P.K. Yonge Baseball Outlasts Interlachen in Thriller

P.K. Yonge Blue Wave Baseball showed out in its first home game of the season Tuesday to defeat Interlachen, 6-5. 

The Blue Wave debuted their walk-up songs, earning a few chuckles from the crowd and finally felt comfortable fielding balls on their grass infield despite the cold weather conditions.

Interlachen’s record (1-2) didn’t exactly scream intimidating coming into the game, but the Blue Wave knew they had their hands full with a Rams team coming off a 10-0 shutout win against Crescent City. 

The Blue Wave (4-2) surged in the first two innings. Starting pitcher Matt Knott looked untouchable by sitting down the Rams six up and six down through two.  

A wild pitch allowed in a run in the first following a double by Cooper Schackow and P.K. Yonge took advantage of poor fielding to load the bases in the second.

Then the game broke open. Sophomore shortstop Colt Kramer blasted a ball to deep center for a three-RBI double. As the second ended with a 4-0 P.K. lead, it looked like Interlachen was already packing its bags for the 40-minute drive home. 

“I knew I just wanted to drive the guys in,” Kramer said. “We needed to get that lead.”

But it’s baseball, and one bad inning can ruin an outing. Walks, errors, hit by pitch and a grounder sneaking up the middle were all the scenes in just the top of the third inning to bring in three Interlachen runs. Knott, even after a dominant start, was pulled from the game and sophomore Nico Wheeler saved the inning with a strikeout. 

Wheeler was pulled in the sixth after giving up two runs, but not after gaining the respect of fans, teammates and coaches. Wheeler (1-0) didn’t just go out there in the third with the bases loaded, he was battling an injury suffered in the 17-0 win at Eastside on Feb. 17. 

“This was his first game back,” P.K. Yonge  coach Rob Brunson said. “I wasn’t even really going to play him tonight.” 

A valiant effort by the reliever/starting outfielder to manage the game and prevent a bases-loaded disaster was the difference in the game. 

The Blue Wave’s youth showed throughout the night as errors on pickoff plays and simple routine throws brought the score to 5-5 in the top of the fifth. 

The Interlachen JV team, fresh off a loss earlier to the Blue Wave team, screamed in the stands to drown out the home crowd. They did anything to throw off P.K.’s batters and pitchers as the lead quickly slipped away. 

P.K. Yonge regained the lead after Kramer walked to open the fifth, advanced to third on two wild pitches and scored after a single by Tyler Belleville brought the score to 6-5. 

For the Interlachen crowd, one could hear a pin drop after Sam DePaul took the mound in the sixth. The last two innings were a flash of dominance for the sophomore righty: double play, strikeout, strikeout, strikeout and, guess what, another strikeout. DePaul turned, flexed and celebrated as he clinched the nail-biting win for the Blue Wave. 

“He’s hard to hit,” Brunson said. “He hits his spots and keeps the ball down.” 

DePaul, who earned his first save of the season, was fired up by the visiting fan noise.

“Chirping in the stands kind of riled me up a bit,” DePaul said. “I was thinking strike them out every pitch, I knew they couldn’t touch me.” 

Brunson said DePaul is typically the starter for the Blue Wave, and wanted to keep him under 20 pitches so he could start in the next home game Friday. DePaul’s leadership from the mound speaks to how P.K. Yonge’s youth can command a game. 

“The future’s looking bright,” Kramer said. “This year, next year and even the year after that the team is looking great. We have some leaders that are young players like me and Sam.” 

Give credit to Interlachen senior pitcher Cason Turner, who went the distance, only allowing only two earned runs and striking out seven. As the batting order went on for P.K., almost nobody could touch Turner’s pitches, with only one hit of the five coming from outside the first three batters. 

P.K. Yonge heads south to face Crescent City (2-5) on Thursday night at 7 hoping to replicate Interlachen’s shutout win against the Raiders.

Category: High School Sports, PK Yonge High School