EMERSON, Ga. – The Somerset Academy Panthers arrived at the 2015 Louisville Slugger Select Classic #2 on a sudden hot streak. Sixth-year coach Onel Garcia and his Panthers outscored district opponents Coral Springs Charter, and University by a combined 17-2 in their previous two games. The Panthers used this offensive explosion to go 4-0, and earn 1st place in the LSSC #2.
Coach Garcia wanted the team to, “continue with the same approach.” By beating the Bob Jones Patriots 8-1, then the Prairie View Thunderhawks 10-1, the Panthers did just that. Somerset Academy scored four runs in the first three innings, then fourmore in the fifth and sixth innings to finish game one. The Panthers only had one hit going in to the fifth inning of its second game. That all changed when they added four runs in the fifth, and six more in the sixth to win game two.
Scoring runs is something Coach Garcia knows they do well. “Our offense is really good this year, we’ve been scoring a lot of runs.” In total Somerset scored 32 runs in its four games in Emerson, Ga. The offensive attack was led by Senior Campbell commit, Michael Van Degna, who hit .636 with 4 doubles and brought in seven RBI. Junior third basemen Jack Khawly went 4-for-11 with one home run and three RBI.
Junior Alabama State Commit, Derek Cartaya, had an unbelievable tournament going 9-for-13 with two doubles, eight runs scored and five RBI. Cartaya is the type of player that is at the base of a good team. Coach Garcia recognizes what Derek brings to this Panthers team.
“He’s a phenomenal player, he talks the whole game, totally in the game for the whole game," Coach Garcia said of his star player. "(He) does anything it takes to win a game, really a total team player”.
Cartaya also knows and understands what he brings to the table.
“My mental game and my aggressiveness is what I would say is my strength, I always give everything I have and I feel like that really helps me a lot."
The pitching for Somerset in the LSSC #2 was solid. Senior Missouri Valley College commit Phillip Ximinies pitched the first game of the tournament. Ximines went four innings with four strikeouts, four hits allowed and one earned run. Junior Angel Perez and Senior Ryan Oharriz combined to throw the last two innings of game one without giving up a hit. In game two Brandon Valentine went six strong innings allowing only three hits and one run while striking out six.
Somerset saw a small drop in run production but used the combination of Jose Hidalgo and Angel Perez to blank the Hale County Wildcats and win 4-0 in their game three. The run production returned for the game against the Barrington Broncos/Fillies. Somerset put up 10 runs to Barrington’s 6 and finished the LSSC #2 undefeated.
With 11 2016 grads returning for next year the future looks very bright for Coach Garcia. “We have seven starters who started last year, that are starting this year and just keep getting better and better.”