Knights hold off Blazers to earn seventh victory of the season.

In a game full of momentum swings, the West Palm Beach Knights (7–8) were able to defeat the Boca Raton Blazers (4–14) by a score of 6–4.

Runs were hard to come by for both teams for most of the game, as both starting pitchers played two great games. For the Blazers, Adrian Vega threw for a whopping ten strikeouts in five innings. Bryson Walker was not too far behind, as in his third start for West Palm Beach, Walker had nine strikeouts in six innings.

Boca Raton was the first team on the scoreboard with a sacrifice fly from designated hitter Grant Santangelo in the third inning. The hit was deep to right field, and Drew Winters was able to make an incredible diving grab to prevent a possibility of three runs scoring with the bases loaded at the time. A fly out on Cayden Shaver ended the inning and the Knights left the inning only being down one.

West Palm Beach evened the score in the bottom third as a 4–3 putout on Tyler Heckert allowed Ramil to run home coming from third base.

The score then remained at a stalemate for the next two innings as Bega and Walker continued their strong outings. But everything changed once both pitchers were done for the day.

Kendall Kendrick made his fourth appearance of the season for Boca Raton as he entered in the sixth, but only lasted one inning as West Palm Beach was able to make their surge. After Kendrick walked Andres Paret and hit Tyler Heckert with a pitch, a single from Tyler Cox was able to load the bases. The Knights then took the lead as Andrew Eppinger was walked with four straight balls thrown. In the following at bat, Drew Winters was also walked, allowing another run to score for West Palm Beach with the bases still being loaded. Second baseman Willie Ponce then gave all the momentum to the Knights as he hit a huge RBI triple to score Cox, Eppinger, and Winters and ballooned the lead to 6–0.

A pitching change was then made as Bodey Ellis subbed in for Bryson Walker to start the seventh. And just how the game changed for the Knights with a pitching change, the same happened for the Blazers as they had their best inning of the game. The bases were loaded for the Blazers, and they were able to score the same way they did with their first run: a sacrifice fly, as Billy Wurch was able to bring home Shaver and make the score 6–2. A walk on Ben Maiers was able to keep the bases loaded for Boca Raton and put the Knights in an uncomfortable position. The Blazers didn’t let the opportunity go to waste, as Will Pitt hit an RBI double to score Matt Menendez and Ryan Nutley and once a 6–0 lead one inning ago was now a 6–4 lead and a whole new ballgame. Boca Raton still had two runners in scoring position, but a 5–3 putout on Portes was able to get the Knights out of the inning.

West Palm Beach had a chance to respond with Paret on third base and Heckert on second after stealing a base, but a strikeout on Eppinger kept the Blazers in striking distance as the game headed into the eighth.

After an explosive inning prior, Boca Raton was held in check as they only had one runner on base with a walk on Shaver from pitcher Frank Reynolds who subbed in for Ellis. Excluding the walk, the Knights were able to end the inning quick with a 4–3 putout on Jack Clarke, and a putout on Santangelo and Jake Alfaro.

Not a lot happened for the Knights either as they were also held scoreless. But a highlight of the inning was Ponce adding on another triple to his fantastic day as he finished with three RBI’s and two triples.

West Palm Beach sent out their usual closer Hunter Kloke to finish the game, and he was able to show why he’s the go-to reliever for this team. Kloke recorded a swinging strikeout on Menendez for out number one, a fly out to right field on Nutley then followed, and the game was sealed after a second strikeout for Kloke on Billy Wurch.

Pitching:

Bodey Ellis earned the win for the Knights, while Kloke picked up his third save of the season. Kendrick was given the loss for Boca Raton.

Up Next:

The Knights will have a doubleheader at home on Saturday against the Delray Beach Lightning (12–5). The first game will begin at 10:00 AM, with game two scheduled at 1:30 PM.