FORT MYERS — The Durant Cougars are one game away from winning the program’s first state championship.
Tyler Danish threw a complete-game shutout and put up the first two runs of the game in the third with a two-run homer Friday to lead Durant (25-5) to a 6-0 win over American in the 8A state semifinals at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers.
Danish’s two-run shot in the third went over the replica green monster at jetBlue Park, the spring training home of the Boston Redsox.
“That automatically became one of my most memorable home runs,” Danish said. “To be able to do that in a park like this and to give our team a 2-0 lead was huge.”
Danish went 3-for-4 at the plate Friday and allowed just one hit with nine strikeouts in his 84-pitch performance. The University of Florida commit hasn’t allowed an earned run all season.
Durant coach Butch Valdes plans to use Danish for the final three innings in the state championship game Saturday, with lefty Chaz Fowler getting the start and throwing the first four innings. It is a system Valdes used in Durant’s region championship win over Timber Creek.
“Today’s plan was all Danish for all seven,” Valdes said. “You hope that you can get an early eight run lead to change that, but you have to win the first one to get to the second. Tomorrow we’re going to go four with Chaz and three with Danish and hopefully our bats are still alive.”
“My plan is to just go in there and get 12 outs tomorrow,” Fowler said. “I know that I have Danish behind me and I know my job is to go in there and shut them down.”
Valdes noted that Fowler is a noteworthy pitcher in his own right.
“He’s a number one guy on any team in this league,” Valdes said.
Durant had four hits and a walk before Danish’s homer in the third, but the blast over the 37-foot wall in left field, which is three-feet higher than the actual green monster in Boston, lit a fire under the Cougars.
“It spoke for itself and kind of ignited the whole situation,” Valdes said.
Durant added a run in the fourth on an RBI double from Jared Donini and another in the fifth on a passed ball that scored Luke Heyer. With Danish pitching the way he was on the mound, four runs was a comfortable lead, but Durant added some cushion in the top of the seventh, with a 2RBI single from Paxton Sims.
Sims finished 3-for-4 on the day, along with Danish.
American (21-9) said that Danish was the toughest pitcher they’ve seen all season.
“When we got down 4-0, it felt like we were down 10-0,” American coach Ricky Gutierrez said.
Valdes said that the plan was to keep swinging the bats and add on runs. The veteran coach knows that no lead is safe in high school baseball, even with the practically un-hittable Danish on the mound.
“We knew they didn’t really have an ace on the hill, so we were hoping our bats would come alive and help TD, and he helped himself, obviously,” Valdes said.
Durant will face the winner of Lake Brantley and Jupiter Saturday at 7:35 p.m. in Fort Myers for the 8A state championship.AirCrack aircrack ng