West Boca Savors Hard-Earned District Title Over Dwyer

The 2024 District 6A-13 champion West Boca Bulls.

Winning always feels good. But the larger the stakes, the tougher the battle, and the greater that reward can feel. Thursday night’s 7-4 victory over the Dwyer Panthers brought those spoils for the West Boca Bulls, who set a program record in winning their third straight district title.

More importantly, winning the district championships earns the Bulls (16-11) an automatic bid into the state regional playoffs that begin next week. West Boca awaits the final seedings that will be released on Saturday, and that opponent will get a team that is coming off a stellar performance at the right time of the year.

“It was one of those games where we knew we had to battle it out all the way through to the last out. So the win was a very nice win for us,” West Boca Manager Jerry Albert said. “We went up on them early, but they had a really good rally there in the middle of the game, and they were able to string together a bunch of hits. There was great pitching. So for us, it was a terrific win.”

West Boca burst out of the opening gates to vault ahead with four runs in the top of the first inning, fueled by a lead-off home run from senior Parks Fucci. Fucci had a monster game, going 4-for-4 while adding a double, swiping two bases and scoring three runs.

“Parks really got us going tonight, leading off the game with the home run and then getting on base every time up. He created a little bit of chaos on the bases, and really was a terrific spark plug for us at the top of the order,” Albert said.

A look back at the 2023 District 6A-13 champion West Boca Bulls. West Boca also won back-to-back district titles in the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

The top of the order also wrecked havoc for the Panthers (18-7-1), as senior lead-off hitter Jackson Miller went 3-for-4 with a run, and senior Bryce Jackson was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run out of the two-hole. After Miller scored thanks to a sac-fly RBI from Kody Morgan in the bottom of the first to put Dwyer on the scoreboard, it was then Jackson who got it going to spark a three-run rally in the third. Colin Haggerty walked and got into scoring position, and Jackson delivered an RBI single to center. Kody Morgan followed with an RBI single to right, and he then also scored on an RBI double from Dawson Thrush.

West Boca worked out of the threat still in the lead, and then the Bulls held the Panthers off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Sophomore Max McDougall came on in relief of starter Matt Pagan, and he put up three scoreless frames to preserve the win.

“Matt Pagan toughed it out. He didn’t have his best stuff at all, but he gave us four solid innings before we turned it over to Max, and Max was terrific,” Albert said. “Max has gotten better and better and better each time out. He’s a young kid who has a tremendous future ahead of him.”

West Boca added some more insurance to extend the lead in the late innings. Fucci continued to live on the bases, and after he singled to start the fourth he came home to push it back to a 6-4 lead when Tyler Lichtenberger lined an RBI single to right. Fucci also scored off an error in the sixth, after he reached on a one-out double.

Now the hope is that whatever magic Fucci channeled can happen for the rest of the team the same.

“Hopefully we can ride the momentum of this past week into the regional games coming up next week,” Albert said. “There’s a great group of teams in our region. We have top to bottom. Anybody could beat anybody. So, we’re very happy with the way things went tonight. I’m happy for the kids and looking forward to rolling into the regionals next week.”

It has been a special season already for the Bulls, who celebrated Coach Albert’s 400th career coaching win earlier this season as well.

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