FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Florida Stealth 15u Red found themselves in a sort of win-win situation going into their fifth and final pool-play game Tuesday morning at the 15u Perfect Game BCS Finals national championship.
Playing their fifth game in five days, they had already clinched their pool championship even before facing winless Chain National-Savannah in yet another 8 a.m. game, this one at Terry Park Stadium. The Stealth 15u Red were safely in the 24-team playoffs and were playing only to improve their seeding, maybe even get one of those coveted eight byes right into Wednesday morning’s second round. A win would be sweet, of course, but holding Chain to just one or two runs was just as important.
“We really try to concentrate on us and what we can control,” Stealth 15u Red head coach Manny Sanguillen said when asked before his team took the field Tuesday what his team’s approach would be. “We try to start fast, play fast, and try to get ahead and stay ahead.
“We’re starting to mature and understand tournaments,” he continued. “It’s not only about competing, but you have to win, you have to keep your runs (against) down and try to keep your own runs up. These guys are 15 (years old), but you’ve got to be mature about this and learn how to compete every pitch because every pitch is going to matter until the game is over.”
Competing to the end was, indeed, the mindset of this Delray Beach, Fla.-based Florida Stealth team, which had outscored its first four pool-play opponents by a combined 20-8, a runs-against total that was going to make it difficult to crack the top-eight. The 16 playoff qualifiers left out of that elite circle of eight were scheduled first-round playoff games late Tuesday afternoon.
“We have to put 100 percent effort into every game,” 2019 third baseman/catcher/outfielder Keano Suarez said pregame Tuesday. “No matter what team we play we’re just always going to drive and drive to do our best, and hopefully we can make it to the championship.”
As it turned out, Sanguillen had no reason to be concerned about what his team’s focus was on Tuesday morning. The Stealth 15u Red pounced quickly with eight runs in the bottom of the second inning on their way to a four-inning, 13-1 victory over Chain National-Savannah (Ga.), using seven hits, 10 walks and two Chain errors to score their runs.
2018 outfielder Christian Lopez went 3-for-3 with a double, three RBI and two runs scored, and Suarez was 1-for-1 with a double, two RBI and two runs. 2018 infielder/right-hander Ryan Rivera threw four innings of two-hit ball, allowing one unearned run while striking out three and walking one.
It's been a good five days for those three young Floridians. Lopez is 9-for-14 (.643) with a double, triple, five RBI and four runs; Suarez is 6-for-10 (.600) with four doubles, seven RBI and four runs, and Rivera is 6-for-14 (.429) with two doubles, three RBI and four runs to go with Tuesday’s pitching performance. The top effort turned in from the mound this week belongs to 2018 right-hander Michael Wells, who in his only start pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout, striking out seven without a walk.
The core of this Stealth 15u Red team has been playing together for about 3½ years, Sanguillen said. He calls it a “really good group” that’s competitive and seems to get along with each other very well. It’s a coachable group, and that’s all men like Sanguillen can really ask for.
Suarez joined the Florida Stealth 15u Red just this summer, getting his feet wet with the team at the 15u PG Florida State Championship played June 10-13 here in Fort Myers. He was encouraged to come on board by a couple of current players from his hometown of Apopko, but was reluctant at first. He knew it was a tight-knit group that had experienced quite a bit of success and he feared his new teammates wouldn’t necessarily greet him with open arms. He was wrong.
“As soon as I came on the team they all just welcomed me really well; I’m honestly blessed to be with them,” Suarez said. “Everybody’s just been so nice and caring towards me, and honestly I think that’s what gives me the drive to just go out and play well. Paying with these guys, I just feel comfortable. Honestly, I love these guys – they’re just really cool – and I knew it was going to be a great team.”
The Stealth 15u Red’s 8 a.m. game against Chain National-Savannah Tuesday was their fourth early start in five days. Playing five games –possibly six – in five days can be a real grind to begin with and can present coaches with a variety of challenges.
Sanguillen noted that the management of his pitching staff is one of the biggest issues, while identifying the task of keeping the players motivated through the persistent high heat and humidity and occasional lightning and rain delays as a secondary challenge. If he and his staff can help them maintain their focus, Sanguillen said, the team usually plays pretty well.
“You’ve got to take it as a challenge,” he added. “We have to be here at 8, be ready to play, learn to motivate ourselves. The biggest thing is, if we can teach them to self-motivate, they’ll be fine where ever they play in high school and college and so on.”
Sanguillen is technically Manny Sanguillen Jr., the son of the elder Manny Sanguillen, a three-time National League All-Star catcher for the great Pittsburgh Pirates teams of the 1970s. Manny Sanguillen Sr. won a pair of World Series rings with the Bucs in 1970 and 1979, playing alongside such greats as Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Bill Mazeroski and Matty Alou in 1970 and Stargell, Bill Madlock and Dave Parker in 1979.
The younger Sanguillen remembered that his dad spent a lot of time at Terry Park in the early years of his playing career. The Pirates used the venerable old complex as their spring training home from 1955 through 1968, and one of the four fields at the complex is named Roberto Clemente Field.
The Florida Stealth Baseball Club has been in operation since 2010 and Manny Sanguillen Jr. has the official title of Director of Stealth Baseball. The organization has dozens of teams these days and each one is competitive at just about every age-group level up and down the line.
“We grew pretty fast so we’re going through some growing pains, but we’re trying to be able to compete at every level and at every event we’re in, from 18u all the way down to 13u,” Sanguillen said. “It’s a challenge but it’s going well so far.”
While the results of the 15u PG BCS Finals’ last pool-play games slowly trickled in Tuesday morning and early afternoon, the Florida Stealth 15u Red players, parents and coaches took a wait-and-see approach to when and where they’d be playing next. They had done everything they could to this point – winning all five of their games by an impressive 33-9 final count – and ultimately the number-crunchers would decide.
“Whenever we start the playoffs, it’s not really about turning it up a notch, we just want to remain focused,” Sanguillen said. “The games are 2 hours – seven innings – and if we can give our best effort for that short period, I’m happy; that’s all I want.”