No. 5 Jupiter Rolls To 9-2 Win, Will Host Harmony On Friday

Brady Blanks hit a first-inning homer and Jupiter cruised to a 9-2 win over Santaluces in a regional quarterfinals playoff game at home on Tuesday.

Blanks drilled a two-out, two-run homer to kickstart the Warriors on their way. They increased their lead with a four-run third inning before adding three more insurance runs in the fifth.

“That really set the tone for us,” said Jupiter manager Kyle Young of Blanks’ homer. “It was a big win. We’ve had a couple of tough games and that kind of helped us prepare and battle tonight.”

Ed Otero (2 runs) and Gabe Graulau (3 RBIs, run) led a seven-hit attack with two each. Mason Barela drove in two runs while Jake Finnegan, Colton Schwarz and Ryan Senecal all scored runs for the Warriors (21-7), the #5 team in Palm Beach.

“We came out kind of hungry,” Young said. “We know we have a target on our back being Jupiter.”

Connor Sorge picked up the win for Jupiter, going 5.1 innings while striking out three and allowing just two hits and one earned run. He did not walk a batter.

“He looked really good,” Young said. “We were able to keep him under 60 pitches, keep his arm fresh going forward.”

Graulau finished up, going 1.2 innings of relief. He struck out four.

Matthew Martinez scored both runs for Santaluces (16-12). He also had one of the Chiefs’ four hits. Keaton Kangas, Trevor Malloy and Brayden DeCastro added one apiece.

“They outplayed us in every aspect,” said Santaluces manager Kyle Dahl. “They’re very deserving of their No. 1 seed. I’m just happy for their coaching staff. Kyle’s done a great job over there.

“And it was an honor to see Doug Ferguson back in the dugout. I’ve known coach Ferguson a long time. I played for him for several summers in high school and in college. I’m glad he’s doing better. I’d really like to see him continue and move on.”

Jupiter will host Harmony in a regional semifinals game at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

“Don’t know a whole lot about them but at this point in the game it’s almost a good thing, not knowing much about your opponent and going in with the attitude that we’ve got to show up, work hard in practice the next two days and take care of business,” Young said.

“We’re looking forward to the opportunity; four more to go. Hopefully we can knock it down to three to go after Friday night. But just taking it one step, one day at a time. I’m super proud of these guys. They’re working super hard and hopefully we can keep it going.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!