Jupiter Loses A Heartbreaker In 7A Title Game

7A Championship Game Press Conference: Jupiter

The Jupiter Warriors 2025 season has been a whirlwind of emotional comebacks, driven by one of the most powerful and efficient offenses in the entire state.

On Saturday, that offense was again on display in the 7A state title game, where Jupiter went toe-to-toe with four time defending champion Douglas.

Despite outhitting Douglas 10 to seven, the Warriors could not come up with the big hit, stranding 13 runners on the day, and ultimately dropping a heartbreaker to the Eagles, 3-2.

“I am proud of the way these guys played today,” said Jupiter Manager Joe Giummule. “Sometimes things don’t go your way. And that happened to us today. Both teams deserved to win the game today, and things didn’t go our way. That happens in the game of baseball. I am hurting, these guys are hurting. It was a tough way to end our season.”

The Warriors had plenty of chances, at times even looking like the better team on this Saturday. Through the first five innings, the Warriors stranded the bases loaded twice, and in the other three innings, they had two runners on base when the inning ended.

“We did a good job creating opportunities today,” said Giummule. “We just didn’t get that big hit when we needed it.”

Getting big hits throughout the year was not an issue for this Warriors team that was built around their offense.

However, in the title game, Jupiter received a huge performance from starting pitcher Jack Wahl-Cox, who went 4.1 innings, allowing only five hits, and holding the Eagles to three runs.

The Warriors had four hitters with two hits in Brady Blanks, Gabe Graulau, Andrew Abad, and Ed Otero.

In several innings, the Warriors offense ran themselves out of innings. In the third, Graulau was thrown out at home on a ground ball to third. Then in the sixth, after Blanks had doubled, he was thrown out on a fielder’s choice ground ball to shortstop.

The sixth inning ended with the Warriors unsuccessfully trying to run a first and third trick play. The aggressive style is one that has led to much success during their state run, but against the four-time champions, the attempts came up short.

Despite the loss, there were many positives for the Warriors in 2025. The program made it to the state final four for the first time since winning the title in 2018. It was the first year under new manager Giummule, and the veteran manager was pleased with how his team responded to the challenges he presented.

“This was a team that at many times throughout the year, we didn’t know if we would end up here. We had a lot of challenges,” said Giummule. “But they rose to the occasion in the playoffs, and we accomplished a lot of our goals. Today just wasn’t our day, but the guys left it all out on the field today, and I am proud of them. My heart hurts for them.”

Jupiter finished the season 25-10, and Giummule and the program will now be saddled with the task of replacing 15 seniors, many of which were the heart and soul of the 2025 club.

“These seniors were special, and they set the tone of what the program will look like moving forward,” said Giummule.

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