- December 26, 2024
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Flagler Palm Coast’s baseball team captured its sixth win of the season when the Bulldogs beat Seabreeze 9-8 the night of Thursday, March 12, at FPC High School.
The Bulldogs built an early lead behind clutch hitting and solid pitching from starting right-hander Aedan Celestino, who struck out 10 batters against the Sandcrabs.
“Let’s just say my pitches were working,” Celestino said with a smile after the game.
The Bulldogs’ recorded 11 hits and 7 RBIs against the Sandcrabs. FPC’s Joseph Alvarado, Ben Spiller and Christian Diaz had two hits each, and Matt Arnold went 1-for-3 from the plate and had 2 RBIs.
"If we clean up our game, we’ll be a really good baseball team this year."
AEDAN CELESTINO, Bulldogs pitcher
Regardless, some of the Bulldogs’ coaches were not happy with home the game transpired.
The Bulldogs fell behind early after the Sandcrabs scored two runs in the first inning. The Bulldogs didn’t get on the board until they scored one run in the second inning.
FPC took control by scoring eight runs over the next three periods.
After a scoreless sixth frame, Seabreeze’s Devon Spicer stepped up to bat. On the second pitch of the side, Spicer drilled a shot over the center field wall for a solo home run. That sparked an offensive outburst for the Sandcrabs, who scored four runs in the inning.
The Sandcrabs had the tying run on first base and the potential game-winning run at the plate in Jordan Ackerman. Alvarado, who pitched one inning for FPC, struck Ackerman out swinging.
“We’ve shown that even though we’re down, we have the ability to stay in the game,” said FPC head coach Anthony Campanella, who coached Seabreeze baseball for 24 years before retiring in 2017. “But we’re just not playing our greatest baseball. Yes, we’re 6-1, and that’s a great record for us and I think that we’re building a lot of confidence. But we still need to play basic, fundamental baseball. We’re losing our mental focus at times. That’s something that we’ve got to work on.”
To a degree, some of the players see the Bulldogs success, despite their struggles, as a positive.
“It just shows our potential,” Celestino said.
The Bulldogs believe they have more left in the tank.
“I genuinely believe that,” Arnold said. “We’ve got a lot more.”