State Baseball Champs

Our kids' high school wins the state title. Great group of young men too. See article below from the Miami Herald.

State title links Westminster Christian to past glory

By ANDRE C. FERNANDEZa1fernandez@MiamiHerald.com

TOM ERVIN / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Westminster Christian coach Emil Castellanos, center, hold up the Class 2A state championship trophy after the Warriors beat Providence on Tuesday May 26, 2009.





The new era of Westminster Christian baseball premiered Tuesday afternoon at Tradition Field.

The Warriors players, many of whom grew up constantly reminded of how good the school's greats such as Alex Rodriguez and Doug Mientkiewicz were, left their own mark on the storied program's legacy with a 5-3 victory against defending Class 2A state champion Jacksonville Providence.

The victory clinched the school's first state title since 1998 and Miami-Dade County's first baseball state championship since 2006 (Monsignor Pace and Brito).

''We have all sorts of plaques and pictures in our clubhouse of all those teams from the 1980s and '90s,'' Westminster Christian coach Emil Castellanos said. ``We're going to move them to make space for this team's picture.''

Westminster Christian (26-7-1) won its Dade-record ninth baseball title, tying it with Tampa Catholic for the second-most championships in state history behind Key West's 11. For Castellanos -- whose wife, Arlene, remained in Miami while expecting their first child -- it was his first state title.

The baseball victory, coupled with the school's softball team's championship two weeks ago, completed a repeat of the feat accomplished in 1997, when Westminster was the only Dade program to win state titles in both sports in the same year.

LEAVING THEIR MARK
''Ever since I was a little kid, I'd look at those pictures and names, and I knew one day I wanted to leave my own mark,'' said senior first baseman David Corral, who has attended Westminster since preschool. ``We want to put our names on plaques all across that wall now.''

If they get their wish, the Warriors might have to put senior pitcher Kyle Young's name among the first. Young could have been remembered negatively, however, after a poor start in which he gave up a home run, a double and a single to the first three batters he faced. ''It's hard when someone hits a bomb off you right away like that, and to go opposite field makes you feel even worse,'' Young said. ``You just have to have trust in your stuff and keep pitching your way out of it.'' Young regrouped, and pitched 6 2/3 innings (five scoreless) to help Westminster come back.

Corral hit a double down the right-field line that scored freshman David Thompson. After Corral was bunted over to third by sophomore Jameel Middlebrooks, a throwing error on a pickoff attempt by Providence catcher P.J. Axtel allowed Corral to score the tying run. The following inning, senior catcher Anthony Iglesias hit a towering solo home run that cleared 400 feet near center field to give Westminster the lead for good. Corral added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, hitting a triple to deep right field that drove in pinch-runner Erik Arrabal from second. Arrabal ran for Thompson after he doubled off the left-field wall to lead off the inning. Thompson played as the designated hitter because of an ankle injury he sustained while chasing down a foul ball in Monday's semifinal victory against Fort Meade.

PITCHING SEALS IT
Iglesias' blast was his ninth of the season and it gave Westminster 59 total home runs this season. But for all the power the Warriors displayed this season, it was pitching that sealed the championship.

Young and fellow senior Michael Arostegui, who won Monday's game, combined for 18 wins this season in 25 starts. Arostegui bailed Young out of a predicament caused by a couple of bizarre hits in the seventh inning that led to Providence cutting the lead to 5-3 and placing runners on first and second with two outs. Arostegui entered the game and got left fielder Christian Dicks to ground out to second. 'When [Arostegui] came in from the dugout, he gave Kyle a hug and told him `I got you,' '' Castellanos said. ``Those two were our horses the whole season.''