Baseball Recap: South Dade Comes Up Short

Buccaneers

Previous 5 Games

04/10/25 vs Varela	0-7
04/09/25 vs Downtown Doral	12-6
04/08/25 @ Belen Jesuit	4-3
04/04/25 vs Southridge	7-6
04/02/25 @ Hialeah Educational Academy	0-5

South Dade dropped their record down to 13-12 on Thursday, which also ended the team's three-game streak of wins. They lost 7-0 to the Varela Vipers. Having soared to a lofty 12 runs in the game before, the Buccaneers' shutout was a dramatic turnaround.

As for Varela, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 15-6-2 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.4 runs on average over those games.

For Varela's part, Andy Espinoza tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run while striking out nine over six innings pitched. Espinoza has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in six consecutive appearances.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Jonathan Paniagua, who went 2-for-3 with three RBI and one triple. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Juan Chacon, who went 1-for-3 with one run and one RBI.

South Dade has already played their next game, a 4-2 victory against Palmetto on the 14th. As for Varela, they also didn't take long to hit the field again: they've already played their next contest, an 11-1 win against Hialeah on the 15th.