Park Vista Walks Off With 3-2 Win Over Dwyer

Dwyer’s Duke Stenkel lays down a solid sacrifice bunt against Cobras starter Brandon Rhodes.

It’s the scenario every child envisions a million times.

At some point in every baseball player’s life, he will imagine a scenario where they are batting with the bases loaded and two outs in a tie game.

In the daydream the ballplayer walks off with the victory every time.

But most times they don’t mean that quite so literally.

Thus was the scenario for Park Vista senior Chris Wurster, who drew a bases-loaded walk to send across the decisive run in a 3-2 Cobras victory over visiting Dwyer Thursday evening at West Boynton Park in Boynton Beach.

While it’s ending is not the sort that makes for a great fairy-tale finish, the game between two of the county’s top programs did not disappoint.

It was senior first baseman Jason DeFelice who came up with the biggest hit of the game with a two-out single up the middle that scored Matt Paciello to tie the game two batters earlier.

“We finally got that one big hit,” Cobras coach Larry Greenstein said. “That has been our nemesis, getting big hits. This was a good ball game against a good team, and they showed why tonight.”

DeFelice was 1-for-3 with two RBI on the night, as he also drove in Trey Amburgey with a fielder’s choice that went for an error in the second inning. The run was set up after Amburgey led off the frame with a triple on a deep shot to left.

But the Cobras (11-3) struggled at the plate with runners in scoring position, as the Panthers Tom Szapucki and Scott Handler held the offense in check over the first six innings.

Szapucki came out of the bullpen for his first start of the season, throwing 61 pitches over two and two-thirds innings while allowing a hit and three walks and striking out two. But with the freshman left-hander on a pitch limit, it was the junior righty Handler who did the bulk of the work in throwing three and a third innings.

“It showed a lot about Scotty and he did a great job,” Dwyer coach Frank Torre said. “He will be in more of these as the year goes on.”

Dwyer (10-3) turned the ball over to sophomore Duke Stenkel in the seventh, and Coach Torre says he won’t hesitate to do the same thing the next time around.

“I trust Duke and I have complete confidence in him,” Torre said. “It was a tough situation pitching this week and they did a good job against a very tough pitcher. I just told them to keep working hard.”

The Cobras benefited from having ace starter Brandon Rhodes on the mound, and the senior lefty did not disappoint as he earned the complete-game victory to improve to 6-1. Sixty-four of his 96 pitches went for strikes and he finished with seven strikeouts while allowing six hits and a pair of walks.

“Rhodes did a great job. He’s our go-to guy and guys are not getting many good swings off of him,” Greenstein said. “We didn’t have any errors tonight and the defense did the job.”

The Panthers broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the sixth after Jamal Martin drew a leadoff walk, moved into scoring position thanks to a single from Tim Lynch, and then came in on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Hunter Hope.

Dwyer also drew first blood in the top of the first inning when Martin nailed a deep shot to left for an RBI standup double, sending in Bradley Emery after the senior designated hitter led off the game with a single on a chopper up the middle.

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