Alfonso’s Two-Hit Gem Keys Palm Beach Central’s Shutout Of Wellington

Wellington’s Peter Rivera (number 21) stretches his lead against the Broncos Brady Roberson (number 5).

Jorge Alfonso took a heavy heart to the mound for his first start of the season.

Earlier this week, his friend and classmate Daniel McCauley was killed in a tragic car crash not far from their Palm Beach Central campus.

With the Broncos community grieving, Alfonso’s thoughts turned to his friend as he prepared to face District 8A-9 rival Wellington on Saturday afternoon.

The sophomore right-hander took a moment to look to the sky and say a silent prayer to his friend just before tossing his first pitch. He then went on to stymie the Wolverines through seven complete innings in leading the Broncos to a 2-0 victory.

“I crossed my chest and prayed, and I felt him there with me through the whole game. I felt him helping me,” Alfonso said. “Our players were into the game, we were hungry for this and we knew what we had to do.”

Alfonso was fast and efficient, scattering two hits and a walking one while striking out three on 69 pitches. The sophomore faced only three batters over the minimum and consistently worked ahead in counts while throwing 52 of his pitches for strikes.

“Their pitcher was fantastic, and I thought their catcher called a great game as well,” Wellington coach Scott Riddle said. “It was a great baseball game, but I don’t think it was as close as the score said. They controlled the game, and we did nothing with our opportunities.”

Palm Beach Central (5-1, 2-0) earned its second consecutive shutout victory and now has gone 14 innings since last allowing a run.

“We play eight district games, so we’re off to a good start,” Broncos coach Scott Benedict said. “We’ve gotten two shutouts, the last two from a junior and now a sophomore. They’ve worked hard to improve and done everything we’ve asked of them. But we expect everyone to get even better.”

Palm Beach Central’s Hunter Morey prepares to face Wellington’s David Koos.

The Broncos got both their runs in the third inning. Shawn Murray drew a leadoff walk and Kevin Aubry singled to center field to put runners on the corners, turning the lineup over to leadoff man Gage Morey. Morey sat on a pitch and drove it into the right gap to push Murray across and put Aubry in scoring position. Designated hitter Joe Shue followed with a deep sacrifice fly to complete the scoring.

The Wolverines (2-2, 1-1) had their best scoring chance in the top of the first after Tyler Corbin and Peter Rivera both reached on errors, but the Broncos’ defense was able to execute during an attempted double-steal to catch Corbin in a run-down to escape the threat.

Neither offense was able to generate much else as both starter’s mowed through the lineups like they were bowling pins.

Wolverines starter David Koos, who was also starting his first contest of the season, took the loss after an equally efficient and productive outing. The senior right-hander went five innings while allowing only three hits and a pair of walks. He also hit a batter. It was his tenacity and quality pitching that kept Wellington in the game until their final swings.

In Koos’ final inning, the Broncos put a pair on base, but it was Corbin in center that came through by recording all three outs, the final on an impressive basket catch at the warning track.

Fans were out in full force to support Wellington and Palm Beach Central on Saturday.

“We had a fantastic game defensively, and I can’t ask for anything more from my pitchers,” Riddle said. “We’re just struggling to score. We need to produce runs and not let opportunities pass. We’re not getting productive outs at all, and we’ve got to understand that the second inning is just as important as the sixth and seventh. We’ll be fine, but it will take a while to get where we need to be.”

Coming into the season the big question for the Broncos was what they would get from their pitching staff. After a week like this one, any coach has to feel pretty good about what they are seeing.

“Alfonso did an outstanding job. He’s really stepping up, and it’s great to see,” Benedict said. “He’s a guy who was injured last year and did not play in junior varsity, so it’s great to have another arm for us.”

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