Jupiter's Jake Garland pitches a gem to stop the Eagles in the Class 9A regional final.
Video: Top 5 Plays of the Week #3 A pair of spectacular catches highlight this week's top plays.
Three months after their campus was marred with one of the nation's deadliest school shootings, the Eagles finished three wins short of a Class 9A state crown following a 2-1 regional final defeat to
Jupiter (Fla.).
Stoneman-Douglas co-captain Brandon Auerbach
File photo by Timothy Card
Jupiter also defeated Stoneman Douglas 6-4 in 11 innings in last year's regional final.
Warriors pitcher
Jake Garland took a one-hitter into the sixth inning before Stoneman Douglas rallied for a run. Jupiter (17-11) moves into the state's Final 4 starting June 1.
Stoneman Douglas (19-7) entered Tuesday off a 1-0 win over Flanagan, then 23-1 and ranked among the top 20 teams in the MaxPreps Xcellent 50 national rankings. Sophomore
Colyn Flynn had an RBI double in the second inning of that win and winning pitcher
Connor Brian made it stand up, firing a two-hitter with nine strikeouts.
Despite Tuesday's defeat, the Eagles gave fans across the nation a reason to cheer.
On Feb. 14, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, a former Stoneman Douglas student, fatally shot 17 people — 14 students and three staff
members — including the school's athletic director, Chris Hixon, and
assistant football coach Scott Beigel.
The school and athletic programs vowed to honor the slain by living each day, game and inning to the fullest. The Eagles' hockey team won a state title two weeks after the massacre.
The baseball team, led by Brian (7-0, 0.48 ERA), sophomore
Coby Mayo (.400 average, seven home runs), and seniors
John Rodriguez (.361, 32 runs) and
Jonathan Strauss (.431, 28 hits), was a strong rally point this spring for the school, community and nation.
Eagles coach Todd Fitz-Gerald, in his seventh season as head coach, told the
Sun-Sentinel earlier this year: "They are loose, carefree and love the game. This is a fun group of guys who enjoy playing together and being around each other. They really get along well. Most of these guys have been together for a couple of years."
Promising Stoneman Douglas junior pitcher Kevin Heinrich went 4-2 in 2018.
File photo by Timothy Card
