Brunelas Does All In Wellington’s 3-2 Win Over PB Gardens

Wolverines junior left-hander Angelos Brunelas threw two plus shutout innings on Wednesday night and earned his first win of the season.

Turn the calendar back to 1994, and as Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tony Danza will tell you, there are Angels in the outfield. Turn the clock to 2016 and, when he’s not dominanting on the mound, you’ll see Angelos in the outfield.

Angelos, of course, refers to Wellington junior outfielder and pitcher Angelos Brunelas, who drove in one of his team’s three runs and pitched nearly three shutout innings in a 3-2 win over Palm Beach Gardens. Against a very good Gators squad team, Brunelas looked like a Major-Leaguer both at the plate and on the hill.

“Angelo is a very good athlete, a real good pitcher, and he helps us just all around,” Wellington manager Scott Riddle said after Wednesday’s victory. “He helps us with his speed, on the bases, he helps us with the bat in the lineup and he’s going to be a big part of our plans this year on the mound. You saw it tonight and I’m pleased with his performance.”

The victory evens the Wolverines record at 2-2 on the season.

“I feel pretty good, especially since we haven’t beat them in a few years,” Brunelas said. “It feels even better to do it with a young team like this. We did what he had to do and we came away with a victory in the end. Tonight, the pitchers really look at this as almost like a bullpen session. We’re going to be ready for Friday regardless but coming out, throwing three innings tonight, I definitely felt good.”

Wellington’s three runs came thanks to a three-run second inning. After a walk by shortstop Rick Newman and a single to right field by catcher Dylan Tosto, Brunelas drove a ball into the gap for an RBI double. Run number two came courtesy of an RBI fielder’s choice by first baseman Kyle Black, while the third and final run made it home after a passed ball.

Gators center fielder Sam Prince stands at second base early in Wednesday's game.

When Brunelas wasn’t getting his bat on the ball, he was throwing strikes on the bump and sending Gator hitters back to the bench in frustration. While Brunelas only threw 39 pitches and was lifted in the third inning despite looking perfectly fine, both he and Riddle confirmed that this was for pitch count reasons, not due to any type of injury.

“We were using tonight as a way of getting some guys some work to try to set up our rotation for our district games, which will be on Friday,” Riddle explained. “What we’re going to do is let our pitchers who will pitch on Friday pitch a little bit on Wednesday and nothing heavy, just maybe twenty to thirty pitches. Angelo threw close to forty tonight and he should be able to go an inning or two against Seminole Ridge on Friday.”

Opposing Brunelas and taking the mound for the Gators (2-1) was junior right-hander Grant Patterson, who pitched much better than the stats on paper might show. Pitching into the fifth inning, Patterson struck out seven and kept his team in the game with a solid showing on Wednesday night.

Patterson’s resiliency and determination clearly inspired the rest of the team, as Palm Beach Gardens did try to make a comeback in the late stages of the game, driving in two runs in the fifth inning via RBI singles from seniors first baseman Udie Summerall and right fielder Hunter Holland.

After a pep talk from his teammates, Wellington reliever Jake Silver locked things down for the rest of the game to earn the save.

No hat was needed for Wellington closer Jake Silver, who locked down the save for the Wolverines.

“We’ve been struggling a bit with the bats of late, so it’s nice to see some big hits and get some runs punched across,” Riddle admitted. “We do that, we let our pitching do what they need to do and that’s shut teams down when we need it most. You saw it in the seventh inning with the double play — which we absolutely needed.”

Even with the win, Riddle had some critiques about his team’s performance.

“We told them that we shouldn’t be leaving runners on second and third with no outs or bases loaded with one out,” Riddle said. “That happened a couple of times and we really need to start taking advantage of at least one or two of those opportunities. Heck, even a ground ball would have been enough to bring in a run, as would have a fly ball. We really need to work hard on getting these guys to have a different mindset when it comes to runners in scoring position.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!