American Heritage tops No. 1 Benjamin

DELRAY BEACH — American Heritage’s Troy Hamilton and Benjamin’s Kris Armstrong may face each other often in the future.

The Stallions shortstop and the Buccaneers pitcher are signed to play for Florida State and Florida, respectively. They’ll be rivals in college, and they’re rivals now as their two teams duke it out for district supremacy.

Friday, the future Seminole got the better of the future Gator. Hamilton drove in two Stallions with a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth, giving fifth-ranked American Heritage the runs it needed to edge top-ranked Benjamin 3-2.

“There’s a reason why he’s going to a big school, and he’s facing Kris, who’s going to a big school,” Stallions coach Carm Mazza said.

Hamilton’s single capped a three-run inning for the Stallions (18-5, 10-2 District 6-4A) after the Buccaneers (19-4, 10-2) had held them scoreless all night.

Heritage had threatened against the first two Benjamin pitchers, Matt Lopes and T.J. McKenzie, but could not push across a run.

The Heritage win forces a tie between the Stallions and Buccaneers in the regular-season district standings, meaning a coin flip will decide the No. 1 seed in the district tournament, which would earn that team a bye in the first round.

“We’re going to probably see them, hopefully, again, if we do our part,” Mazza said.