Royal Palm Blanks Santaluces for 2nd District Title In A Row

The Wildcats are district champions for the second year in a row, beating Santaluces 4-0.

Two consecutive district championships, two shutouts, two Lauginigers.

Senior right-hander Jordan Lauginiger pitched a complete-game five-hitter, striking out four and walking one to lead Royal Palm Beach over Santaluces 4-0 in the District 7A-13 title game Wednesday.

Royal Palm Beach defeated Forest Hill 10-0 in last year’s championship contest with Jordan’s twin brother, Justin, getting the win.

“My brother did it last year and I did it this year,” said Jordan, moments after getting a cold-water drenching from his teammates. “It’s the best feeling in the world.”

His brother missed the entire season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. But Jordan, who was the Wildcats’ closer last season, has stepped out of his brother’s shadow and into spotlight as the team’s ace.

The Wildcats (15-13) host next Thursday’s regional quarterfinals against the loser in tonight’s Atlantic-West Boca game.

The Chiefs (13-11-1) travel to play the winner of that game next Thursday.

“In the bullpen I wasn’t at my best,” said Jordan Lauginiger. “Knowing that, I just had to get the ball down. It was a little rough in the first three innings but once I got my rhythm, I was commanding the strike zone. I didn’t have a lot of strikeouts but my defense played hard for me and that’s all I could ask for. We have a lot of seniors this year and it’s good to get a district (championship) win.”

He had thrown 88 pitches through the first six innings but trotted out for the seventh inning, getting the final three outs on four pitches.

“Jordan pitched very well,” said Royal Palm Beach manager Bart Wible. “He wanted the ball (in the seventh). He came out and locked it up.”

Wible added that the coaches discussed taking Lauginiger out after the sixth inning.

“We don’t want to over-extend anybody, we definitely don’t want to hurt anybody,” said Wible. “We have more games to play. We need him and we definitely don’t want to jeopardize that.”

Royal Palm’s defense backed up their pitcher in the first inning.

Sean Steele led off with a double down the left-field line and moved to third on an infield dribbler by Cody Wager. Justin Tworek hit a sinking line drive to center that Cruz Alcazar made a spectacular diving catch, popped up and threw out Steele in a bang-bang play at home.

“That sparked us,” said Wible. “That catch-and-throw double play in the first really got our spirits up, got us some momentum, and we carried it through.”

The Wildcats came in and took a 2-0 edge in the bottom of the first, and Lauginiger was able to keep the Chiefs at bay despite not having his best stuff.

Jordan Lauginiger pitched a complete game to lead Royal Palm Beach to their second consecutive district title.

“He got behind in the count a little bit too much but he pitched around it,” said Wible, referring to Lauginiger. “He got into some trouble and one of the marks of a really good pitcher is whenever they get into trouble and they can pitch out of it. He did a great job of that tonight. There were a number of guys who reached third base and in scoring position and he left them all there.”

Justin Douglas went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and scored a run to lead the Wildcats. Starting catcher Jessie Stebbins returned to the lineup for the first time in almost two weeks and went 1-for-3. Christian Hetzel also had two hits for Royal Palm Beach.

Santaluces starter Peter Strzelecki took the loss, going four innings and giving up eight hits while striking out five.

Despite the loss, Santaluces manager Nick Franco, was upbeat after the game. He was pleased with how hard his players worked all year and they just needed to be more consistent.

“I’m proud that we’re playing in the regionals,” said Franco. “We haven’t done it since 2005. We’ve had a successful season under the circumstances. We just lost this championship game. I’m proud of the way we played. We just came up short.”

And he’s glad he may not have to face a Lauginiger again.

“A new season starts next week,” said Franco. “Congratulations to them. We’ve got bad luck against the Lauginiger’s. We’re 0-5 against the Lauginiger’s the last two years.”

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