West Boca Comes Back For 4-3 Win Over St. Thomas

James Litman had nine strikeouts in 6.2 innings of work to earn the win for the Bulls.

The West Boca Bulls will not soon forget this win. Facing off against a formidable opponent in the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders, the Bulls rallied late to earn a 4-3 victory in Tuesday’s 6A regional quarterfinal. West Boca scored all four runs in the bottom of the fifth to come back from a 3-0 hole, and now the Bulls (17-11) move on to host the South Broward Bulldogs on Friday night in a regional semifinal.

The Bulldogs (16-10-1) advanced following an 8-6 upset win over the Doral Academy Firebirds (24-4), the top seed in Region 6A-4.

“Today’s game was one of those games for the ages,” West Boca Manager Jerry Albert said. “It was an absolute thriller. Over the years, you look back at some terrific wins you’ve had in the playoffs, and this is up there with any of them. It was an outstanding game. St. Thomas comes in, and they’re such a good team. Their pitcher was terrific. Their lineup is tough. They battle, battle, battle. They were extremely well-coached and are a very professional operation. So they were tough. I mean, we got down 3-0 to a top-tier pitcher.”

St. Thomas (18-10) broke the scoreless game open with all its runs in the top of the third. Joshua Jennings and Nico Sabatino both walked, and Zachary Malvasio went deep for a three-run home run.

Bulls starter James Litman dug in from there. He nearly went the distance, finishing with nine strikeouts in six-and-two-third innings.

“James is so darn competitive,” Albert said. “He battles and battles and battles and he doesn’t give in, doesn’t want to give in. His big inning was the fifth inning, where they had bases loaded and no outs. We played the infield up and we got the roller in the hole to Tyler and made that nice play where he jumped off his right foot and banged the kid out at home on the throw to the plate.”

Tyler Lichtenberger closed out the win, after also coming up with a three-run home run that was the difference.

The first two batters both reached to get it going in the fifth, as Casey Turner walked and Derek Godfrey singled to right field. Kristopher Goldstein then got the Bulls on the scoreboard with an RBI single to left that made it 3-1 and brought Lichtenberger to the plate. The senior fell behind 0-1 in the count, and then he found his pitch and connected for a swing that put his team in the lead as he sent the ball sailing over the center field fence.

“Tyler, once again, just kind of took his game to another level today,” Albert said. “He got that beautiful three-run homer in the fifth inning that put us up 4-3. I thought he was locked in at the plate from the first pitch of the game on. He looked very good up there, so it felt good having him up in that scenario. At that point, we were down 3-1, and Chicho got the hit to drive the one run in and made it first and third. Tyler’s sitting up there, he just gives you the feeling that he’s going to get it done. He was locked in and he looked terrific and he put a charge in the ball, took it out to right center. So, it was beautiful.”

Lichtenberger was not quite done yet. When the Raiders threatened one final time in the top of the seventh by putting two runners on base to have the go-ahead run at first, Lichtenberger came on in relief and got a swinging strikeout to record the final out and earn the save.

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