Westminster Lions’ Bats Roar Against Jupiter Christian

Thomas Messer was a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBIs.

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The Westminster Academy Lions improved their standing in District 3A-14 on Tuesday night by traveling to Jupiter Christian and handily dispatching the Eagles by a score of 12-1. The big win puts them in second place in the district, with a match-up against first place Trinity Christian looming next week.

As convincing as the win was, Lions Manager Nick James is not letting his team get ahead of themselves.

“Everyone in our district has got a top-flight arm that can beat you,” James said. “Trinity is a great ball club. They’re very competitive. Highlands is great and we had trouble with them a couple of weeks ago.”

Nik Constantakos was the top-flight arm James’ team faced on Tuesday. The Eagles starter came into the game having not allowed an earned run in over 24 innings pitched this season. While he managed to rack up 10 strikeouts in four more innings on Tuesday, when the Lions did make contact, the ball always seemed to find some grass.

Each member of the starting nine for Westminster reached base at least once and all but one recorded a hit, as Westminster scored at least one run in every inning in a game that had just five of them due to the mercy rule.

Tops among the Lions batters were Luis Leal, Christian Sosa and Thomas Messer. Batting in the leadoff spot, Sosa went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs and RBIs. He also drew a walk to lead off the game and was later knocked in by Trace Norkus. He followed that up with a two-run double over the left fielder’s head in the second inning that extended the Lions lead to 4-0. He capped off his night with a soft liner that split the first and second baseman for yet another RBI in his team’s six-run fifth inning.

The Lions added on in their third set of at bats, when Norkus drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a bases-loaded walk by Jake Dudas.

Nik Constantakos fanned 10 batters in just four innings.

Leal went 3-for-4 on the night and scored the second of Westminster’s two first-inning runs when he was driven in by Messer’s sacrifice fly to right field. After beating out a dribbler down the first base line in the fourth inning, he was once again brought home by Messer. The highlight of his night came in the big fifth inning, when he split the right-center field gap for a three-run triple.

“Our coach always preaches that we need to come through big with people on base,” said Leal about the three-bagger. “I was just looking for anything that I could drive to the outfield.”

Messer had perhaps the best night of all. After the sacrifice fly in the first, he recorded a base hit in each of his next three at-bats, the last of which drove in Corey Acton in the fifth, giving Messer three RBIs on the night.

“We were opportunistic with a few timely hits and took advantage of a few walks, which I think is uncharacteristic of that pitcher,” said James about his clubs prolific offense. “We were able to get him out of the ballgame, which is advantageous for us.”

To go along with his 10 punch-outs, Constantakos also issued four free passes, doubling his season total. He took a seat after the fourth inning, and that is when Westminster locked up the contest by bringing 12 batters to the plate in the fifth inning.

While the Westminster offense poured it on, Norkus did his part on the mound, putting forth a strong and efficient effort to earn his third win of the year. He faced the minimum while breezing through the first three innings, only once allowing a ball to be batted in the air, and even that one fell neatly into his left fielder’s glove.

“Trace is great competitor,” James said. “He does a great job for us. He’s worked himself into a situation where he’s kind of our go-to guy right now and we expect a lot of big things for him.”

With one out in the fourth, Norkus finally lost the bid for a perfect game when he struck Alex Gomez with a pitch. One out later, Sean Farmer broke up the no-hitter on a nicely executed hit-and-run that put Gomez 90 feet away from home. Norkus stranded them both by inducing a ground out in the next at-bat.

“I wasn’t really thinking about it,” Norkus said about his perfect turn through the Eagles’ batting order. “Coach just wanted me to pitch to contact early, to get three pitches or less and just pitch to contact.”

Jupiter Christian finally touched him for a run in the bottom of the fifth. Matt Richter worked a one-out walk and Ryan Melillo hit a sharp grounder through the right side of the infield for a base hit. Then Evan Peterson lined one down the right field line to drive in Richter and put the Eagles on the board.

“My puppies came through,” said Lord about the youngest members of an already young squad, who got into the game late and produced. “What’s great about them is they just don’t know any better so they come out and try as hard as they can and they’re doing great. They just need experience.”

The loss breaks up a three-game winning streak for the Eagles and marks the fourth year in a row they have lost to their cross-county district rivals. Still, they sit neatly in third place in 3A-14 and have a chance to make some noise in the upcoming district playoffs.

“It exposed all the things we need to work on,” said Lord about the loss. “We’ve had a good year so far but I told them afterward, this is a playoff type team, so to go into the post season this is the type of team you have to beat. We have to figure out how to make adjustments and stay with these guys.”

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