Benjamin earns bit of revenge
Bucs beat team that eliminated them at home last year.
PALM BEACH GARDENS — Benjamin didn’t need long to show it means business in the baseball playoffs and wouldn’t meet the same end it did last year.
The Buccaneers (19-10) scored three runs in the first inning, which proved to be all they needed in a 7-0 victory over Sarasota-Cardinal Mooney (17-10-1) in the Class 4A regional semifinals Wednesday.
“To set it up the way it was set up,” Benjamin coach Wesley Logsdon said. “To play Cardinal Mooney again — the team who ended our season last year at our field in the regional semifinals ... it really meant a lot to the guys.”
The Buccaneers struck immediately, with the first four hitters reaching base. L e f t f i e l der Paul L a noce drove in the game’s first runs with a two-run single, and first baseman Jack McCluskey drove in a third run with a sacrifice fly.
T h e B e n j a mi n h i t t e r s chased Cardinal Mooney starter Dalton Plattner in the first inning.
“It makes a world of difference,” Logsdon said. “It takes a little bit of pressure off and puts a little bit of pressure on them.”
Buccaneers starter Kris Armstrong, a Florida Gators commit, also ran into a little trouble, but he managed to work out of it. In the first inning, he walked two but got out of the jam. In the third, he gave up a single and threw two wild pitches that allowed the runner to move to third, but he got an inning-ending strikeout. He finished his three innings with only one hit allowed and five strikeouts.
“Kris was good,” Logsdon said. “The change-up wasn’t exactly there with every single pitch he threw, but he fought through it.”
The pitchers who relieved Armstrong also pitched well. Junior Nick Taplett pitched a quick fourth inning, junior Matt Lopes had two scoreless innings, and sophomore T.J. McKenzie closed the game out with a 1-2-3 inning. In the meantime, the Buccaneers scored four more runs on a wild pitch, an error and RBI singles by McCluskey and Taplett.
“Obviously, those pitchers are able to pitch a little more comfortably when we have the lead,” Logsdon said. “But nothing’s safe in a regional semifinal.”
The Buccaneers advance to Tuesday’s regional final, where they will face the winner of Wednesday’s game between American Heritage and Fort Myers-Bishop Verot.