Merritt Island Tops Brother Rice

CARY, N.C.—In each team’s final game of the National High School Invitational, Merritt Island was able to get the win over Brother Rice, 7-2.

The Mustangs got three runs on the board in the first inning. This rally was nearly broken on a squeeze attempt, but third basemen Joe Johnson was able to get the barrel to a pitch way over his head. Two batters later, Ricardo Diaz was able to open up the inning with a two-run single.

“That broke it open for us,” coach Greg Plecki said. ” . . . Big time at-bat by both Johnson and Diaz.”

This run support allowed pitcher Collin Taulbee to settle in early. Taulbee showcased a fastball that topped out at 84 mph and settled in at 80-82. He complemented this with three off-speed pitches. A sweeping curve at 68-70 that he used to break into the front door to righties, A 12-6 curve at 72-74 that had tight spin at times, and a changeup at 72-73 that showed sinking action.

The 2018 righty held Brother Rice hitless through the first five innings of the contest by mixing up his pitch arsenal and keeping the ball down. He tossed a complete game while only throwing 77 pitches. He struck out three and knew he could pitch to contact playing in front of a solid Merritt Island defense.

“Today the defense really helped a lot,” Taulbee said. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without the defense.”

Highlighting the defensive effort was shortstop Brady McConnell. The Florida commit was all over the diamond, highlighting his defensive outing on a slow roller that he charged and made an off-balance throw to first for the out.

McConnell also had one the highlight plays of the game on the basepaths as well. He was on third during a double-steal, and was a sitting duck when Brother Rice pulled out a gadget play.

“I’ve never seen that before,,” McConnell said. “He threw to the second basemen. I was looking behind the mound to see if the shortstop was cutting and nobody was there so I took off.”

The ball was quickly rifled back to the catcher, but McConnell scored safely on a brilliant hook slide, athletically contorting his body to avoid the tag.

“I saw the catcher was on the left side of the plate, so I just tried to get my hand in there,” McConnell said.  “I gladly got my hand in there.”

The win gives Merritt Island a 2-2 record at the National High School Invitational. Coach Plecki had high regards for the tournament, expressing that he would love to bring his team back to Cary in the future.

“This is the best high school event I’ve ever been to,” he said. “We’ve taken the kids all over the southeast, and this is by far the coolest atmosphere.

“And it’s just so cool to see 16 really good high school teams playing the game the right way.”