Jupiter Stays Hot To Clinch Top Seed In 8A-9

Logan Heiser whacked a double to deep left field to drive in the go-ahead run in the sixth.

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After a nearly hour long, rain-related delay, the Palm Beach Central Broncos and Jupiter Warriors were finally able to square off in their much anticipated High School Baseball Network Palm Beach Game of the Week on Friday evening at Palm Beach Central.

Both teams entered the match up with identical 4-3 records in 8A-9, and the winner would clinch the top seed in the upcoming district playoffs. Jupiter had won five in a row leading up to this showdown while the Broncos had dropped two of the three games they played since handing Park Vista their first loss of the season on March 29th.

On a night when only eight hits were tallied between both clubs, Jupiter catcher Logan Heiser had the biggest, recording the Warriors’ only RBI of the night in the sixth inning to push across what would prove to be the winning run in a closely contested 3-2 ballgame.

“It was just one of those dogfight games,” said Warriors Manager Andy Mook. “And we’re the ones who came out ahead with a key hit.”

Broncos Manager Scott Benedict admitted that the loss is disappointing.

“Tough loss. Close game,” he said. “Credit Jupiter, they played well. The catcher came up with that clutch hit in the sixth with two outs. He really hit that ball good.”

Prior to that key hit, the game belonged primarily to the pitchers. Both Shane Sawczak of the Broncos and Mack Lemieux of the visiting Warriors lasted the full seven innings on the mound. Lemieux allowed just two runs on five hits to record the win and even his season record at 3-3. Lemieux gave up three runs, although only one was earned.

Sawczak did not allow a hit until after the Warriors had taken a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. He did, however, allow at least one base runner in each of his seven innings, and headded five strikeouts to push his season total to 52.

In the first two, Sawczak’s defense was able to come up with some key double plays to help him out. He recorded the first of his strikeouts to the first batter of the game. The third strike was dropped though, and the ensuing throw to first was off target, allowing Cody Wilson to reach. After a sacrifice bunt and a base on balls, Heiser came to the plate with an early RBI opportunity. Instead, he hit a ground ball to third base, where Kevin Bramall scooped it up, tagged the bag for the force of Wilson then fired across the diamond for the inning-ending double play.

Mack Lemieux pitched a complete game and held the Broncos to two runs.

The Broncos defense struck again in the second. Sawczak issued a free pass to Lemieux, who was replaced by Trey Fitzgerald as a courtesy runner. Lance Fry then grounded an 0-2 pitch back up the middle. Shortstop Danny Hernandez ranged almost all the way to second base to snare it, then flipped it to Andy Zipp to set a beautiful 6-4-3 double play in motion.

In the third inning, Sawczak allowed another batter to reach without a hit by striking Griffin Garland with a pitch. Again, the Broncos’ defense made it inconsequential when catcher Connor Power gunned him down trying to steal second for the third out.

Lemieux was also hot from the start. He needed just seven pitches to retire the side in order in the first inning. In the second, it took only six to duplicate the feat. Of the first six outs he rang up, three were easy fly balls and another was a strikeout.

“If I could pinpoint the main problem we had today,” said Benedict, “It was that they give us 21 outs and we had eight fly balls and four strike outs. So, that’s 12 of our outs, eight of them were no-chance fly balls. We’ve got to stay away from fly balls and strikeouts. That was our main nemesis today.”

Lemieux gave up his first hit in the third to Joey Romano. Soon afterwards, Jupiter gave Palm Beach Central a taste of their own medicine by turning a double play of their own. Bramall hit a hard liner right at second baseman Chase Bishop who plucked it out of the air and fired to first to double off Romano.

Jupiter scored the first two runs of the game in the fourth without the advantage of a base hit. Kevin Fry and Heiser drew back-to-back walks with one out and proceeded to work their way around the bases with the help of two passed balls and a wild pitch, moving the Warriors out in front, 2-0.

With singles by Sawczak and Hernandez to lead off the bottom of the fourth, Palm Beach Central threatened to get back in it. Hernandez was caught leaning at first though, while Sawczak made it to third before being stranded. In the fifth, the Broncos had some better luck. With Zipp and Romano at second and third base, Sawczak helped his own cause by squaring one up and shooting it back up the box, the result being a two-out, two-run single that knotted things up at two apiece.

“I thought Shane’s performance today was excellent,” said Benedict about his pitcher and top hitter of the day. “He really battled, came through with a big, two-out hit to tie things up for us as well. He has nothing to be ashamed of.”

Jupiter wasted no time in responding. Wilson kicked off the following half inning with an infield single. Bishop moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt and after a strikeout, Heiser stepped to the plate with another RBI opportunity. This time he capitalized, and on a 2-1 count he sent a towering fly ball all the way to the center-field fence for a stand-up double that gave the Warriors a lead they would not relinquish.

Shane Sawczak had two hits, two RBIs and went the distance on the mound for the Broncos

“My approach was really to jump on the fastball,” Heiser said. “The first two at-bats, they snuck the fastball by me and I knew they were going to try and come back with it again. So, when I got behind in the count 2-1, I pretty much sat fastball and it came right over the plate and I was able to get a good barrel on it.”

Lemieux worked two perfect innings to finish off the game but got some help from his center fielder, Wilson, who made perhaps one of the best catches of the season in the sixth. Jorge Alfonso worked the count full before sending a shot that seemed destined to land for a double in the right-center gap. Wilson took off on a full sprint and just when it appeared he would not get there in time, he launched himself through the air, stretching himself out almost three feet above the turf to make the highlight-reel grab and draw gasps and applause from the crowd.

“I saw the read off the bat and I just went to go get it,” said Wilson. “I knew I was gonna get it. I called for it, so I dove for it.”

His manager was pleased not just with that catch but with the team’s defensive performance on the whole.

“Our defense played amazing,” Mook said. “Cody Wilson’s amazing out there. He pretty much saves us. He’s done that throughout the year.”

The win earned the Warriors the coveted first round bye in the playoffs and both Mook and his players are aware of the advantage that gives them.

“The top seed is very important,” explained Heiser. “Pretty much every team in our district is pretty equal with each other, so having the four and five teams play each other and having to use their number one (starting pitcher) to get to us is pretty big.”

Lemieux, for one, is looking forward to the tournament.

“Well, we’ve got the number one seed after this game,” he said. “So, I’m pretty happy with where we’re at right now and we are just going to go out there and play next week.”

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