Jupiter Christian Edges Boca Christian In One-Run Battle

Sebastian Adriano had an RBI triple in the second inning.

Boca Raton Christian and Jupiter Christian duked it out under clear skies and a hot sun in Friday afternoon’s HSBN Palm Beach County Game of the Week.

After the Blazers rallied to a one-run lead in the middle innings, the visiting Eagles bounced back to score two in the fifth, then put the game in the hands of their closer, Adam Tadeusiak. The reliever survived a couple of close calls in each of the final two innings to earn his second save of the season and secure a 5-4 victory for Jupiter Christian.

“The one good thing they did today is they battled back,” said Eagles Manager Mike Lord. “When the score flipped on them and they battled back, I was really proud of that. The biggest thing I’m trying to get with these guys is to learn to compete. So, right there they could have chose to roll over and they didn’t.”

Jupiter Christian jumped out to an early lead thanks to a pair of lead-off walks in the first two innings. Jake Capo took four consecutive balls outside the zone to start the game then came home on a throwing error later in the inning. In the second inning, Alex Gomez ran the count full before earning the free pass. Two outs later, Sebastian Adriano ripped a 2-2 pitch into left field for a triple that drove in Gomez and gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead.

“With two strikes I knew to just shorten up with the swing,” Adraino said. “I’d been long on the two beforehand. He gave me an inside pitch, so since I stayed inside it I was able to drive it right over the left fielder’s head.”

The exciting RBI was the beginning of a perfect night for Jupiter Christian’s sophomore catcher. He also lobbed a single into shallow right field in the fourth and worked a six-pitch walk in the sixth.

“It feels great,” said Adriano. “Especially since I haven’t done that much this year. So it’s good to hike my average up a little.”

Blazers’ starter Logan Rataiczak finally hung a zero on the Eagles in the third and Boca Christian’s potent line-up, batting .355 as a team this season, took the opportunity to cut into the lead. Batting from the two-spot, “Just Jack” Havelka led off the inning by ripping a ground ball up the middle of the diamond for his second base hit in as many at-bats. Consecutive base hits by Casey Carpinello and Rataiczak in the ensuing at-bats brought him around for the Blazer’s first run of the night and cut the lead in half.

Tadeusiak singled and scored on a throwing error with two outs in the top of the fourth to put the Eagles back up by two, but Boca Christian responded in force in the home half. Bringing all of their batters to the plate, the Blazers twice loaded the bases and made the opposing pitchers earn every out by working deep into the counts en route to a three-run inning.

Alex Gomez drove in the winning run with a double in the fifth inning.

Zach Hoffman began the rally with a one-out single from the nine-hole. Austin Smith followed with one of the an impressive at-bat. With the count full, he fouled off five straight pitches before finally lifting the sixth deep into the outfield, where it was misplayed, allowing him to reach safely. Havelka, who was a perfect 2-for-2 with a pair of free passes, loaded the bases with the first of those walks and then Carpinello lined down the left-field line for a two-run single that tied the game at three.

Another walk by Adriel Martinez re-loaded the bases for Michael Walsh, who also ran the count full before watching the fourth ball for a run-scoring, free trip to first. A pop out in the next at-bat ended the rally with the bases still loaded, but the Blazers had taken their first lead of the game, 4-3.

“It was a little deflating when, unfortunately, we left runners on, and I just encouraged them to never give up and just keep going out there,” said Clint Erickson, Manager of the Blazers. “You can only control what’s ahead of you. You can’t control what’s happened already, you have to have a short memory and go out there and keep playing hard. Both teams really did that today.”

Two quick fly outs to center field in the next half inning looked to have Jupiter Christian on the ropes, but while they may have been down, they were not out. Nik Constantakos singled up the middle to extend the inning and his teammates took advantage of the new life by clobbering back-to-back doubles to reclaim the lead once and for all.

First, Sean Farmer blasted a 1-0 pitch into the right-center field gap to bring Constantakos around for the tying run. Gomez followed with an 0-2 shot to the opposite side of the outfield to score Farmer and make it 5-4.

“We just wanted to stay positive and come out and swing the bats, and that’s what we did,” Farmer said about the comeback, before commenting on his game-tying double. “I had already seen him two at-bats before. I just felt like I could see him a lot better now and just relaxed up there and hit the ball hard.”

Confident that he had recovered from an early season injury, Lord turned to his star reliever, Tadeusiak to close out the game. The sophomore got off to a good start by inducing a fly out to start the sixth but then was clobbered for a triple into the left field corner by Martinez. The young pitcher kept his composure though and clamped down with the tying run just 90 feet away. With the infield in, he forced Walsh into an easy ground out then rang up the first of his three strikeouts.

“I Just stay calm, relax, don’t try to rush my mechanics, throw strikes and do what I do best,” answered Tadeusiak said. “I just close the game out and don’t let it get in my head. I don’t think about the runner, I just worry about the batter.”

It took Tadeusiak just six pitches to record the first two outs of the final inning, but then Smith stepped in for another epic at-bat. This time, Boca Christian’s catcher fouled off three 2-2 pitches before watching a ball to fill the count. Then he fouled of another. Tadeusiak finally caught him looking at the ninth pitch, a low strike, to end the game.

“He battled at the plate, and not just in one at-bat,” Erickson said of Smith’s tenacity. “He has a very competitive personality. He’s out there to play the game and he doesn’t want to give up and he’s not going to give up. And that showed.”

The win is Jupiter Christian’s second in a row and third out of the last four, improving their season mark to 10-7. Their 4-2 record in district 3A-14 is good enough for the third seed in the upcoming playoffs and Lord knows that his team will have its work cut out for it. Meanwhile, at 8-11-1, Boca Christian has the edge in a two-horse race with Zion Lutheran in 2A-13.

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