Venice Takes Down Calvary Christian Backed by Jacob Faulkner
February 29, 2020
Venice, FL - Friday night featured a matchup between two teams in the Top 10 of our Power25 rankings. No. 5 Venice took on No. 7 Calvary Christian (Clearwater). It was a pitcher’s duel early between 2020 Princeton commit Jacob Faulkner for Venice, and 2021 USF commit Jack Cebert for Calvary. Faulkner was dominant as he only allowed one hit in six innings pitched. He works from a sidearm slot with plenty of run on the fastball, and an effective sweeping slider that was getting swings and misses all game long. He would finish with six shutout innings and seven strikeouts.
2020 #Princeton commit Jacob Faulkner has thrown 4 shutout innings of his own with 5 Ks. Getting plenty of swings and misses from the sidearm slot. He has been very effective with a sweeping slider 65-67. @VHS__Baseball pic.twitter.com/3Ry8dgt2Xy
— PBR Florida (@PBRFlorida) February 29, 2020
For Calvary, Jack Cebert was working 83-86 mph with his fastball and added a slow, above average curveball. He was sharp early with three shutout innings and four strikeouts to start the game, but things unraveled in the 4th.
2021 #USF commit Jack Cebert has come out strong to start the game for @Calvary_BB. 4 Ks through two against a talented lineup. Loose arm sitting 83-86. Mixing in a slow, above average CB at 64-68. pic.twitter.com/7h18UpvPdD
— PBR Florida (@PBRFlorida) February 29, 2020
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 4th when Venice struck together five runs. It started with a successful suicide squeeze bunt from 2022 Marek Houston. 2021 Florida commit Michael Robertson followed that up a few batters later with a 2-RBI single. Robertson reached base multiple times in the game and was a force on the basepaths. Venice would go up 5-0 after a big 4th.
2021 #Florida commit Michael Robertson pokes this one up the middle for a two-run single to extend the @VHS__Baseball lead to 3-0 pic.twitter.com/3qpd5uVVYb
— PBR Florida (@PBRFlorida) February 29, 2020
Calvary brought in 2021 USF commit Tyler Dietz in relief and he was electric. He has made a significant jump with his fastball up to 93 mph. He was 90 mph when we last saw him this summer. He also showed confidence and feel for his slider.
2021 #USF commit Tyler Dietz has made a significant jump since the summer. Fastball up to 93 mph with confidence and feel for the slider. @Calvary_BB @ShooterHunt pic.twitter.com/qznaeFHg1I
— PBR Florida (@PBRFlorida) February 29, 2020
Faulkner had a no-hitter going through 5 ⅔ innings until 2021 NC State commit Tommy White broke that up. Calvary was able to string together some offense in the 7th, but it wasn’t enough as Venice would take this one 6-2.