Knights suffer heartbreaking defeat to Palm Beach Xtreme

This will be a game the West Palm Beach Knights will look back on as a missed opportunity. In a closely contested game where the margin for error becomes smaller than ever, a fatal mistake ended up costing West Palm. As a wild pitch thrown by Jacob Odle in the final inning allowed the Palm Beach Xtreme to score the winning run and defeat the Knights 5–4.

The Knights started off strong. After Townson Ellis stole second base, left fielder Andrew Eppinger stepped up to the plate in the team’s third at bat and hit an RBI double to score Ellis and put the Knights up 1–0 in the top of the first.

But Palm Beach came with a response, as a two-run homer from third baseman Orlando Borroto gave Xtreme a 2–1 lead. The home run was huge, as West Palm forced two outs before Borroto’s homer.

It took until the fourth inning for West Palm to respond. Eppinger continued his strong game as he hit a ground ball single to advance Drew Winters to third base. Then a wild pitch from Keegan Rich allowed West Palm to even the score. The Knights then regained the lead after a sacrifice fly from third baseman Juhlien Gonzalez allowed Eppinger to slide home.

Xtreme then followed up with their own sacrifice fly set up by a sacrificed bunt from Nick Garagozzo to allow Borroto and Evan Ames to advance to scoring position. The sac fly was then made by Chase Ashby and Borroto crossed home plate for the second time today after his early home run. The game was now tied at 3 as the fifth inning was set to begin.

The fifth didn’t start off well for West Palm, as their first two at bats were strikeouts. But a double on a line drive from Winters followed by Eppinger being walked gave the Knights life. Both Eppinger and Winters then went to steal bases, and it lead to catcher Dominick Mirlocca overthrowing to second base. Winters was able to capitalize and get to home plate to give West Palm a 4–3 lead.

Errors were then exchanged. In the bottom of the sixth, as Palm Beach’s Asher Akridge attempted to steal second base, Knights catcher Chris Mariani’s throw was too strong as it went to centerfield, Akridge then ran to third base and the throw to third base by center fielder Townson Ellis got away from third base. Akridge went home unchallenged and scored the tying run.

The Knights had a quick seventh inning, as three at bats resulted in three outs. West Palm then needed to hold Xtreme scoreless to extend the game, but a costly error doomed the team. Before the brutal finish, West Palm thought they had two outs. As Chase Ashby went to steal second base, the home umpire ruled Ashby out after the throw from Mariani. The call was then overturned and Ashby remained safe in scoring position. The dagger for West Palm came after a wild pitch from Jacob Olde, which led to Ashby scoring and winning the game for Xtreme.

For pitching, Tyler Ramage started for the Knights and Keegan Rich began the game for Xtreme. Ramage pitched four innings and allowed three runs while recording three strikeouts. Rich allowed three runs and threw five strikeouts in 3.2 innings. Both pitchers were then replaced, as Chad Allen subbed for Ramage, and Colby Stabile took Rich’s place. In two innings, Allen recorded one strikeout and one earned run, while Stabile had three strikeouts and zero earned runs in 2.1 innings pitched. West Palm then closed with Jacob Odle, who ended up taking the loss. In the final inning Odle had one strikeout and one earned run. Jonathan Xuereb was the final pitcher for Xtreme, and picked up the win, throwing two strikeouts while allowing no runs.

Both teams were originally scheduled for a doubleheader, but due to lightning, the second game was canceled.

Up next for the Knights will be a double header on the road at Harry Gribbon field against the Boynton Beach Buccaneers. Game 1 will begin at 4:00 PM, and game 2 will be at 7:00 PM.