Benjamin Walks Off Jupiter Christian For Tough Home Win

Manufacturing runs in clutch moments can make all the difference in the world, especially for a struggling offense. With the Benjamin Buccaneers off to a cool start at the plate this season, they have had to find ways to generate runs when they have their chances. Against a scrappy and balanced Jupiter Christian Eagles squad on Thursday afternoon, the Bucs executed in the clutch to produce the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk away with a 2-1 victory.

With the action all tied up at a run apiece, the Bucs (5-6) went right to work with their final swings. David Venoff led off with a single to center field, and then advanced into scoring position thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Brandon Owens. Gus Doskey then jumped on the first pitch he saw and lined an RBI single to left field to send courtesy runner Nate Swank in with the winning run.

“Offensively, it was a little bit of a struggle, but we did come through in the bottom of the seventh,” Benjamin Manager Chad Mills said. “We had a couple of innings where we went small ball, and we scored in both those innings, which was the difference in the game for the win. The team got off to a bit of a slow start this year offensively, and we definitely think we’re starting to see some traction with barreling balls and so forth. So it was a good win for us tonight.”

The late rally was especially rewarding for the Benjamin pitching staff, after it delivered an impressive outing to keep the club right in the action the entire way. Johnny Havlicek went six innings with 10 strikeouts, giving up just a couple of hits and zero earned runs. Luke Taplett tossed a perfect 1-2-3 frame in the seventh, picking up his first win of the season.

Venoff drove in the Buc’s other run, with an RBI single in the second for a 1-0 advantage. Derek Rubin led off with a walk, advanced on a sacrifice from Logan Buchanan and then moved to third off a passed ball to set himself in prime scoring position when Venoff delivered.

Jupiter Christian answered back to tie things up again in the top of the sixth. Brady Gelb reached on an error leading off, and J.D. Whitaker advanced the runner with a sacrifice bunt. Matt Kutsukos hit into a fielder’s choice that erased the lead runner but allowed him to advance to second. Kutsukos then stole third and came in on a wild pitch to even things back up.

“Yeah, it was a tough battle today between two good teams,” Jupiter Christian Manager Kennie Silvestri said. “Johnny Havlicek had our number. You know, he’s a really good pitcher. Our guys battled but just couldn’t really break through against him.”

Thankfully for the Eagles (4-3), they had a guy on the mound on their side that was equally dominant. Starter Harrison Craft delivered a quality start in allowing one earned run on two hits and two walks in six full innings of work. The sophomore right-hander recorded five strikeouts, while also hitting one batter.

“I was really proud of the way Harrison Craft pitched tonight,” Silvestri said. “It was his best outing of the season and we’re really looking forward to build off of that moving forward. We had two good pitching outings this week from Carter Scott Tuesday night against Royal Palm, and then Harrison Craft tonight. So we’re really looking forward to the next few weeks of big games with the way our pitching staff is throwing right now.”

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