Wellington Uses Four-Run First To Down Royal Palm Beach

Connor Dunham took the mound for the Wolverines on Friday night and threw three and a third innings.

The skies may have been gray at first pitch, but the mood in Wellington was bright after the Wolverines defeated the Royal Palm Beach Wildcats by a 5-2 final in Friday night’s High School Baseball Network Palm Beach Game of the Week.

Coming off two straight nine-run outings, the Wolverines put the opening runs on the board with a first-inning fielder’s choice from shortstop Angelo Brunelas. Dylan Tosto, Christian Vazquez and Aiden Burr then rattled off three straight hits – with Tosto’s double nearly leaving the park – to give Dunham a 4-0 lead by the time he returned to the mound.

After working out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the top of the first inning, Dunham was brilliant the rest of the way. He allowed only one run in three-and-a-third innings of work. Dunham worked around six hits to throw 57% of his 60 pitches for strikes, striking out two and allowing a lone walk.

“His stuff is so good that even when he’s off with his off-speed stuff, he’s good enough to keep us in the game against a very good baseball team,” Wolverines manager Scott Riddle said of Dunham.

Riddle, whose Wolverines defeated the Wildcats by a 4-1 final last month, knows all about the dangers that Royal Palm Beach can provide on a good night.

“You get a little bit of anxiety looking at their lineup when you’re first trying to decide who’s going to pitch because they’ve got five or six guys in their lineup who can absolutely ruin your day with one mistake,” Riddle said. “They’re a great baseball team, there’s no question; they’ve been playing good baseball and we were lucky enough to get a few runs early. I’m extremely happy.”

The dangerous third baseman Santiago bats for the Wildcats on Friday night.

Brunelas, who began the game in right field, relieved Dunham and pitched the final three-and-two-third innings. Strong outings on the mound have come to be expected from the senior, who entered play with a 2.63 ERA on the season.

Royal Palm Beach put a run on the board in the top of the third inning after shortstop Austin Houck sent a sharp line drive down the left field line on a 1-0 count to start the inning, and was then moved to third by Tarik Latchmansingh’s single. After Latchmansingh stole second, Houck came around to score on a fielder’s choice by Nick Toney.

Wellington responded with a run in the bottom of the fourth, regaining their four-run lead when David Hernandez tripled Kyle Black home. In the top of the fifth inning, Latchmansingh struck again, singling home first baseman Nick Adams with outs and cutting the deficit to three runs.

The Wildcats attempted a rally in the seventh inning, but were shut down by Brunelas.

“We talk about getting your pitch, not getting yourself out over the course of the season and tonight, it’s tough,” Royal Palm Beach manager Thomas Coates said. “When you get men on, the pitcher bears down so you need to bear down and if you don’t bear down, the pitcher is going to get you. I just don’t think we were there and as mentally tough as we should have been with runners in scoring position.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!