Farjad, Aponte Lead Seminole Ridge Past Wellington 7-1

Jason Aponte (4) of Seminole Ridge receives congratulations from his teammates after his first career grand slam.

Jason Aponte picked the perfect time to hit his first career grand slam.

The junior crushed a 1-0 pitch over the right-field fence to spark fifth-seeded Seminole Ridge past fourth-seeded Wellington 7-1 in an 8A-9 quarterfinal game Monday night.

The Hawks advanced to a semifinal against top-seed and district host Jupiter at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Aponte said he never hit a grand slam, even in Little League.

“It was a change-up up in the zone, and I just waited on it and got the barrel on it,” said Aponte. “I wasn’t necessarily looking for a home run. I was just looking to drive something out of the infield.”

Seminole Ridge Manager Trent Pendergast knew it could be a tough outing against Wellington ace Spencer Stockton, a senior right-hander who is one of the best pitchers in the area.

“They say good pitching usually beats good hitting, but today we were able to execute some fundamentals and get ourselves in positive situations,” said Pendergast. “Then Jason came up with a gigantic hit and blew things open. I’m really, really excited for the kids and proud of them.”

Seminole Ridge (18-8) scored five runs in the sixth inning to put itself in good position for the win.

Mark Kuhner led off with a single to left and Tyler Murley followed with a swinging bunt on a hit-and-run that went past a charging third baseman into left field. Carmine Cioffoletti walked on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases and set the stage for Aponte’s heroics.

Jake Paez added a two-out, RBI double to deep right field to drive in Brooks Aristy with the final run of the inning.

Murley and Kuhner were integral to the Hawks’ first run in the opening inning. Murley’s sacrifice bunt moved Kuhner to second, who advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on Cioffoletti’s RBI groundout.

Seminole Ridge starter Kyle Farjad made his first start in two months and picked up the win.

“Murley is really good at handling the bat,” said Pendergast. “We don’t really teach that half swing. I think he was more aiming it at the coverage, wanted to get it in the right spot, and he sure did. It gave us first-and-third and put a lot of pressure on them, and it allowed us to break it open.”

The game also marked the return of sophomore left-hander Kyle Farjad, who had missed the last two months with a bad back.

Farjad pitched six innings, giving up three hits while striking out one, walking three and hitting one batter to get the victory. Tommy Dulin pitched the seventh.

“I felt good,” said Farjad, who added that his back is fine. “All my pitches weren’t working, but I dug through it and didn’t give up.”

Before the game, Pendergast wasn’t sure how long Farjad would last. He only needed 74 pitches in his return even though he struggled in several innings with his control.

“He’s pretty smooth mechanically, he’s had a lot of rest and we’ve been working him back slow,” said Pendergast. “We were only planning on four (innings), but four, five and six were really low pitch counts. He was begging us to pitch the seventh but at that point it was time to let him have his rest.”

Wellington (17-9) tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning, taking advantage of Farjad’s ineffectiveness.

Anthony Maniotis walked on four pitches and Ryan Stark bunted him to second. Matthew Morales walked on a 3-2 pitch and Farjad plunked Austin Spitz to load the bases. Maniotis scored on a wild pitch before Farjad settled down to get the next two hitters.

Farjad stranded six runners in his six innings, frustrating the Wolverine hitters.

“Frankly, we’ve got to score for him (Stockton),” said Wellington Manager Scott Riddle. “We put him in situations where he’s had to be perfect. When you make a kid have to be perfect, he’s going to try to be perfect, and when you try to be perfect, you’re going to make mistakes. He can’t be free and loose, and he can’t just let it go because he’s trying to be perfect and we can’t do that to the kid. It’s on us offensively. Spencer had a great year. He wasn’t at his best today, but we didn’t help him.”

Wellington ace Spencer Stockton helped the Wolverines to an outstanding season.

Riddle leaned on Stockton all season and didn’t think about replacing him earlier in the game. He left with two outs in the sixth.

“He’s our guy,” said Riddle. “There’s nobody in that dugout that’s going to do better than him. If they were scoring off Spencer, they’re scoring off of anybody we’ve got. I wouldn’t say this was a bad game for him. They got the big hit. The reality is they were better than us today. They’re one game from 20 wins. Obviously they’re a good team.”

Pendergast said Aponte will start against Jupiter but everybody will be ready.

“This was a big win,” said Pendergast. “Anytime you win a playoff game is big. We’ve had a great regular season, but to make it a really special season, you want to move along in the playoffs a little bit. One district win is great, two would be even better, and it would get us in the regionals for the second time in a row.”

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