Jupiter Falls 4-0 To Lake Brantley In 8A State Semifinal

State Semifinal Photo Gallery

Making their first appearance in the state tournament in school history, Jupiter Warriors Manager Andy Mook knew that he had the right group of players capable of winning it all.

Even as the final out of Friday’s Class 8A state semifinal sent home the harsh reality that that was not going to happen, the second-year skipper could feel nothing but pride for his team that had played true to their Warriors name.

While Lake Brantley celebrated its victory over Jupiter following its 4-0 shutout at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Mook assured his players not to hang their heads or get down on themselves. This had been the group to finally break through and earn the school a shot at a state title.

It was how the team had done it that meant the most to Mook and the rest of the Warriors extended family.

“I’ve always preached that it takes that team chemistry, and that’s this group,” Mook said. “They’ve accomplished something that’s never been done in 50 years at Jupiter High School, and they should not hang their heads.”

Although the squad suffered its first shutout defeat this season, they actually recorded more hits than the Patriots. The normally prolific offense hit the ball hard, but more often than not it was hit directly at the defense.

“One through nine all year round we’ve had big hits, and today it didn’t happen,” said senior Johnny McCarthy. “We hit the ball hard many times and we out-hit the other team. But they didn’t make the mistakes that we did.”

The Patriots (26-5) scored all of their runs during a disastrous second inning in which Jupiter committed several errors that led to its undoing. Logan Blum reached on an error and then scored two batters later on an RBI single from Tate Blackman that staked Lake Brantley with all the run support it would need. When Mick Tinny also reached on an error that extended the inning, the wheels began to fall off as the next three batters singled to plate three more unearned runs.

“That’s the game of baseball,” said Mook. “It’s one of those things that breaks happen. The first inning they threatened, and then we threatened. It seemed we had a couple of balls that got through and a couple of kicks that went their way. That’s how it is; we just couldn’t get a break. But they kept battling the whole time.”

Mitchell Jordan went the distance for Lake Brantley. Jordan struck out seven and filled up the strike zone on 71 of his 104 pitches.

Senior left-handed starter Scott Danek took the tough-luck loss for his first defeat of the season, to put his final season record at 7-1. Danek pitched well despite the results, pounding the strike zone on 30 of his 42 pitches to stay within the game plan and pitch to his defense.

After Danek faced 13 batters through the first two innings, Jupiter (23-5) elected to make a change and went to the bullpen for senior righty Hunter Halsey. Halsey was nearly perfect through the final five innings, facing just one batter over the minimum. After allowing a leadoff walk to Dalton Cuff in the top of the fourth, he went on to shut down the final 12 Patriots batters to give Jupiter all the opportunity it needed to stage a comeback that just never materialized.

The Warriors’ offense put runners on base in almost every inning, but struggled to come up with the big hits that have been characteristic of their lineup. Jupiter stranded eight runners in all against Jordan.

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