Palm Beach Central Beats Jupiter 3-1 to Clinch The Top Seed In District 8A-10

Danny Hernandez waits on deck.

Palm Beach Central and Jupiter faced off Friday for the third time this season, and this time, the number one seed in District 8A-10 was on the line. Although Central dropped the first two games, the Broncos came up big on the strength of a stellar performance by starting pitcher John Padich to win 3-1.

“When [John] gets those secondary pitches over the plate, he’s tough,” Palm Beach Central head coach Scott Benedict said. “You’re not going to be successful in this district unless you can do that. He did a good job mixing it up.”

Jupiter had just four hits on the day — all singles — in Padich’s six and a third innings of work.

The Warriors threatened in the top of the second when Scott Danek legged out an infield single to start the inning. After Padich walked McCarthy, Jupiter had runners on first and second with none out. Next up, David Tavilla hit a grounder to short, but Danny Hernandez gobbled it up, tagged second and fired to first for the double play. Another groundball to short ended the inning.

“It gives me a lot of confidence as a pitcher knowing I have a great team behind me,” Padich said.

In the bottom half of the frame, Hernandez, a sophomore, followed up his brilliant defensive play with a single. Two batters later, Shawn Murray drove him home when he hit a double down the left-field line, giving Palm Beach Central the early 1-0 lead.

Padich retired the Warriors in order in the third, and Palm Beach Central added to the lead on Gabe Martinez’s sacrifice fly later in the inning. The Broncos scored their final run in the sixth with coach Benedict mixing in a couple of pinch-hitters and runners. Pinch-hitter Jameel Edney hit a sacrifice fly to left that plated pinch-runner Isidro Pearl from third.

The Warriors entered the final inning with their work cut out for them, trailing 3-0 to the Broncos. After McCarthy walked, David Tavilla reached base on a single. Jupiter coach Andy Mook also called on his bench to try to spark the team.

Jupiter starting pitcher Victor Gonzalez pitched a complete game for the Warriors in the loss.

“I was looking for lightning in a bottle,” Mook said. “It wasn’t working for us in the beginning, so I said, ‘You know what, lets try something.’ We’re down 3-0, we might as well make a change.”

Mook threw sophomore Lance Fry right into the heat of the seventh inning. Padich let a pitch get away from him and plunked Fry to load the bases. Mook brought in pinch-hitter Kyle Vesnesky to face the new Broncos pitcher Lance Stiles, and Vesnesky drew the bases-loaded walk. Now a 3-1 ball game with the tying run on second, Mook brought in Casasceli to pinch-run. The Broncos closed the door, however, with a crisp double play to end the game on a grounder to short.

Palm Beach Central committed zero errors and turned two double plays in the game. The Broncos have won six straight and carry a lot of momentum heading into district tournament play.

“Momentum is very important right now,” Padich said. “If we keep winning, we can roll right into regionals.”

Benedict also is happy to see his team peaking right now.

“It’s important to be playing our best ball,” he said. “If we make it to regionals and win five straight, we get a ring. I know what that’s like, but the kids don’t. You’ve got to put together a bunch of good all-around games in a row. So it’s definitely important that we’re playing well.”

Both coaches acknowledged that getting out of the district may be the hardest part of a possible title run. Jupiter will face Dwyer in the two-vs.-three matchup while Palm Beach Central will face the winner of the Palm Beach Gardens/Wellington first-round game.

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