Prince Leads Palm Beach Gardens Past South Fork

Sam Prince came up a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.

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Sam Prince paced the offense while Grant Patterson made the start and earned the win, as the Palm Beach Gardens Gators took down the South Fork Bulldogs by a score of 10-5 Monday night in Palm Beach Gardens. Gardens improves to 4-1 on the season, its only loss a one-run district defeat.

“Obviously, Sammie had a great night,” Gators manager Joe Russo said. “That’s what you expect out of your seniors batting in the middle of the order like that. He’s been our most consistent hitter so far this year. We have some guys out of the lineup and he’s probably a middle-of-the-order type of guy, but we put him in the two-hole and he’s doing a good job. He’s fun to watch.”

Prince’s bat was electric as he nearly hit for the cycle while batting 3-for-4 and knocking in four runs. He played a big part in helping Gardens to an early 2-0 lead. After Sendle Jean singled to kick off the bottom of the first, Prince went opposite field to drive him in with a double. In the second frame, he pulled a ground ball through the left side of the infield to score Joey Alessio.

“Every at-bat that I got, there was a job that needed to be done,” remarked Prince. “So all I was thinking in the first at-bat was hit the ball the other way. The next at-bat, we had first and second, so I just wanted to take a hack, get the ball on the ground and get it through to score a run. That’s my job every time. Every time you go up, you have a job to do.”

While fellow Gator stalwarts like Jean, Udie Summerall and Hunter Holland all did as expected and provided the fireworks at the top of the order, the relative newcomers at the bottom did an admirable job of setting the table for them. Alessio reached base in three of his four plate appearances in the eight-hole, swiped a pair of bags and scored three runs. Batting ninth, Preston Colp went 2-for-2 and scored a run, while also drawing a walk and laying down a perfect sacrifice bunt.

Patterson’s time on the bump started on an ominous note when Dalton Deakins took his second pitch of the night all the way to the upper edge of the left-field wall for a double. Patterson shut the next three batters down with a pair of Ks and a pop-out to keep the scoreboard blank though. He then went on to work five innings, giving up just one run along the way while fanning eight.

Brenden Kudlinski’s 3-for-4 effort wasn’t enough for the Bulldogs.

“I just missed my spot there,” Patterson said about the lead-off double. “I just had to go back out there and battle and make sure that he didn’t score and just do my job for the team. I just wanted to give my team a chance to win the game no matter what happened, even if balls were put in play, just give my defense a chance to get the W.”

For the Bulldogs (3-2), Brenden Kudlinski did his best to keep pace with Prince, also wowing the crowd with a 3-for-4 performance. He helped to pull South Fork within a run in the third inning by driving home Mike Polk, who doubled earlier in the inning.

Having reached his pitch limit in his first start of the season, the Bulldogs’ Tyler O’Neal took a seat in the fourth and Gardens proved a bit too much for the South Fork bullpen to handle. Taking advantage of a pair of walks, a hit batter and a two-run double by Holland, the Gators hung four runs on the board to take a commanding 6-1 lead. In the fifth inning, Prince capped off his stellar night with a two-run triple while Gardens scored four more times to seemingly put the game out of reach at 10-1.

The Bulldogs would not go quietly into this good Monday night, however. They recorded four base hits, including another RBI by Kudlinksi, and were aggressive on the base paths to mount a frantic, four-run rally with two down in the seventh that ultimately came up short.

“It was nice to end that way,” said South Fork manager Tony Malizia, who also spoke highly of Kudlinski’s big night. “He’s been swinging the bat well for us all year. He got some real nice pitches, drove them and hit them hard. That’s what we need from him, so hopefully he continues to do that.”

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