Wiebke, Wellington Roll Over Spanish River

Erik Wiebke pitched five innings to pace Wellington to a 6-0 victory over Spanish River.

Junior left-hander Erik Wiebke has been used sparingly so far this season. But he was sharp enough to lead Wellington over Spanish River 6-0 in a non-district game Wednesday night.

Wiebke is the Wolverines No. 3 starter and has pitched only in non-district games so far.

“He was good enough,” Wellington Manager Scott Riddle said. “He made the pitches when he needed to. He’s going to be a very good high school pitcher.”

Wiebke went five innings and allowed four hits, striking out three, walking two and hitting one batter. He worked out of jams throughout his effort, stranding runners in four of the five innings.

“We had opportunities, especially early, and again we’re not coming through when we have those opportunities,” Spanish River Manager Bill Harvey said.

Wiebke said this was the worst of his three outings this season.

“Quality-wise, I felt like I was falling behind the first couple of innings,” Wiebke said. “I think I could have done better. But I wouldn’t have gotten that win without our offense and especially our defense, they were stellar.”

Wiebke, who is in his first year on varsity, believes his problems are more mental than physical, remembering what he has to do to remain successful.

“Probably just staying back more,” Wiebke said. “My arm’s been dragging, leaving it up a little. It’s not physical, my mental game is knowing where I have to be.”

Matthew Morales scores Wellington’s first run in the first inning on Danny Bigtree’s sac fly.

In the first inning, Ryan Berger laced Wiebke’s 0-1 pitch to centerfield but was erased on a 6-4-3 double play. Anthony Ancino then walked on four pitches and Spencer Diaz reached first on an infield single on a 3-1 pitch. But Wiebke escaped with a groundout to end the inning.

He had to escape again in the third, fourth and fifth as the Sharks (6-6) had runners on second with one out or less in all three innings.

“We should have scored maybe a couple of runs in the first inning,” Harvey said. “You never know what kind of game you’re going to get when you take the lead. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do that in the last couple of games.”

Harvey has tried to wake up his offense by shaking up the lineup, moving hitters to different spots and sitting other players.

“That hasn’t quite worked, so we’re just going to keep trying to find what works,” said Harvey, whose team has lost its last two games.

While the Sharks could not get the clutch hits, the Wolverines (8-4) used the entire field on back-to-back-to-back, two-out doubles by Anthony Maniotis (left field), Danny Bigtree (left-center) and Jacob Koos (right field) to take a 4-0 lead in the third inning.

“It’s the first time we’ve done that all year,” Riddle said. “We love two-out hits. We preach two-out hits, and that was nice to see. We preach aggressiveness; we preach hitting the fastball; we preach not letting a fastball go by that’s hittable; and it worked out for us. We were able to get the barrel on a few, and it was nice to see.”

Wellington played without first baseman/pitcher Phil Sieli, who is out indefinitely after injuring his foot.

If he is unable to pitch, Wiebke may be moved up to the No. 2 starter, according to Riddle. Spencer Stockton, their No. 1 pitcher, is expected to pitch Thursday against Palm Beach Gardens in a district game. Their next district game is March 25th against cross-town rival Palm Beach Central.

Sam White overcame illness to have a strong outing for Spanish River.

Maniotis led Wellington with two hits, while Bigtree finished with two RBIs and two runs scored. Mitchell Goldhaber, Ryan Stark and Matt Morales also had singles for the Wolverines.

Berger, Diaz, Bard, Boomer Saraga and Austin Hurwitz each had a hit for the Sharks.

Senior Sam White started for Spanish River and took the loss. The left-hander pitched five innings, allowing six hits while striking out two and did not walk a batter.

“We got good pitching from Sammy, I thought he did a good job,” Harvey said. “He was sick earlier in the week but he wanted the ball real bad. He did a good enough job to keep us in the game. I was happy with his effort.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!