasn’t meant to be, and that’s OK. We had a great season, and I’m proud to be the coach of those 12 seniors and that 20 over there.”

After struggling to hit off Mavericks ace Nick Travieso for most of the game, Lakewood, which averaged eight runs a game during the season, pulled together and did what it has been accustomed to doing all season long — it fought back.

“All year, we’ve been fighters,” senior pitcher Seth McGarry said. “There’s no way we were going down easy. I told everybody right before that inning started that this is going to be the hardest three outs they have to get. We battled, and unfortunately, we didn’t do it. A lot of other teams would’ve folded over.”

Trailing 6-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, McGarry hit a two-run double, as the Mustangs started to mount a comeback.

Sophomore Justin Greenaway reached base on an error. King and fellow senior Bryan Vanvranken drew back-to-back walks to load the bases and pull the Mustangs within two runs.

Senior catcher Tyler Dauphinee, who came up big for the Mustangs in the regional finals with a three-run double, worked a 3-1 count with the tying run on second base and the go-ahead run on first.

“I wouldn’t have anyone else better but Tyler Dauphinee with me on second,” King said. “Just an easy single in the outfield, and I was scoring without a doubt.”

Dauphinee hit a fly ball to center field on the next pitch for the game’s final out.

“I had all the confidence in the world in Tyler Dauphinee to come through there,” McGarry said. “He did last game, and I had the highest hopes for him. I’m still proud of him no matter what happened.”

“He’s been fantastic for us all year long,” Mullen said of Dauphinee. “I wanted it so bad for him, so bad for him and for our team, obviously.”

The Mavericks scored five runs in the top of the second inning on three hits and four walks to jump out to an early 5-0 lead.

“This was my big chance,” said McGarry, who pitched five innings in his final game in a Mustangs uniform. “I had to senior up, and I just lost it in that one inning — one rough, rough inning. I started getting behind in the count, messing up, and when you walk four people in one inning, they’re bound to score runs.”

The Mustangs responded in the bottom of the inning on a single by Dauphinee and a RBI double by Brad Zunica. Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy scored its final run in the fourth inning.

McGarry went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored to lead the way for the Mustangs at the plate. King, Dauphinee, Zunica and Connor Lewellen all recorded hits for Lakewood.

The Mustangs lose 12 seniors from this year’s squad, which captured the program’s first district and regional championships since 2003. But, with a strong freshman class and Zunica, who pitched the final two innings for the Mustangs, and Greenaway, who started in the infield for the Mustangs this season, among others returning next season, the future looks bright.

“The future is OK,” Mullen said. “We have a huge freshman class. A couple key sophomores that you saw tonight and then a couple that you didn’t see tonight and then a couple to-be juniors that are going to be OK and some seniors.”

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].