Jupiter Rolls To 9-0 With Win Over Palm Beach Central

Guy Casaceli (#11) and the rest of the Jupiter Warriors have stormed out to a 9-0 start this season.

The Jupiter Warriors continued to push all the right buttons with a convincing 4-0 shutout victory over district foe Palm Beach Central on Friday night at Doug Ferguson Field.

Behind a dominant performance from starter Lance Fry the Warriors ran their record to a perfect 9-0, while moving into sole possession of first place in District 8A-9 at 4-0.

“I cannot remember the last time I coached a game where I never had a baserunner come visit me at third base,” Broncos Manager Scott Benedict said. “They beat us up fair and square. One through nine, they weren’t waiting on the next guy to get the job done. They were going up there and scrapping to get on base, and they really took it to us.”

Fry (2-0) cruised through six innings while allowing just three hits and a walk, while also hitting one batter and striking out seven.

“I trusted my catcher [Logan Heiser] back there to help me hit my spots. I was not trying to blow everyone away and I felt like we kept them off-balance in the game,” Fry said. “I just tried to make them hit my pitch and not the pitch they were looking for. My defense also played error-free behind me.”

The Warriors’ defense was flawless on the night, setting the tone early on with a tailor-made 4-6-3 double-play in the top of the first inning after Gage Morey led off with a single for the Broncos (8-2, 3-1).

“They played a heck of a game from all aspects, pitching, defense, hitting and base-running,” Warriors Manager Andy Mook said. “What I loved was the dugout. They were picking each other up and they were playing as a team, for one another.”

Jupiter wasted no time in backing up their starter with some run support, as leadoff man Kyle Vesnesky scored in the bottom of the first inning for all the runs the team would ultimately need.

The senior third baseman lined to right field leading off, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Glen Casaceli and then to third on a single from Heiser, and came home on a sacrifice flyout from Johnny McCarthy.

McCarthy extended their lead in the bottom of the third inning when he crushed a pitch to deep left-center field for a two-run home run, his second of the season.

Glen Casaceli closed out the scoring with a sacrifice flyout that drove in Hunter Halsey, after the Warriors loaded the bases in the fourth inning.

Although Jupiter was able to capitalize on each of its scoring chances, it did not diminish the strong performance that Broncos starter John Padich put in to give his squad a fighting chance.

The senior left-hander went the distance in the loss, throwing exactly 100 pitches while allowing seven hits. The only walk Padich allowed was intentional, and he recorded six strikeouts while dropping to 2-1 on the season.

“I thought it was a great job by him to keep us in it,” Benedict said. “We weren’t giving him any run support and he could’ve let up, but he kept making good pitches and kept us in the game.”

Palm Beach Central becomes the third team to be shut out by Jupiter this season, while also being shut out for the first time since March 22, 2012.

Jupiter third baseman Kyle Vesnesky singled and scored in the first inning to set things rolling for the Warriors.

Yet even as everything seems to be clicking for the undefeated Warriors, Mook knows the team cannot become complacent.

To celebrate their victory Friday night, the team ran sprints and did push-ups on the field.

With still more than half of the season left ahead, Coach Mook knows how important it is that he keep the players focused on raising the bar to meet expectations.

“The key is just to keep this going and to keep the guys level-headed,” Mook said. “They were more fired up for this game, but they need to know we expect this and more every game no matter who we play.”

Mook also pointed out that just as with any other team this early on into the year, there are fundamentals that the team must improve on.

“We need to work on our pop-up communication in the outfield, and we need to work a little better on our two-strike approach at the plate,” Mook said.

This sentiment for constant improvement is also not lost on the players, many of whom have not forgotten that the team did not even advance out of the district playoffs last season despite a very strong regular season.

“Right now the team that can beat us is ourselves,” said Lance Fry. “I don’t want to sound too confident, but if we keep going and doing our job, coming out on game day and working for it, who knows where we can go. We’ve got good team chemistry and we’ve just got to keep giving 100% effort everyday.”

Just as is so often the case in District 8A-9, the game featured two of the county’s best programs performing at a high level of play.

The end result is both teams left the field Friday night hungry and motivated, and, although driven by different motivations, it sets up for a nice rematch when the two squads meet again later in the season.

“When you get beat like that you just have to face up to it,” Benedict said. “Hopefully we’ve got enough character to have a better showing next time. We’ve got a lot of sweating and a lot of improving to do if we’re going to have a better showing against them next time.”

Palm Beach Central will play host to Jupiter on April 12th in this district rematch.

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