Barron Collier falls to Archbishop McCarthy in Class 5A state baseball semifinal, 4-1

Mental toughness had been a factor in Barron Collier’s success throughout the year, especially towards the second half.

After a scoreless 5.5 innings, both teams were forced to dig deep.

It was Archbishop McCarthy that finally broke through, winning 4-1 in the Class 5A State Semifinals on Tuesday at Hammond Stadium and denying Barron Collier of its first state title since 1997.

“I was waiting for the break,” Barron Collier coach Charlie Maurer said. “I thought we put the pressure we wanted on them. I thought we had six, seven, eight guys in scoring position in the first three, four, five innings. I thought we had control of the game and couldn’t get the big hit that we needed to blow it open, and we let them hang around. They got some seeing-eye ground balls, a couple seeing-eye fly balls, and that got them going.”

The Cougars nearly broke the 0-0 tie in the top of the second, when Carter White sent a double down the right field line. In the ensuing at-bat, Jacob Marlowe nearly hit a single up the middle that would’ve scored White, but shortstop Antonio Jimenez went to his left and made the throw to first.

Marlowe kept the Mavericks off balance for the first five innings until cracking in the sixth. The lefty’s final high school start would go six innings, allowing eight hits and four earned runs to go along with five strikeouts.

“I think I just couldn’t catch a break on the pitching side,” Marlowe said. “I missed a couple of spots. I really think it was just not being able to catch a break.”

The sixth inning was huge for both sides. After Van Freischmidt led off with a double, Andrew Ildefonso picked off Freischmidt.

“I think that was a huge momentum shift,” Archbishop McCarthy coach Aaron Vorachek said. “I told my guys; baseball is a game with a ton of momentum shifts. It’s a heavyweight fight, and it’s body blow, body blow, body blow. All of a sudden when you get a chance to throw the knockout punch, that’s what everybody sees.

“It was massive. That could’ve been a big inning for them. No question.”

In the bottom half, the Mavericks finally got to Marlowe, as Jimenez and Stefano Molaro hit back-to-back doubles to kick things off. Two batters later, Zaid Diaz singled to drive in courtesy runner Ryan Hunter. Adrian Vega put the finishing touches on things, hitting a triple to deep left field.

Carter White would try to start a potential Cougar comeback in the top of the seventh, as he led off with a triple. Marlowe would drive in White with an RBI ground out to first base. 

Vorachek was pleased with the team hanging in there for five innings, despite not getting anything going offensively.

“We talked about this last night,” Vorachek said. “We were at our place, we rolled out in game one against Doral and it was a 4-4 tie that ended around 12:30 in the morning, 11 innings. Two days later on Wednesday, 0-0 against North Broward Prep in another 11th inning tie. I talked to my guys and said ‘Look, as much as I hate that we tied two games, these games are going to matter at the end of the year.’”

Archbishop McCarthy (21-8-2) will take on Mosley (26-5) for the Class 5A crown. Barron Collier’s 14-game win streak ends, and the Cougars close 2021 with a 21-11 record.

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