West Boca Defeats Royal Palm Beach In Class 7A Regional Quarterfinal

Matt Warren of West Boca pitched his first complete game of the season.

It was a tale of two pitchers.

West Boca’s Matt Warren pitched his best game of the season, outdueling Royal Palm Beach ace Justin Lauginiger, as the Bulls defeated the Wildcats 5-3 in the Class 7A regional quarterfinals Wednesday night.

Warren, a senior right-hander, pitched his first complete game of the season, striking out three and walking two while throwing 84 pitches for the Class 5A defending state champions, who will travel to Atlantic for a regional semifinal on Tuesday.

“Warren has been up and down all year for us, and he came out tonight as a senior and leader and really took the ball and threw a heck of a game for us, he really did,” said West Boca head coach Nick Siano, whose team improved to 16-11. “His pitch count was low and he was throwing strikes, and we rode him the whole game.”

Warren said he relied mostly on his fastball, keeping it inside against the Wildcats.

“I was feeling really good,” said Warren, who has committed to attend Daytona State. “I was hitting my spots and everything. I was feeling good since the district championship loss. I knew I had to come out and get a win.”

Royal Palm starter Lauginiger retired the Bulls in order in the first, but West Boca scored four runs in the second inning off the Wildcats ace.

Royal Palm Beach (22-5), which scored in the third on Christopher Barr’s RBI single to right, cut the margin to 4-3 in the fourth inning.

Lauginiger reached on an error and scored on Dakota Mitchell’s double down the right-field line. Mitchell eventually scored on Connor Brennan’s groundout.

But the Wildcats failed to take advantage as they ran themselves out of a bigger inning and never threatened after that. Warren allowed only one runner the rest of the game.

“It’s a cliche, but sometimes the breaks don’t go your way,” said Royal Palm Beach head coach Brian Joros. “We field a couple of ground balls and don’t do a couple things on the bases and we’re right there. I’ve got to give West Boca credit. They made the plays they had to make. They had a couple key hits and their guy Matt Warren threw a heck of a game. You can’t take anything away from him. He did a heck of a job.”

Senior Griffin Cornwell led West Boca with two hits while junior Sean Kuchta and junior Michael Mule added one hit apiece.

West Boca head coach Nick Siano said his team didn’t let the loss in the district championship game affect them.

“They came out ready to play,” said Siano, in his second season. “This is what matters. From here on out if you lose a game you go home. In the district championship, you kind of get a gimme, you’re allowed to lose one. So it was nice for us there.”

Siano took over the Bulls program from Joros.

“It’s just another game for us,” Siano said. “It’s a program that he built and was successful. It’s something I’ve taken over and I’ve wanted to keep the program successful, but is it any bigger than Tuesday night’s game or is it any bigger than the district championship game? Absolutely not. We don’t play the coaches, we play against the other team. So I don’t see this game any bigger than it’s just another ball game for us.”

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