Knights score season-high 14 runs in victory over Clippers

The West Palm Beach Knights (13–14) had their best offensive outing of the season Friday morning, as they defeated the Pompano Beach Clippers (17–15) 14–4, resulting in a mercy rule and the game ending in the eighth inning.

Pompano Beach scored first with an RBI single from Isaiah Corry, the Knights then responded with seven unanswered runs over the first two innings to take a commanding 7–1 lead going into the third.

The onslaught started with an RBI double from Andrew Eppinger to score Drew Winters and Danny Baez. Juhlien Gonzalez then made his way to the plate, and after one ball, Gonzalez hit a two-run homer off of Clippers starting pitcher Chris Mattioli to increase the lead to 4–1 for West Palm Beach.

The Knights were then able to follow up a four-run second inning with three runs in the third. West Palm Beach struggled with scoring over the last two games as they combined for only four runs, but Friday’s game was a different story.

Defense was also crucial, as the Clippers were held scoreless until the sixth inning as an error brought home Carmine Petosa. But with every run that chipped the lead down, the Knights were able to respond in convincing fashion.

After two runs in the sixth and seventh were scored by Pompano Beach, the Knights came back with four runs in the seventh inning and two more in the eighth to put the lead at 10 and trigger the mercy rule.

Standout players and game notes:

Dominik Ramil had a very strong outing, as he finished with three hits in five at bats and lead the team in RBI’s with four. Andrew Eppinger and Juhlien Gonzalez were tied in second for most RBI’s in the game with three, as Gonzalez scored had two of his runs score with a dinger in the bottom second. West Palm Beach was also active with their bats, as they had 13 hits and 14 RBI’s.

Pitching:

For the Knights, Tyler Ramage improved his record to 3–1 on the year as he pitched all the strikeouts for West Palm Beach with six. Chris Mattioli had an opposite outing in his first loss, as Mattioli only lasted three innings and gave up seven earned runs and hits in that stretch.

Up Next:

The Knights will have a doubleheader at home versus the Phipps Park Barracudas (9–14). The last time these two teams met was Opening Day, resulting in a 6–2 victory for Phipps Park. Game one will begin at 10:00 AM, with the following game scheduled to start at 1:00 PM.