West Boca Pitching Contains Vaunted Dwyer Offense For 4-2 Victory

West Boca’s Griffin Cornwell (number 12) singles in the second inning against Bradley Emery.

The best way for a team to prepare for the postseason is to face as many quality opponents as possible.

This line of thinking helped create a marquee matchup between two of Palm Beach County’s top programs Thursday evening, with Dwyer traveling to face West Boca in Boca Raton.

The game lived up to its billing, as the host Bulls won a tight contest 4-2 behind another superb pitching performance by the duo of Parker Danciu and Sean Gabel.

“This was a confidence-booster for us; they are one of the best teams in the county,” Bulls junior catcher Michael Barash said. “This was really good for some of our younger guys who have not been in a game of this magnitude before.”

Danciu continued his solid season for the Bulls (5-2) with five and one-third innings of work, scattering six hits and recording six strikeouts on 83 total pitches. The big left-hander issued only his second walk of the season while showcasing a blend of fastballs, curve balls and change-ups that pounded the zone to keep him working from ahead in counts.

“This was a really good game between two good pitchers, and both teams had a lot of chances,” Dwyer coach Frank Torre said. “Give West Boca credit. They got the hits when they needed to, and they did a bit better job of putting the ball in play.”

For the Panthers (4-2), senior Bradley Emery got the start, working quickly and efficiently while managing his way through several jams to keep Dwyer in the contest. The left-hander went five and one-third innings, allowing 10 hits and recording three strikeouts on less than fifty pitches.

“He did a good job of keeping us off-balance, and everything he did was preventing us from doing what we do,” Barash said.

Defensively, both teams were solid in keeping their opponent from ever having a big breakout inning.

“We cannot ask for more than only giving up two runs to a great team,” West Boca coach Nick Siano said. “We made nice plays on defense and we got 10 hits. We are starting to play with all three phases of the game now.”

The Bulls put the game away in the bottom of the fifth. Ian Tfirn, Sean Kuchta and Danciu all singled to load the bases, and Ryan Owens was hit by a pitch to push the decisive run across the plate.

Dwyer had cut the deficit to 2-1 in the top of the fifth, after Bobby Nichols singled on a shot to right field that was just out of the grasp of leaping second baseman Griffin Cornwell. Nichols moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Marcus Garbounoff and then scored on an RBI single from Emery to put the Panthers on the board.

Dwyer’s Duke Stenkel singles against West Boca’s Parker Danciu.

West Boca added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Thomas Stallone scored on a throwing error to first base. Stallone had led off the inning by reaching on a high slow chopper to third that he was able to beat out, then advancing on a sacrifice bunt from Anglos Dovas.

Stallone was 2-for-3 with a pair of runs and Tfirn was 2-for-4 with a stolen base.

West Boca opened the scoring in the bottom of the second when Koby Pepia blooped a shot to shallow right field that drove in Cornwell and Stallone.

Dwyer’s last chance for a rally came in the sixth when Tim Lynch had a leadoff single to left field and Hunter Hope followed with a single up the middle to put runners on the corners. Danciu recorded his final strikeout of the night on the next batter, and then, as was the case in both of Danciu’s previous victories this season, it was sophomore Sean Gabel coming on in relief.

Nichols then drove a deep shot to left to send Lynch home on the sacrifice play.

Gabel settled from there to record the final five outs and earn his third save of the season.

“Gabel did an awesome job tonight,” Barash said, admitting that it has been a lot of fun even though it is more challenging to work with a younger pitcher in such situations than with a veteran such as Danciu. “Parker has been around, and he knows how to battle. But Gabel is growing quickly, and it’s fun to show him how to do it with the big boys.”

Gabel has yet to allow a run this season, while Danciu (3-0) surrendered his first runs of the year to snap a personal scoreless-streak that dated back to last season.

The road ahead does not get any easier for the Bulls, as they follow up a Friday district game with Lake Worth to face Palm Beach Central and American Heritage next week, who are a combined 10-4.

“These are playoff teams. We’ve got to play these types of teams to prepare,” Coach Siano said. “This is all just to get ready for the playoffs.”

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