Benjamin Buccaneers Ride Grand Slam Momentum To Top Jupiter

Brian Dolan settles in after his fourth-inning grand slam.

The highly anticipated matchup between the Benjamin Buccaneers and Jupiter Warriors was forced to move site and time because Palm Beach County high schools are not allowed to host games while on Spring Break, so the game was moved to Jacobs Field, home of the Benjamin Buccaneers.

Benjamin coach Brian Kaplan said it was important to get the game in.

“Jupiter is not district for us, but it is an in-town rivalry, and a lot of these kids have grown up playing each other,” Kaplan said. “It was important to show everybody that we belong with them and we can play with the best of them. It was big for us.”

The magnitude of the game did not affect the Buccaneers, as they have developed a sort of a mantra for these occasions. They like to deem it “Buc-wild,” and that is exactly how they went as they took advantage of costly mistakes to win 11-3.

Despite the loss, things got off to a rousing start for the Warriors as they plated three in the top off the second inning, taking advantage of two walks and an error. Third baseman Hunter Halsey made the Bucs pay with two-run double.

With the score 3-0, Jupiter starter Callahan Brown barred down as he struck out the side in the second. However, his dominance on the mound came to a screeching halt in the bottom of the fourth as the Buccaneer bats came to life.

After a lead-off strikeout, Jon Pavlov’s single was followed by a double by Christian Berger. Brown then walked the ensuing batter to place a runner on every bag. The stage was then set for catcher Brian Dolan.

“I knew that my last at-bat I struck out on a high pitch, so I knew they would try to get up in the zone,” said Dolan before he crushed a 1-2 fastball over the left-field fence. “I was looking to do my job, and drive a guy in, and he left it up and I got a hold of it.”

Matt Harris pitched two and a third innings for the save.

With his approach altered, Dolan took care off a fastball and crushed it over the left-field fence for a grand slam. His first home run of the season gave the Buccaneers their first lead of the game, 4-3.

Riding the momentum of the grand slam, the Buccaneer bats took it up a notch in the next frame as Benjamin plated five more runs. Bennett Sousa contributed with a two-run triple off the right-center field gap, while Dolan added another RBI as he brought in Souza with the single. The bats stayed hot in the sixth, as they plated two more runs and threatened to run-rule the talented Jupiter squad, but reliever Mark Morabito showed moxie and got out of the sixth-inning jam.

Despite only punching in three runs, the Warriors had many opportunities to score but could not get that timely hit to get them back in the game as they left the bases loaded twice and runners on second and third twice.

“We had good discipline late in the game because we had to make something happen,” Jupiter coach Andy Mook said about the offensive pressure. “When they started tacking runs, we had to do something, but we could not get that big hit.”

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