Athlete of the Week: Christian Rodriguez

HARWICH – Game three of the East Division Series between Brewster and Harwich last Thursday, Aug. 7 became dicey quickly for the Mariners. The sixth inning developed into a disaster, as Harwich coughed up a three-run lead to suddenly go down 5-4 and struggled to find the third out to escape further damage. With the summer on the line, Harwich manager Steve Englert turned to his closer, Christian Rodriguez (Florida).

 “There's the opportunity there for them to really open that game up for them, so we’ve got to go to our guy to shut it down,” Englert said. 

Rodriguez came in with two runners on and induced a flyout from Brewster’s two-hitter, fellow Florida Gator Brendan Lawson, to finally end the inning. After Harwich rebounded with a run in the bottom of the sixth, Rodriguez took the rest of the game, before the Mariners walked it off in the bottom of the ninth to win the series. 

The three and a third scoreless innings appearance was the second-longest outing for Rodriguez this season. Englert said the Mariners “weren’t going to leave any bullets in the gun.”

 “He’s our guy,” Englert said. “We’re going to live by him, die by him.”

 Rodriguez again had to pull out of a jam in the seventh. After surrendering a walk and a double to put two in scoring position, Rodriguez caught Brewster’s Carson Kerce (Georgia Tech) looking and struck out Carson Tinney (Texas) swinging to retire the side. All told, he struck out seven while walking two and allowing two hits in the elimination game win. 

“Just whatever my team needs me to do, whatever coach Stevie says I need to do, I’ll run through a wall for him and these guys, so a few innings, whatever it may be, one inning, five innings, whatever it is, I was ready to do it, just to give our team the best chance to win,” Rodriguez said.

 During the regular season, Rodriguez pitched to a 0.93 earned run average and three saves in 19⅓ innings, all in relief. While the Mariners would go on to lose to the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the East Finals (a series Rodriguez didn’t appear in), his high-leverage, clutch performance in game three of the Division Series was largely what delivered them there in the first place.

 “Our boys in here, in the bullpen, in the dugout, energy is high, so that whole game, even when I wasn't in the game, it's been high energy, a lot of emotions and just 18 guys playing their heart out,” Rodriguez said.