Steinbrenner Shuts Out Westland To Reach State Championship

Steinbrenner’s CJ Van Eyk threw a complete-game shutout.

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A historic season for the Steinbrenner baseball team added another exciting chapter Saturday morning, as the Warriors earned a 2-0 shutout victory over Westland Hialeah in the Class 8A state semifinal at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers.

After weather issues Friday night moved the game to an early matinee start, the Warriors buckled in and played the style of baseball that has carried them all year long.

Now the team will play in its first state final Saturday night against Hagerty, with a first pitch slated for 7:05 PM. The Huskies (23-7) advanced following a state-record 19-16 win over Forest late Friday night.

“The kids have bought into the plan,” Steinbrenner manager John Crumbley said. “It works and this year we won the 3-2 game, the 1-0 game and it just went our way. Everything is just falling in place. We’ve won a lot of 1-0 games, we won a lot of games in the last inning and it has just kind of been magical. We’ve got one more opportunity on the same day to get ‘er done. That’s what the kids have heard all year.”

After Westland Hialeah threatened in the top of the first, the Warriors (26-5) struck first to grab a 1-0 lead on their first swings of the day. Starting pitcher CJ Van Eyk reached on an error and was replaced by courtesy-runner Eric Sennett, who promptly stole second base. Patrick Morris then delivered the big hit with a double to center field that pushed Sennett around third and across the plate.

“That first inning I thought they were going to score a couple and then we held them,” Morris said. “Then we got up one, which gave us the momentum. It helped us out a lot. We knew coming in he was a good pitcher and their ace, so we just tried to see pitches and put good swings on them.”

Steinbrenner added a valuable insurance run in the fifth. Van Eyk was hit by a pitch and again gave way to Sennett, who reached to third base as Nick Alessi reached on an error. Patrick Morris then drove the ball deep to left field for a sac-fly RBI and a 2-0 advantage.

The Wildcats threatened with runners on base in nearly every inning, but struggled to find the big hit that got their offense clicking.

Down to their final swings in the top of the seventh, Westland Hialeah again made one final push. Emmanuel Rodriguez drew a lead-off walk, but was erased on a fielder’s choice that put Ronel Rodriguez safely at first when he beat out the back-end of the double-play attempt. Bryan Lavastida then jumped on a 3-1 offering and crushed it high and deep to left field off the Green Monster for a double that had him representing the tying run. In most high school ball parks that would have likely been a game-tying home run, and it did not miss leaving the stadium by very much.

With the pressure on to record that final crucial out, the Warriors elected to intentionally walk David Vazquez to load the bases and set up a force play to any base. Van Eyk dialed up his seventh strikeout to close it out and send Steinbrenner to its first state championship.

Van Eyk admitted that it wasn’t his best outing after he walked five batters, but he had command of his fastball to help keep him working and mowing through the Westland lineup.

“Without my best, I know our defense is pretty solid and I have confidence in them,” Van Eyk said. “Up the middle is really solid and they really showed it today.”

The Warriors turned two double plays on the day, including one that erased a scoring threat in the first to pave the way towards the shutout and a historic spot in the state championship.

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