Boca Raton Takes Tough Loss At Westminster Academy

Nobody will be happier to take the field and get back at it Thursday than the Boca Raton Bobcats. Boca had a game it would soon forget on Wednesday night, suffering an 11-0 road loss to Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale. Boca (7-6) managed just one base runner while giving up 14 hits and two home runs. Thankfully, the Bobcats are right on to the next game just 24 hours later.

“I think this whole year we are not figuring out what type of team we are,” Boca manager Alex Pepe said. “We’re trying to play a big boy game and hit home runs with nobody on base, trying to hit three-run doubles with nobody on base. We’re a scrappy team and we have to play every pitch with a purpose. We’re a single-hitting team and we have to scrap a run. So I think we need a game like this to figure out and get back to basics and what type of team we are.”

Westminster built a small lead early on, then put things away with a six-run fifth inning that included a grand slam followed by a solo home run. Meanwhile, three hurlers combined for the six-inning shutout, and the Lions (10-5) retired the first 16 batters in order while facing just one hitter over the minimum.

Cade Tierney had a single on a flare to right field in the sixth inning that helped Boca avoid the shutout.

“Just like all the other coaches in this area, we really feel like if we pound the strike zone and force contact and let our defense play than we’re going to give ourselves a pretty good chance to be successful,” Westminster Academy manager Nick James said. “Our guys did that tonight and we were ahead in a lot of counts and made some quality pitches.”

First baseman Cade Tierney ended the no-hit bid with a single in the top of the sixth. Tierney sent a flare into shallow right field for Boca’s lone base runner of the night.

The Bobcats host John I. Leonard on Thursday night, and then go on the road for an important district showdown with Santaluces. Soon this game will be a distant memory, although Pepe hopes the lesson is learned and the players make the right adjustments moving forward.

“That’s why baseball is a great sport; it doesn’t matter if you lose 1-0 or 100-0, a loss is a loss,” Pepe said. “The next day is a new day, and we come back and hopefully we figure out what type of team we are tomorrow and get the ‘W’.”

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