By Mike Maerz
Director of Florida Operations/Area Scout

Follow @PBRFlorida

In a highly anticipated district matchup between the visiting Plant Panthers and the Steinbrenner Warriors, the Panthers came away with a 6-1 victory behind strong pitching performances from 2017 RHP Ethan Richards and 2018 LHP Connor Scott. 2018 1B Chase Sanguinetti paced the Panthers’ offense throughout the night, as he went 3-for-4 with two doubles, three RBIs, and two runs scored. With the win the Panthers not only moved to 6-1 on the year, but ended the Warriors’ undefeated start to the season.

 Richards started and worked efficiently throughout his appearance, inducing five groundouts and three fly outs while striking out four of the 16 batters he faced. The Air Force recruit has gotten noticeably stronger and taller over the past several months, showing a 90-92 mph fastball, touching 93 early, along with a 77-79 mph curveball that showed good shape. Richards exited after four innings allowing only two hits and no runs.

Coming in for relief of Richards in the fifth was Scott, who would only make one mistake in his three innings on the mound. He gave up a solo home run, but struck out six. The Florida recruit displayed a fastball that mostly sat 85-88 mph, but hit 89 a few times and touched 90 once along with a 74-76 mph slider that showed hard bite and depth. Scott also went 1-for-3 at the plate where he doubled and scored twice.

Sanguinetti had himself a night at the plate as he came up key for the Panthers with runners in scoring position during critical points in the game. The Florida State recruit was aggressive in the box and showed the ability to drive the ball deep into the right-center field gap and up the middle with authority, including two of his hits coming off Warriors starter 2017 RHP CJ Van Eyk. The Panthers also received production from 2017 OF AJ Hubbard who went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored along with 2018 3B Brock Fagler who went 2-for-4 with an RBI and 2017 C Zach Koch who went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

For the Warriors, Van Eyk started and struck out eight during his five innings on the mound, but would be dealt with the loss as he gave up eight hits and allowed five runs in his five innings of work. The Florida State recruit sat 92-94 mph with his fastball early, settling in at 91-93 the rest of the way to go with a 75-79 mph curveball that showed depth and shape. He also mixed in an 81-82 mph change up. 2017 MIF Anthony Cassos got the Warriors on the board in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run over the left field wall.

With the win, the Plant Panthers moved to 6-1 on the year and are scheduled to take on Robinson HS Thursday at 7 p.m. while the 6-1 Steinbrenner Warriors will look to rebound from their loss when they go up against Hillsborough HS Thursday night at 7 p.m.

Stats

Plant
E Richards: (W) 4 IP, 4 Ks, 2 Hs, 0 R
C. Scott: 3 IP, 6 Ks, 1 H, 1 R and 1-3, 2B, 2 Rs
C. Sanguinetti: 3-4, 2 2Bs, 3 RBIs, 2 Rs
AJ Hubbard: 2-4, 2B, R
Z. Koch: 2-3, RBI
B. Fagler: 2-4, RBI

Steinbrenner
CJ Van Eyk: (L) 5 IP, 8 Ks, 5 Rs, 8 Hs
A. Cassos: 2-3, HR, RBI, R

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