Late Surge Lifts Jupiter Over Dwyer

Andrew Martinez doubled home the tying run in the fifth during a 2-for-4 night.

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Dwyer and Jupiter High Schools are only separated by a little more than a five-mile stretch of Military Trail. Though they have not played in the same district since 2012, you would not have known it by the way they duked it out on Tuesday night.

The Panthers, coming off back-to-back wins, took the short trip north to Doug Ferguson Field on Jupiter’s campus looking to make it three in a row against a Warriors squad that was still looking to find its feet in 2016 and found themselves engaged in a dogfight from the get-go. Dwyer took a two-run lead into the bottom of the fifth but a relentless, never-give-up attitude from the Warriors paved the way for an eventual 10-6 win for the home team.

After dropping their previous two contests, it was a much-needed victory for Jupiter. Manager Andy Mook was proud of his club’s resilience.

“It came down to the players,” Mook said. “Once they got the lead on us, the players started to get the mentality of, ‘We’re not going to let this game go. I’m not going to be the last out. I’m going to make a play and I’m going to make something happen.’ And once the guys had that mentality they were able to come out and answer. And then, once we answered, that momentum kept on going and building.”

It was apparent from the start that this one would be a wild ride.

Facing off against Jupiter’s hard-throwing righty, Kyle McCullen, the Panthers began the game with two consecutive base hits. Kyle Khachadourian then ripped a double down the right-field line to score Myles Colangelo and it appeared that Dwyer, with two runners in scoring position and none out, was off and running. Instead, McCullen set down the next three batters on strikes.

The Warriors’ first at-bats followed a strikingly similar course. Lead-off man Anthony Servideo made Dwyer starter Shane Roberts throw him six pitches before whacking the seventh to the only part of the ballpark where it would not be a home run, a 20-or-so yard stretch of high fence in left field known as the Warrior Wall. The towering shot did, however, fall back into play for a double, and Servideo scored on an error in the next at-bat.

With the game tied, Roberts proceeded to mimic his mound opponent, striking out the next three batters, all swinging, to prevent further damage.

Colton Rendon’s two-run homer gave the Panthers the lead in the fifth.

Both starters went on to strike out six on the night. Roberts walked two and allowed three runs on two hits through four innings and came away with no decision. McCullen earned the win by working five innings.

Jupiter jumped ahead in the second, scoring twice on an error and a Servideo RBI, but Dwyer answered in the third. With two down, Khachadourian split the gap in left-center for the second double of his three-hit night, then scored on a wild pitch later in the inning.

Still trailing 3-1 in the top of the fifth, Dwyer made their move. With one out, Colangelo walked and Danny Lynch followed with a single. A double steal meant to put the go-ahead run in scoring position for clean-up hitter Colton Rendon instead led to a tie game, as an errant throw on the play allowed Colangelo to come home safely. Rendon made it a mute point when he ended his at-bat with a two-run shot over the left field fence for a 5-3 Dwyer lead.

The Warriors came roaring back in the bottom half. A walk and an error to begin the frame led to a quick run. An RBI double by Andrew Martinez then tied it at five apiece. Blake Disher and Tyler Ward later scored on a single into right by Ramon Machado to put Jupiter back on top.

“I was just trying to slow things down from my previous at-bats,” Machado said about knocking in the go-ahead runs. “I wasn’t seeing the ball too well so I tried to work the count a little bit and I just put the barrel on the ball.”

The Warriors kept things going with a five-hit, three-run sixth, including RBIs by Disher, Martinez and Ward to put the icing on the cake. Martinez, who went 2-for-4 along with the pair of RBIs, also showed off his defensive prowess, preventing a sixth-inning Dwyer rally with a great diving stab of hard liner to third base.

Blake Disher scored two runs and drove in another.

“I was down low and ready on a 3-2 pitch,” Martinez said about the highlight-reel catch. “It was a fastball and he just ripped it and I was able to react.”

While acknowledging the fifth-inning rally and a 3-for-4 performance by sophomore Lynch as a bright spots, Dwyer manager Frank Torre was less than enthusiastic about the rest of his team’s performance.

“We battled to get the lead there and then we just played scared,” said Torre. “If you play scared, you’re going to lose.”

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