Flanagan Edges Jupiter In Cross-County Battle

Jupiter catcher Logan Heiser fouls off a pitch from Falcons starter Gentry Fortuno.

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The last time the Jupiter Warriors made the long trip down to Flanagan High late last season, the result brought the pinnacle moment in program history. Jupiter won big over the mighty Falcons, and in the process earned their first berth in the state final four in school history.

Returning to the same field that held such great memories, the Warriors nearly duplicated that result before falling in a tough 4-3 decision Friday night at Falcons Field.

Nearly every player from last season’s squad is now gone, and the loss dropped the Warriors to 6-7 on the season. But the team knows they are better than that mark indicates, and they proved that in the way they battled to the very end against the dangerous and talented Falcons (9-0).

“The biggest thing is that everything we’re working on has us heading in the right direction,” said Warriors Manager Andy Mook. “From our hitting, to our two-strike approach, moving guys around and doing all the small things, fine-tuning our pitching, and fine-tuning our defense by just trying to head towards the right direction for the end. Everybody knows that if you come out of your district as a champion or a runner-up that is what matters. I know people fall in love with their record, but at the end of the day you can have 20 wins and five or six losses and you’re home.”

That was exactly the case a season ago when the Warriors shocked the favored Falcons, and it nearly became the case again on Friday night. Facing junior right-hander Gentry Fortuno, a phenom who has yet to lose a game in his entire high school career, the Warriors had a strong approach at the plate and found plenty of success against him.

Jupiter pounded out eight hits and threatened in nearly every inning to stay well within the fight the whole way through. After Flanagan staked itself a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, they answered right back with their first run of the contest in the top of the third.

Sophomore Zac Sprankle got the start for the Warriors, pitching into the fourth inning on 52 pitches.

Cody Wilson connected on a 3-0 offering and drove it deep to left field to start the frame off with a double. Chase Bishop did an excellent job of putting the ball on the ground to the right side, which moved Wilson to third on the 4-3 groundout. Two batters later Kevin Fry reached on an infield error that pushed the runner across to cut the deficit to 2-1.

It was one of three costly errors on the night for a Falcons team that is known for its stingy defense.

“We made more errors in this game than we have in the last five combined,” said Falcons Manager Ray Evans. “It put us in a situation where we had to throw more pitches and we gave up unearned runs. Gentry didn’t look sharp tonight at all; he wasn’t very good and he was still able to battle. He’s a kid who is going to battle and keep you in the game whether he’s great or not. He wasn’t great and he still did a great job and didn’t even allow an earned run.”

Flanagan added to its lead with another pair of runs in the fourth to go up 4-1, but again the Warriors played true to their namesake to battle their way back. Robert Valdez led off the fifth by rolling a leadoff single back up the middle on the first pitch he saw, and then advanced to second on a passed ball to get into scoring position. Wilson put the ball on the ground to the right side, and reached on a throwing error that allowed Valdez to come around third and cross the plate.

Bishop kept things going by lining a 1-2 pitch right back at Fortuno, and reached on the base hit as the ball ricocheted off the pitcher’s glove and left the defense with no play. Fortuno nearly escaped the threat after that, as he snared another liner back at him and then quickly fired to first base for the 1-3 double play. But Kevin Fry came through again to keep things going, as he lifted an 0-2 offering into shallow right field. The defender made a nice attempt to snag the ball by diving out for it, but it squirted from his glove and Wilson came home on the RBI single to pull the Warriors within one run of tying it up.

Jupiter found equal success on defense, particularly late in the game when it mattered most. The Falcons managed a couple of baserunners in the sixth, but the Warriors rebounded to record a double play to escape the threat unscathed. The following inning Flanagan loaded the bases with no outs, but Wilson snagged a screamer right at him and then quickly fired to Lance Fry at third base to double off the lead runner. Reliever Todd Mercado then got the next batter to fly out to left field to again escape the jam without allowing any runs.

First baseman Zach Johns was 1-for-3.

Even though the team was unable to get any more guys on base over the final two frames, they still left satisfied with knowing they had the right approach and they nearly stole another victory over a team that rarely loses at home and against a pitcher who has never lost on any high school field.

The loss drops Jupiter below the .500 mark, and also comes at the start of a very grueling and challenging stretch ahead. But the performance showed that this club is far from ready to stop believing that they can make another strong run to try and return to the state finals again this year.

The next few games will bring more great tests, and Coach Mook is confident that if they play like they did on Friday then they will be right where they need to be.

“We’ve got Dwyer, which is a great team and we will probably see their lefty, and then we travel to Westminster Christian into their environment, and then we have Park Vista, who is number one in Palm Beach County,” said Mook of the team’s next three contests. “We’ve got three games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so we’ve got to go to work.”

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