Wellington Bounces Back In Win Over Royal Palm Beach

Ryan Starks gave up a lead-off triple and nothing else the rest of the way.

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The Wellington Wolverines had a three-game winning streak snapped by district rival Seminole Ridge on Tuesday, but they got right back on track by going on the road and downing the Royal Palm Beach Wildcats by a score of 5-1 on Wednesday night.

Stealing the show for Wellington was starting pitcher Ryan Stark, who tossed a one-hit, complete game. Stark allowed just one run in just his second appearance back after spending much of the season sidelined with shoulder troubles.

“We basically had him shut down most of the year,” said Wellington Manager Scott Riddle. “He’s been throwing, getting back to where he’s healthy. Frankly, we need outings like that with the guys we have to play against.”

The Wolverines’ offense staked their pitcher to a two-run lead in the first inning. Jacob Koos ripped the very first pitch of the night into the left-center field gap for a lead-off double. Wildcats shortstop Brandon Hernandez made a great play to hold him at second when Matthew Morales singled in the ensuing at-bat. Morales struck a hard ground ball that looked as though it would sneak through the left side of the infield, but Hernandez made a diving, backhanded grab to keep it out of the outfield.

Koos took a risk in the next at-bat by heading for third after tagging up on Stark’s fly out to left field, and the gamble paid off when he was able to slide in safe. Anthony Maniotis completed Koos’ journey home with an RBI ground out, and then Alex Viscusi lined a single into right field to score Morales.

Judging from his first four pitches, no one could have guessed that Stark’s night on the mound would have been so successful. The first two were outside the zone. The next two were strikes, but the second was walloped into left field by Zach Odell for a lead-off triple. A simple chopper to third by Sean Houck in the next at-bat brought him home and cut the lead to 2-1.

Zach Odell slides in for a triple to lead off the first inning for the Wildcats.

Stark was lights out the rest of the way. He allowed just one more base runner from a walk in the third inning, while striking out five.

“I came out last week and threw against Spanish River and it was my first time back in three weeks,” Stark said. “It was a little rough, so obviously that first pitch off the bat got me a little shaken.”

Stark received plenty of support from his teammates and coaches with helping him to settle in both at the plate and in the field. Nobody was more active than his shortstop, Morales, who had six assists on the night, including three in a row during a quick fourth inning. The third of those was a particular gem, as he made a perfect throw to first despite ranging deep into the hole to corral a Troy Hamilton grounder.

“It was just a backhand deep in the hole,” said Morales of the play. “We work on those a lot in practice. I saw that the third baseman had a shot at it so I was just backing him up. Then I saw he didn’t get to it so I just tried to get rid of it as fast as I could.”

Morales also had a busy night at the plate, reaching safely in all but one of his four plate appearances. Even when he did get on base he turned in a productive at bat by lifting a sacrifice fly into center field to bring home the Wolverines second run of the fifth inning, lengthening their lead to 4-1.

“For the sac fly I was just trying to get the job done,” said the shortstop. “We had a runner on third base with less than two outs so I was just trying to get him in and get as many runs as we could. The other at-bats I was just trying to put it on the ground and run as fast as I could.”

The catcher Viscusi and his courtesy runner, Michael Scott, finished off the scoring in the sixth. With one out, Viscusi smashed a single into left field. Scott moved to third on a Richie Ellis ground ball back up the box then scored on a base hit by Phil Sieli.

Matthew Morales had a busy night at the dish and in the field.

Royal Palm’s defense also had its share of highlights while backing up there own starter, Logan Pittman. After Hernandez’s show stopper in the first, Hamilton ended the inning by charging in from right field to make a sliding scoop of an Ellis fly ball. In the third inning, Sean Malynn made a great throw to initiate a rare 8-5 twin killing. Morales had been on second base and tried for third after tagging up on Starks’ fly out to center field, but Malynn’s throw arrived just ahead of him.

“We’ve never had a problem with our pitching or defense this year,” said Royal Palm Manager Kason Gabbard. “We’ve always played close games, we just can’t get the big hits when we need them. We’re struggling big time right now at the plate. We just can’t seem to do all the little things right; moving guys over, getting big two-out hits. We just have to keep grinding it out, just hit a lot more and work on situational hitting and hopefully it all pans out.”

Despite improving to 12-7, the Wolverines find themselves in fourth place in 8A-9, due to a 2-5 district mark. With just one more game against a district opponent remaining, that seeding is unlikely to change, but Riddle is confident they can make some noise in the playoffs.

“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.”

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