Wellington Wins; Sets A Date With Jupiter

Eric Wiebke hung six zeroes to help Wellington break their playoff slump.

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The Wellington Wolverines took a step they have not taken in four years on Monday night. By defeating the Palm Beach Central Broncos 6-0 on their home turf they won their first playoff game since 2011 and in the process began a journey down the road towards a District 8A-9 title.

The Wolverines now have a date with top-seeded Jupiter on Friday evening, and if they win that, they will secure a place in the regional tournament.

“It feels great,” said Wellington’s Koos. “It could have possibly been our last high school game so it feels great to move on and keep playing.”

Eric Weibke was particularly excited about his club’s accomplishment. He and his teammates almost had to wait a little longer. Afternoon thunderstorms threatened to cancel the game, which was scheduled for 7:00 PM, but clear skies eventually prevailed, allowing Wiebke to throw the first pitch shortly before eight o’clock. Wiebke played a big part in the victory by holding the Broncos to three hits in six innings.

“It’s what we’ve been waiting for,’ said the senior pitcher. “I mean, we’ve gone three or four years without making it out of the first game of districts and we’re just pumped.”

That first pitch was sent into deep center field by Central’s Brad Zippin, but it smacked neatly into the fielder’s glove for the first out. The second pitch was a different story. A.J Gallicchio ripped it down the left field line for a base hit and the upset-minded Broncos seemed to be off and running.

But Wiebke was having none of it. Twice he threw to first to keep Gallicchio close and twice Gallicchio made it back safe. But on the third attempt he broke for second and was eventually run down for the second out.

Conner Power met the same fate just moments later. Ahead in the count 2-0, he popped a ball into shallow left field where it dropped into no-man’s-land for his team’s second base hit in a row. He too was caught by Wiebke’s slick moves to first, and the Broncos came away empty-handed.

“It set the tone in a bad way,” said Broncos Manager Scott Benedict. “Getting those two guys on and two of them getting picked off was bad from the outset.”

Senior Chris Aubry recorded one of just three Bronco hits.

After those initial hits, Wiebke gave up just one more all night. He hung six zeroes and struck out five to earn the win before giving way to Jake Silver in the seventh inning.

“Eric works very, very hard on his defense and his pick-offs,” said Wellington Manager Scott Riddle. “He works very hard on fielding his position and obviously with him being left-handed, with his kind of stuff, he has the ability to take over the game. And he needs to do that, our pitching staff needs to do that, for us to have a chance.”

Wiebke also had the luxury of pitching most of his innings with a lead. The Wolverines first four batters of the night each hit safely. Perhaps none of those hits were more impressive than the first, when Jacob Koos hustled down the line to beat out an infield single and show that Wellington’s sense of determination had not been dampened by the rain delay. Although he was eventually erased at second base thanks to a great throw by Broncos center fielder Gallicchio, the next three all came home to score.

A bases-loaded walk with one out broke the ice and put the Wolverines ahead 1-0. Riddle then proved that he and his club would put it all on the line to advance to the semifinals by calling a daring triple steal with the bases loaded that brought Ryan Stark home to make it 2-0. The first of two sacrifice flies by Richie Ellis finally capped the inning off at 3-0.

For all of Wiebke’s success, he did find himself in a jam in the third inning, when some brief control issues got the better of him. He gave away bases to the first two batters of the frame by hitting one with a pitch and walking the other on four pitches. An ill-fated bunt attempt by Bronco Chris Aubry ended up as a pop out back to the mound to give Wiebke an out, and from there he looked to have the situation under control. He jumped ahead of Zippin 0-2 in the next-at bat, but the third pitch once again got away from him and struck Zippin to load the bases.

From there on out, the lefty was in complete control. He induced a pop up to shortstop for the second out and then fanned Power for the third. He struck out two more in the fourth inning and did not allow his third and final hit, a single up the middle by Aubry, until there were two outs in the sixth.

“You can’t really bring it upon yourself to think, ‘Oh no, I have bases loaded,’” Wiebke said about his troubles in the third. “As hard as it is, you have to try to keep a cool head but all I have to really do is pitch strikes. We have the best defense in the county, I think, and with them making plays behind you there’s really no way you can pitch bad. Our infield is stellar, our outfield knocks down everything and the hitting was amazing tonight, so you really can’t ask for better help behind you.”

Jacob Koos went 3-for-4 while batting lead-off for the Wolverines.

Although the first three runs would have been enough, the Wellington offense added three more in the third inning. This time, Morales and Stark opened things up with a couple of base hits. Ellis’s second sacrifice fly brought Morales around and a two-out double by Phil Sieli scored both Stark and Alex Viscusi, who had been intentionally walked earlier in the inning.

“A disappointing end to a disappointing season,” said Benedict, whose Broncos suffered from the injury bug all season and finished at 8-17. “We expected to compete a lot better than that, so it was disappointing.”

In Sieli and Stark, Riddle has a pair of capable candidates to toe the rubber for Wellington in that critical match-up.

If he should get the call, Stark, who went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs at the plate on Monday, is up to the challenge.

“Obviously, I’m pumped to get up there and show my best,” said the junior pitcher and third baseman. “It’s been a long season and I think we’ll all come together at the right time.”

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