Gardens Rallies Past Central To Clinch Regional Berth

Hunter Sanicky hits an RBI single in the fourth inning to give Palm Beach Gardens the lead

Palm Beach Central and Palm Beach Gardens had no lack of excitement in their two previous meetings during the regular season. The two split the regular-season series as both games saw the Gators and Broncos battle and come from behind to get the win. So it was no surprise when the two teams met in the District 8A-9 semifinals on Tuesday night and it was again a back-and-forth battle that resulted in a 5-2 come-from-behind victory for the Gators.

The story early on in this game was the sloppy play from both teams. The two teams committed a total of nine errors resulting in five of the seven runs that were scored on the night. In the end though, it was the Gators who were able to overcome the errors in the field.

“We didn’t play a perfectly clean game,” Palm Beach Gardens Manager Joe Russo said. “We would have liked to not have had the errors that we had. I told the kids that good teams find a way to overcome mistakes and we did.”

With the victory, Palm Beach Gardens clinched a spot in the regional tournament and will now await the winner of the Dwyer vs. Jupiter game being played tonight. Those teams will square off at Palm Beach Gardens High School at 7 p.m. with the winner facing Palm Beach Gardens on Friday night.

Riley Colbath got the win, pitching five innings, allowing five hits and striking out six. Matt Williams came in to record the six-out save.

Palm Beach Central struck first when throwing errors by the Gators shortstop and third baseman led to two runs being scored.

Palm Beach Gardens came back in the third inning, taking advantage of errors on the Broncos. Caleb Perez led off the inning by getting on first because of a throwing error by the Palm Beach Central third baseman and advancing to second when the ball rolled all the way to the fence. Sendle Jean grounded out to the second baseman, allowing Perez to advance to third. Hunter Sanicky came up and hit an RBI single to left center, driving in Perez for the Gators first run of the game. The Gators put another run on the board later in the inning as a result of another throwing error.

Shane Sawczak goes 2-for-3 with two singles on the night.

Just like in their meeting two weeks ago, it was Palm Beach Gardens battling from behind to earn the victory. In their meeting on April 10, Joey Boyd had the game-winning hit in the 10th inning. On this night, the hero was Sanicky. After his RBI single in the third to get the Gators on the board, he then came up again in the fourth. After three consecutive singles loaded the bases with only one out, Sanicky again hit a single to left center, driving in what ended up being the game-winning run.

“Hunter has been doing it all year for us,” Russo said. “He’s been clutch and he had two big hits tonight. He’s a tough out and a scrappy ballplayer and he works out and it paid off.”

Palm Beach Gardens put up two more insurance runs in the fifth with a sacrifice fly from Matt Williams and an RBI single from Sendle Jean. It was Sanicky’s RBI single in the fourth though the proved to be the winning hit.

“I felt confident and saw the ball well tonight,” Sanicky said. “It’s alway nice to put the bat on the ball, and I had confidence with Nick Gallo right behind me so I just did what I did and I knew Nick was behind me which gave me confidence.”

Shane Sawczak led Palm Beach Central in hitting, going 2-for-3.

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