BOCA RATON – Matt Pagan hadn’t seen the baseball field in two days.
He hadn’t seen much of anything besides his bedroom. He’d been ill, and head coach Jerry Albert wasn’t going to pitch him – not until Pagan’s text the night before.
“He sent me a message last night saying, ‘I’m good for tomorrow,’” Albert said. “He came in today and said, ‘I want the game. I feel it.’ And I said, ‘alright, you’ve earned it.’ He’s earned that opportunity because he’s come out and done it. He goes out and does it every time.”
High Heat:An essential guide to Palm Beach County high school baseball
Later that night, the rain held off until just after the final whistle, but the wind had no such manners in West Boca’s 7-6 win over Benjamin.
In a matchup made all the more intriguing by the elements, Matt Pagan took the mound having pitched in the wind many a time before – but usually, the wind blows in at West Boca’s stadium.
On Thursday, however, Pagan and the defense behind him had quite the adjustment to make.
It didn’t start pretty for West Boca (12-8), but it didn’t end pretty for Benjamin (11-7).
The teams committed a combined three errors in the first two innings, and how fitting, if not anticlimactic, that a 7-6 ball-game should end in favor of the Bulls due to a missed catch error in center-field.
Infielders and outfielders appeared as though they were conducting circus acts as they attempted to track down what would normally be routine fly-balls, and Pagan gave up an early home-run on a ball that carried right out of the stadium.
“Starting off the game, I wasn’t very strong,” Pagan said. “I didn’t have my best stuff. Once I gave up the home-run, I really just had to lock it in.”
West Boca backed him with two home-runs of their own, one of which probably would have been a deep flyout on any other night, and Pagan found his rhythm.
The senior ended his outing with 10 strikeouts, delivering emphatic punch-outs to end the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings before reaching his pitch count, pumping his fists and eye-balling his opposition.
“The game’s all mental,” Pagan said. They had a lot to say while I was pitching, so I really just tried to give it to them. I love ending an inning on a strikeout, just to show dominance.”
In addition to his early homer, Tyler Lichtenberger hit a two-run double with the bases loaded to help Pagan’s cause. Alan Hernandez was responsible for the other homer, his first of the year.
Ultimately, to call the game a whirlwind would be a fitting pun, but Albert is just glad the Bulls did enough to come out on top.
“Not the prettiest win in the world, but you take it,” the veteran coach said. “Go home a little bit happier because it might not have been pretty but at least we scored more runs than the other team. We’ll take it.”
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