The FDP 2010 Fall team started their World Qualifier with a bang and a win. On Friday afternoon the 2010 squad faced off against the Next Level Scorpions and it was a true test for this team.

The FDP started young hard throwing Mario Ladesma of Coconut Creek HS and he was lighting up the radar gun (88-91mph). he had good life on his FB but had some trouble locating his FB.

Because of his pitch count the staff decided that it was not a good idea to leave him out there and hurt his arm. He is young and has a bright future ahead of him, he will be fine and will bounce back later on in this tournament. Mario allowed three runs in one inning worth of work.

Chaminade-Madonna RHP Cesar Santos did not fair well either but that was attributed to a tightness in his right elbow. We had a talk with him and he expressed some discomfort & at this point the staff decided that he would not go back out there...Cesar allowed one run in one inning worth of work.

Immediately within the first two innings Next Level took a 4-0 lead and the FDP batters facing LHP Kevin Peters who has great stuff and good velocity on his FB which worked well off his change-up and slider and as FDP OF-Ozney Guillen stated.."His curve ball is just plain nasty and especially for lefties"

The team fought back in the 4th and 5th inning tying the game and then taking the lead and never looking back. They had timely hitting and played defense really well.

The OF played some serious baseball today throwing out 3 out of 5 runners trying to advance on base hits. It was a great display of teamwork and they looked great playing together.

During the process of this comeback Dywer HS RHP Dixon Llorens was dealing (86-88mph) and taking no prisoners. After two long innings Llorens enters the game and was dealing so fast that he not only shut down their offense but made up enough time for us to get all seven innings in.

He did a great job of keeping us in the game and allowed our offense to fight back. Their offense just couldn't do anything with his pitches today.

After taking the lead and Dixon Llorens going three strong innings the FDP Staff brought in hard throwing RHP Johnny Mieses...this young man from Miramar and Everglades HS did exactly what a closer must do.

He was throwing his FB well and sitting around (86-90mph) but his slider and change-up is what made his FB seem even faster. He had a great 6th inning and was out of it quickly but in the seventh and typical closer fashion Mieses put on two runners and had to battle back in order for him to earn his save.

After a base hit to LF Next Level runner was rounding third base and tried to score but was gunned down by LF Stevie Rodriguez and that ended the game.

For this being the first time some of these players meet they did a great job of playing good fundamental baseball and allowed us to never panic and just kept working....the end result was worth all the efforts.

But soon the festivities were put on hold because when the staff was checking scores they noticed PG scored the game a tie of 5-5.

Immediately the FDP staff called PG and held a meeting within the hour. After much debate and one umpire stating the win, opposing team mgr. congratulating our team on the win and many more examples PG would not over turn their official score keeper score of a tie.

At the present time with PG its a tie of 5-5 but in the eyes of this team, everyone watching, and the many more other willing to state the correct score The Florida Diamond Pros 2010 squad is 1-0 in bracket play and looking forward to Saturday.

Congratulations to the entire team and keep up the good work.