8A-9 District Tournament Preview

Host: Wellington

Schedule:

Monday, April 20th

7:00 PM: (5) Palm Beach Central vs. (4) Wellington

Wednesday, April 22nd

4:00 PM: (3) Seminole Ridge vs. (2) Palm Beach Gardens
7:00 PM: PB Central/Wellington winner vs. (1) Jupiter

Championship:

Friday, April 24th

7:00 PM: Semifinal winners

Full stats for 8A-9 can be found on the 8A-9 Stats Page!

Overview –This district is always hotly contested and, team for team, may be the best in Palm Beach County. The regular season race may not have been quite as tight as it was last year but four of the five teams still finished well over .500 and the one that didn’t, Palm Beach Gardens, had a strong second half. To the casual observer, some of the numbers and stats can be misleading. Jupiter may have garnered the top seed, but Seminole Ridge had the best overall record while also posting exceptional stats. The Wolverines struggled against Jupiter and Gardens however, suffering four of their five losses against them. Meanwhile, the Gators find themselves with the second seed again after getting swept by Jupiter, but that has not stopped them from winning the title in each of the past two seasons. The bottom two seed, Wellington and Central, also cannot be overlooked. If not for the stiff competition in this district, the Wolverines might have finished the campaign with just three losses and the upstart Broncos might be finding just enough of a groove to open some eyes.

1. Jupiter – After sweeping through their district opponents with a perfect 8-0 record, the Warriors would seem to be a good bet to steal the 8A-10 crown, a title that has been held by Palm Beach Gardens for the past two seasons.

Perhaps more impressive than the 8-0 district record is the manner in which Jupiter did it, especially against the number two and three seeds, Gardens and Seminole Ridge. After getting shell-shocked by the Gators potent offense in last year’s playoffs and eking out a close 6-5 win in their first regular season meeting of 2015, the Warriors dished out some punishment of their own, handing their rivals a 13-3 defeat back on March 31st.

While Seminole Ridge owned the best overall record in the district, the Hawks were helpless against the Warriors in the regular season, unable to score a run as they were swept by a total score of 18-0. Wellington fared a little better against top-seeded Jupiter, coming within a run of victory in their second meeting while the Palm Beach Central Broncos also lost by just a run in the first match-up but went down 7-1 in the second.

It will be one of those two teams that the Warriors will face in their first playoff action.

Of course, past performance does not necessarily predict future results and the playoffs are chock full of surprising upsets every year. Add to that the difficulty of beating a familiar opponent three times in a row as well as the unpredictable nature of the game of baseball and Jupiter is anything but a lock to win the district.

Having a pair of aces on the mound certainly will help them out though. Zach Sprankle led the team with 0.84 ERA in 41.2 innings pitched while Mack Lemieux fanned 51 batters and posted a 2.00 ERA. As if that’s not enough, they’re backed up by reliever James Reynolds who allowed just four runs in 18 innings of work.

At the dish, the Warriors can do some damage as well, although it took them some time to figure it out after a slow start to the season.

“We’re kind of a different team, because a lot of times you have a small-ball team or that big-hit, power kind of team,” said Manager Andy Mook earlier in the season. “We’re a combination. So we’re trying to piece out what we can do, just trying to take advantage of any time to try and get runs.”

In all, the Warriors plated 122 runs on the season and had four members of the starting nine post a batting average above .350. Blake Disher led that group with a .434 batting average. He also contributed 15 runs, which tied for the team lead with Reese Albert, who batted .372. Rounding out the Warriors fearsome foursome are Cody Wilson (.383) and Noah Metzler (.365).

Jupiter also earned the first seed in last year’s tournament and used that advantage to make it to the championship game. This season’s squad has some new stars on it but also has some returning veterans who will have learned from the experience. If they can translate that experience into on-filed performance and help the younger players to understand the unique pressures of playoff baseball, the Warriors should have a solid chance of avenging last year’s defeat and possibly make a push for the state tournament.

2. Palm Beach Gardens – 2015 marks the third season in a row that the Gators were swept by Jupiter in the regular season. That might be of some concern to Manager Joe Russo and his club had they not rebounded to get the better of the Warriors in the games that mattered most, the 2013 and 2014 district finals. There’s no telling what can happen once the playoffs roll around, and things hardly ever play out according to the seedings, but if the road to the championship should once again go through Jupiter, Palm Bach Gardens should be confident knowing that history is on their side.

The Gators have a rich tradition of success and despite losing some key players from a team that narrowly missed out on the state tournament last season, they still posted an impressive 16-9 record, with a 5-3 mark in 8A-9. The road to the title was a tough one to navigate last season, with all of the teams in the district coming into the playoffs on nearly equal footing and with virtually identical records. The journey should be just as perilous this time around.

To start things off, they will have to face Seminole Ridge. The Hawks had a prolific offense in the regular season but Gardens was able to silence their bats in each of their previous meetings this year, shutting them out by scores of 4-0 and 3-0.

If the Gators continue the trend against Seminole Ridge, the rest of the remaining possible match-ups look just as favorable. Gardens began their district slate at 4-0 by also sweeping Wellington and taking their first contest against Palm Beach Central. From there they ran into a tough 1-6 stretch that included the two losses to Jupiter, both in the span of seven days, and another at the hands of Central. They rebounded from that to finish the season on a five game winning streak and should be able to carry that momentum into the playoffs.

While the team lost stars like J.J. Schwarz and Pavin Smith, who jacked two three-run bombs in last season’s championship game, they have a core of players that garnered valuable experience during last year’s run.

“Some younger guys got some playing time and got to compete in intense playoff games and regional games,” Russo said before the season. “You can’t put a value on experience and what the younger guys gained by going through some of those games. Hopefully it is a building block for us this year.”

Brothers Hunter and Harley Sanicky will lead the offense along with Sendle Jean. Austin Wilson and Anthony Maldonado are the top pitchers on a staff that held opponents to two are less runs nine times over the season, including four shutouts.

3. Seminole Ridge – Trent Pendergast’s Hawks owned the best overall record in 8A-9 and also had perhaps the most prolific offense. They scored 10 or more runs seven times throughout the season. Four of those occurred during the team’s stellar 5-0 start and two more came as they pushed their record to 9-1. By season’s end, they had plated a total of 145 while only allowing 49.

With numbers like that, an argument can be made that Seminole Ridge is the best team in the district despite being just the third seed. The issues arises with the fact that they were also shut out five times. Four of those times were during their season series’ against top seeds Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens, leading to a 4-4 district record.

If they want to make all those great numbers mean something by winning a district title, they will have to start by solving the Gardens riddle. They square off against the Gators in their first game of the tournament and will need to find a way to score some runs against them to advance.

To do that, the Hawks will look to Richie Cotromano and Jeremy Raymond. The former led the team with 17 RBIs while the latter crossed the dish 21 times. David Moss, Jason Aponte and Andrew Attaway make for a nice supporting cast, with batting averages well into the .300s. After that, there isn’t an everyday playing hitting less than .275.

Kyle Farjad and Anthony Elias will be the pitchers tasked with keeping Seminole Ridge in games and they have done a good job of it so far. Farjad finished fifth in the county with 68 strikeouts while Elias ended the season in second place with a 0.30 ERA in 23 innings. If either should falter, or if the team makes a deep run, Pendergast has plenty of other options at his disposal. Four other hurlers saw extensive action including Cotromano and C.J. Bottiglieri, who both fanned more than one per inning. Rounding out the staff is a pair of pitchers who each allowed less than two runs per seven innings, Matt Tiger and Bryce Hill.

If they make it past the Gators, the Hawks will have to face a mixed bag of possibilities. They may end up going against Jupiter, the other team that shut them down in the regular season, or they may get another crack at a team that they did not surrender a run to, Palm Beach Central. The third option is Wellington, who played them tough in two losses.

All the pieces seem to be in place for Seminole Ridge and the roster is loaded with talent. The key for them will be whether or not a third look at the Gators is enough for them to get over the hump.

4. Wellington – If the Wolverines played in another district they might be the first seed instead of the fourth. As was the case last year, nearly every team in 8A-9 finished well over .500 overall and Wellington was no different, going 16-9. The problem is, all but three of those losses came against district rivals.

As the fourth seed, the Wolverines will be pitted against Palm Beach Central to decide who gets the chance to play in the semi-finals. While that match-up may look good on paper, it poses a unique set of challenges. The Broncos were the only team in 8A-9 with a losing record but they are a young squad that started to come together as the season wore on. They were also the only district rival that Wellington beat, downing them twice in the regular season, but if they look past them and don’t maintain their focus they could be in for an upset.

Also, the extra game means that Manager Scott Riddle will have to burn through an additional starter just to pull even with the rest of the pack. Luckily for him, he has a solid bunch that he can rely on. Seniors Phil Sieli and Eric Wiebke are the top two options but junior Ryan Stark recently returned from an injury and has also pitched well.

On the offensive side, Jacob Koos and Matthew Morales are good table-setters at the top of the order while guys like Anthony Maniotis, Alex Viscusi and Richie Ellis do their part to bring them around.

The defense is also solid. Kirkland Festa, Rick Newman and Morales combine to make a fine infield and all have been known to make a highlight reel type of catch every so often.

“We’ve got a line-up that can score a little bit and our defense I couldn’t be happier with,” Riddle said. “So, if we get a couple of arms back I think we’ll compete for sure.”

Also benefiting the Wolverines is the fact that they are hosting the tournament. They went 8-4 on their home turf through the season, so they should be able to use that to their advantage. Conversely, they played their 8A-9 opponents better on the road, losing each of those games by just a run, as compared four runs at home.

5. Palm Beach Central – After losing some key players from last year’s squad to graduation, and then a few more to injury, the Broncos had a tough go of it early in the season. They got off to a dismal 2-12 start but turned things around to win six of their next seven. They stumbled just a little again down the stretch but should come into the tournament knowing they can compete with anyone.

Central won just one district match-up in the regular season, making them the fifth and final seed. The good news is that that win came against Palm Beach Gardens, the team they will have to face if they make it past Wellington in the play-in game.

The Broncos cannot get ahead of themselves though. The tournament is being held at Wellington, and the Broncos played the Wolverines tough there in the regular season, losing by just a run, but they will have to be at their best to come out on top this time around.

Long time manager Scott Benedict is sure to have his guys prepared. After the 2-12 start they easily could have caved and threw in the towel but instead they battled back and salvaged the season. The same should be expected from them in the playoffs. They will not roll over just because they are the fifth seed.

While the roster is young and lacking significant playoff experience, it is not without talent. Joey Romano, Brad Zippin and A.J. Gallicchio are the teams top hitters, each batting over .300, while Connor Power lives up to his name, leading the team with four doubles and 10 RBIs.

The team also has a plethora of arms at its disposal and they may need them considering they will need to win three games to earn the title. Cameron Lauer led the team in innings pitched and racked up 54 strikeouts along the way. Also in the mix are Erik Strandberg, Kyle Giragos, Hunter Gunn and Jamison Bouchillion.

The Broncos may look like a long shot, but don’t let their record fool you. They are a a young and scrappy bunch that will fight to the finish and catch anybody who takes a nap on them.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!