Atlantic Wins Its Sixth Straight With 9-2 Victory Over John I. Leonard

The Eagles meet on the mound during their 9-2 win over John I. Leonard at Little Fenway in Delray Beach.

The Atlantic Eagles are a tenacious and gritty bunch that fights until the very last out.

So when Atlantic fell behind early to John I. Leonard on Monday evening, the Eagles never doubted that they would be able to come back for the victory.

Atlantic wasted no time, erupting for eight runs in the bottom of the first inning on their way to a 9-2 victory over the Lancers in a non-district game played at Little Fenway Park in Delray Beach.

“I just told everybody to stay focused and go at them,” Eagles coach Steve Wilson said. “I told our pitchers to pound the strike zone and put the ball in play and the defense will make plays behind them.”

Atlantic (6-3) batted around the order and sent 13 hitters to the plate in the first as it won its sixth straight following a 0-3 start to the season.

The Eagles’ 4-5-6 batters supplied the big hits in the first, as cleanup-hitter Brad Myott had an RBI double and Chris Brown and Cody Bryant followed with RBI singles. Leadoff hitter Joey Ohannesian capped the scoring in his second at-bat of the inning with a single up the middle that drove in two.

Jesse Kieffer was 3-for-3 with a stolen base and two runs and Brown was 2-for-3 with two RBI, a stolen base and a run scored.

“We got off to a shaky start, but now we’re playing pretty good. We’re getting fired up and our motivation is up there,” Brown said.

The senior infielder admitted that he was just happy to see some pitches he could swing at on Monday after many teams had been pitching around him lately.

“I was just looking for anything to hit,” Brown said. “We have all been working on our contact-hitting.”

The Lancers (2-5) went to the bullpen for left-hander Petru De La Garza midway through the first, but then the sophomore went the distance on 70 pitches while allowing only four hits and three other baserunners on free passes. He finished with three strikeouts.

The Lancers’ Victor Abreu bats against Eagles starter Kyle Blank.

“Petru came in and shut them down. If not for that first inning, we may have won. But that’s baseball,” Lancers assistant coach Bill Hancsak said.

Hancsak was at the helm on Monday after head coach Roger Vasquez was absent for family reasons.

“We had a bad day today, but we are one game away from putting it all together,” Vasquez said. “We hit the ball well today, but they made the plays on defense that they needed to.”

Atlantic turned two double-plays, both of which ended innings to squash any rally attempts by the Lancers. They had several other big plays in the field, including an impressive diving catch in right field to record the final out of the contest.

Senior Kyle Blank got the start and earned the victory for the Eagles, tossing 86 pitches over four and one-third innings in limiting Leonard to a pair of hits and six walks while striking out five.

“Blank struggled at first, but he came back and went at them,” Wilson said. “We are better on defense when we are throwing strikes and making them earn what they get and not just sitting back on our heels waiting for them to do something.”

The Lancers took the early 1-0 lead after Blank walked the bases loaded to lead off the game and Eddy Morel came in when Noel Canete reached on an error.

Morel finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and two stolen bases, accounting for half of the Lancers’ offensive production.

Leonard added another run in the fourth when Austin Hernandez scored off a Morel RBI-single to center, but they could get it no closer as the Eagles pitching and defense tightened the rest of the way.

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