Cody Bryant No-Hits Royal Palm to Lead Atlantic

Cody Bryant no-hit Royal Palm Beach to lead Atlantic into the regional semifinals.

The wait was worth it.

Despite a two hour, 39-minute rain-and-lightning delay, senior right-hander Cody Bryant tossed a no-hitter to lead Atlantic over Royal Palm Beach 2-0 in a Class 7A regional quarterfinal on Friday night.

The Eagles (20-8) play the winner of Saturday’s Santaluces-West Boca game in a semifinal Tuesday.

It was Bryant’s second no-hitter of the season and keeps the Eagles’ season alive. He no-hit Santaluces earlier during the regular season.

“It (against Royal Palm) means a lot because being a senior you want to win everything there is to win and that was our goal coming into the season,” said Bryant, who has committed to George Washington University. “One win at a time, that’s how we take it, and hopefully we can win and keep going up the ladder as coach would say.”

Atlantic manager Steve Wilson has counted on Bryant the entire season.

“Cody Bryant has been our horse the whole year,” Wilson said. “We ride him. He was on tonight. He had good control of his three pitches, and when you have control of three pitches, you can get people out.”

Bryant struck out six, walked one (Brandon Hernandez) and hit one batter (Cruz Alcazar), both in the first inning. He induced 12 pop-ups or fly balls and retired the last 19 consecutive batters.

“For the immensity of the situation, this is the best he has thrown,” Wilson said. “Against Santaluces, I think he might have had a little bit better stuff, his fastball had a little bit more pop but not a lot. For the enormity of the situation and to be able to come out and take care of business and lead the team, for our two captains, Cody and Brad (Myott), it was a special day for them.”

Jessie Stebbins of Royal Palm Beach uses a leaf blower to try and dry out the field after a long rain delay.

Myott blasted a two-out, two-run double in the top of the first, scoring Joey Ohannesian, who was hit by a pitch, and Jarren Pinkney, who walked.

“Brad came through when we needed it in the first inning when we got the two runs and who knew they would stand up,” said Wilson.

That’s because senior right-hander Justin Lauginiger of Royal Palm Beach also pitched an outstanding game after the first inning. He allowed just four hits, striking out three and walking four. He also hit a batter.

“No nerves, I just left the ball up and they took advantage of it,” said Lauginiger, of his first-inning struggles.

“All respect to Cody because he threw a no-hitter, he shut us down. We just couldn’t hit him, he was untouchable. A pitching coach dreams for their pitcher to throw a no-hitter. He did it at the right time. He shut us out. All props to them. I hope they go all the way.”

The Wildcats’ defense kept the score close, turning double plays to end the third, fifth and seventh.

Atlantic’s Bruce Thomas walked on four pitches and moved to second on a fielder’s choice to open the seventh. Jake Wallin hit a line-drive to left-center that looked like a double. But Kevin Cherestal, making his first varsity start, made a diving catch, jumped up and easily doubled off Thomas to end the inning.

Jordan Lauginiger only allowed four hits, but the Royal Palm Beach senior took the loss.

“He was the next man up,” said Royal Palm Beach manager Bart Wible, referring to Cherestal, a junior. “He looked a little shaky on his first fly ball, and the second one he looked a lot more comfortable. And then made an amazing play to keep us in the ballgame. I thought that momentum might get the bats going in the last inning but we just didn’t hit him.

“He (Bryant) pitched a great game. He shut us down completely. We had a game plan. He pitched the way we thought he’d pitch. He hit his spots and we couldn’t make good contact.”

Rain and lightning delayed the first pitch until 9:39 p.m. but the field held up remarkably well throughout the game. Royal Palm Beach coaches, staff and players shoveled water, raked and added dirt to help dry out the field.

“It was worth playing the game,” said Wilson. “This must be the best field I’ve ever been on. For it to dry out like this is phenomenal. And they worked so hard to get it done.”

“It’s tough,” said Wible. “We wanted to get the game in. We wanted to play and we worked our butts off to get the field ready. I definitely have the best assistant coaches around, both on the field and working on the field. We worked a miracle tonight getting this field ready to play. it felt like we were ready to play. Our intensity was there. We were up. He just out-pitched us.”

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