Boynton Survives Pitcher’s Duel With John I. Leonard

Luke Comerford carried perfect game into the sixth inning.

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Boynton Beach scraped by John I. Leonard by a score of 1-0 in a match-up of the seventh and eighth seeds in the GGI Classsic tournament on Thursday morning at John I. Leonard High School.

It was the second time that the Tigers got the better of the Lancers in the tournament and, like the first meeting, this one was a pitchers duel from start to finish. When they met on Monday, Boynton rode a complete-game, two-hit, one-run performance by starter David Recio to a 2-1 victory. On Thursday it was staff ace Luke Comerford’s turn to take the mound with Recio as his battery mate, and the lefty freshman one-upped his partner.

After coaxing two pop outs to start the top of the sixth inning, Comerford was just four outs away from a perfect game. 17 batters had stepped to the plate to face him and he had sent all of them away empty handed. Then Jorge Rivera, the number nine hitter for Leonard, ripped a ground ball that was misplayed in the infield to give the Lancers their first base runner of the game.

“I just try to get ahead and hit my spots,” Comerford replied when asked for the secret to his success. “Fastball, curveball, change-up is all I throw.”

Though the perfect game may have been spoiled, the no-hitter was still intact, so Comerford went back to work. A fly out got him out of the sixth and he started the seventh with his fourth and final strikeout of the game. Then Jason Garcia stepped into the box for the first time after being subbed in during the bottom of the fifth. After watching a strike, he blooped a ball into shallow center field. Rather than risk letting it get by him in a scoreless game, the center fielder played it on the hop and the Lancers recorded their first hit of the night.

The no-no was now spoiled as well, but the shutout was still intact. So, once again, Comerford went back to work. Afterwards he admitted was disappointed by the base hit.

Moise Carrasco held the Tigers scoreless through six innings.

“Yeah, a little bit,” Comerford said “But I was still just trying to get ahead. It didn’t really change how I pitched.”

He hit the next batter with a pitch to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. But his defense turned a crisp 6-4-3 double play in the next at-bat to pick him up and get out of the inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, Comerford finally received the run support he has been lacking for much of the season, as evidenced by his 2-4 record despite a 1.45 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. This time his team came through for him, as it was more a matter of good fortune than anything else.

After getting plunked himself in the top half, Moise Carrasco hit Jonathan Perez with a pitch to kick off the bottom of the seventh. After a ground out by Comerford that sent Perez to second base, Lancers Manager Doug Magaw turned to Jason Angulo to spell his starter and intentionally walk the next hitter to set up a double play.

Instead, a passed ball advanced the runners to second and third with just one out. That changed when Christian Perez popped out, putting the Lancers an out away from extra innings. Rutger Spartz drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases, keeping the Tigers’ hopes alive. With Derrick Lewandowski behind 1-2 in the count in the next at-bat, another passed ball gave Jonathan Perez the time he needed to scurry home and win the game for Boynton Beach.

“We just needed to stay positive and keep playing the game,” said Perez about the fortunate turn of events. “We never give up.”

According to Manager John Drouin, his Tigers have been on the opposite end of too many similar games so far this season. He is happy that this one went their way.

“We finally got a break,” said the Boynton Manager. “It’s about time. We needed it. That’s our second win in the tournament, which is good. So, we have one more tomorrow then we start getting on the road and start getting ready for districts.”

Jonathan Perez scored the walk-off run in the bottom of the seventh.

Overshadowed by Comeford’s performance was the fact that Carrasco also put forth a stellar effort for Leonard, hanging six zeros on just three hits while fanning five. He issued a walk to the first batter he faced but then benefited from the first of two double plays that his defense would turn on the day.

He proceeded to set down the next five batters he faced before allowing his first hit when Christian Perez lined a shot back up the box in the third inning. With no time to react, Carrasco was beaned by the ball and it bounced off him towards third base, giving Perez the time he needed to reach first safely. A Lewandowski single later in the inning gave the Tigers their first and best scoring opportunity prior to the seventh inning, but it was negated by a fly out to center field.

The loss drops the Lancers to 4-11 on the season, with a Friday-morning consolation game their final tournament contest. The Tigers will face Cardinal Newman in another consolation match up, hoping to improve on its 5-8 mark and go on a second-half run.

“The first half was kind of rough so we need to win more games,” said Comerford about his second half hopes. “We have to get more timely hitting. That would be good. We’ve had a lot of hits, just not timely ones.”

His manager agrees.

“This will be a good experience for us” said Drouin. “Anything is still possible. If we stay healthy and we stop making mistakes and we start hitting. We’re hitting, but we’re not hitting at the right time.”

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