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John Carroll baseball fights off Jupiter Christian, Jensen Beach upset in regionals

bryan cooney, treasure coast newspapers
·4 min read

Region 4-2A

(2) John Carroll Catholic 9, (7) Jupiter Christian 7

FORT PIERCE — Staring at a four-run deficit before even getting the chance to swing the bats in Tuesday's Region 4-2A quarterfinal was far from the ideal start for John Carroll Catholic.

Fortunately, the Rams had a premier performance from one of the area's best players to dig themselves out of a hole and rescue their season.

FIU signee Tracen Cameron went 3-for-4 with a pair of two-run doubles and five RBIs at the plate and pitched a four-out save with help from his defense to secure John Carroll's 9-7 victory over Jupiter Christian at Lawnwood Stadium.

Cameron entered the game from shortstop with two outs in the sixth and after inheriting a 2-0 count and walking a batter, he gave up a single to right field off the bat of Ethan Bonocore, but John Carroll Catholic senior right fielder Matt Correa fired in a strong throw on a hop to catcher Anthony Ferraro to cut down a runner at the plate that held the Rams' lead at 8-7 to end the top of the sixth.

Cameron added his third hit of the game with an RBI single to right to give him an insurance run going into the seventh inning and struck out Gabriel Roque, who represented the tying run at the plate to end the night.

John Carroll High School reliever Tracen Cameron (center) reacts after striking out Jupiter Christian's Gabriel Roque (right) in the seventh inning, giving John Carroll the victory in their FHSAA Region 4-2ABaseball Quarterfinal at field 4 of the Bob Gladwin Baseball Complex at Lawnwood Stadium on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in Fort Pierce, John Carroll won against Jupiter Christian 9-7.

"In that situation, there's no one else that I wanted to have the ball, I wanted it," Cameron said. "Lot of confidence in myself, lot of confidence in my defense. Survive, survive, survive tonight."

The Eagles (9-13) jumped on top of John Carroll Catholic starter Colt Miller with traffic on the bases early and often. Roque had an RBI double, Andrew Seymour had an RBI single and Nolan Feyereisen had a two-run double to put Jupiter Christian out front 4-0.

Cameron cut the lead in half with his first two-run double in the bottom of the first and would give the Rams (18-10) a 5-4 lead in the second with a two-out, two-run double.

John Carroll Catholic added to their lead with an RBI single from Taggert Cameron and added a key run courtesy of a Jupiter Christian throwing error with two outs in the third inning but Jupiter Christian got a pair of runs of their own in the fourth courtesy of a two-out, two-run single from Cruise Arnold to make it 7-6.

Jupiter Christian's Cruise Arnold (10) dives for home plate after colliding with John Carroll Catholic's catcher Anthony Ferroro in the 6th inning of their FHSAA Region 4-2A Baseball Quarterfinal at field 4 of the Bob Gladwin Baseball Complex at Lawnwood Stadium on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in Fort Pierce. Arnold was ruled out on the play.
Jupiter Christian's Cruise Arnold (10) dives for home plate after colliding with John Carroll Catholic's catcher Anthony Ferroro in the 6th inning of their FHSAA Region 4-2A Baseball Quarterfinal at field 4 of the Bob Gladwin Baseball Complex at Lawnwood Stadium on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in Fort Pierce. Arnold was ruled out on the play.

Miller gave the Rams an 8-6 lead with an RBI single in the fifth but Jupiter Christian closed back within a run scoring on an error in the sixth before Correa and Cameron helped fan the flames of any further damage.

John Carroll Catholic will get a chance to play third-seed Westminster Academy for the third time this season, splitting the prior two matchups.

Cameron threw a one-hit shutout against the Lions at home back on April 19 and should get the call on the mound to try to extend the Rams' season and give them a shot at a state semifinal.

John Carroll Catholic third baseman Ryan Chapman (6) starts his slide into home plate as Jupiter Christian catcher Brandon Roberts loses the ball in the 5th inning of their FHSAA Region 4-2A Baseball Quarterfinal at field 4 of the Bob Gladwin Baseball Complex at Lawnwood Stadium on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in Fort Pierce.
John Carroll Catholic third baseman Ryan Chapman (6) starts his slide into home plate as Jupiter Christian catcher Brandon Roberts loses the ball in the 5th inning of their FHSAA Region 4-2A Baseball Quarterfinal at field 4 of the Bob Gladwin Baseball Complex at Lawnwood Stadium on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in Fort Pierce.

"We know them well, they know us well," Cameron said. "We got to get off to a better start than we did tonight, that's happened to us 3-4 times this season. It's hard to come from behind against good teams."

Region 4-4A

(6) Miami Sunset 5, (3) Jensen Beach 4

JENSEN BEACH — Struggling to cash in on opportunities all night at the plate, Jensen Beach mounted a furious seventh-inning rally but Sunset's AJ Garcia struck out Jake Figman with the tying run at second to end the season for the Falcons.

Trailing 5-1 with three outs to go with Sunset's Andres Gonzalez hitting a critical solo home run to lead off the top of the seventh, the Falcons (20-7) had three straight men reach and Kaiden Jones' two-run single with one out made it 5-3.

Ty Velardo beat out a potential game-ending double play, giving Figman a chance to tie the game but Jensen Beach stranded 11 runners for the game and drew nine walks off two Sunset pitchers.

The Falcons were the root of their own troubles as a fielding error in the second helped the Knights (15-8) score first as Jacob Diamond drove in a run on an RBI groundout.

In the fifth, another fielding error and an errant pickoff led to a run for Sunset and two wild pitches tacked on two more runs for the Knights to make it 4-0.

Dominic Donatucci's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth after the Falcons loaded the bases with nobody out put Jensen Beach on the board but the big hit with men in scoring position didn't come until too late.

Jake Breen struck out seven in 4⅓ innings and all four runs credited to him were unearned for the Falcons.

Jensen Beach's season ends after the team won 19 of their last 20 games entering Tuesday after a 1-5 start to the year.

— Gavin Cooney, Special to TCPalm

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: John Carroll baseball moves on in regionals, Jensen Beach upset