A Bright New Day: Pine Crest Wins Opener

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Opening Day of the baseball season can bring many different emotions. For some, it can be the start of a great career. For others, it can be the continuation of a good thing. The Pine Crest baseball team experienced both on Monday afternoon as they defeated Pope John Paul 5-1 in the 2014 opener for both teams.

Freshman Jordan Schulefand woke up Monday morning knowing he would be playing left field and hitting ninth for the Panthers. That is enough pressure for any freshman to wilt under. Instead, Schulefand announced his presence on the Panthers scene by electrifying the visiting crowd with a two-run home run in his first high school at-bat.

“I was excited going up there in the first at-bat,” said Schulefand. “I knew I was going to take the first pitch. After that, I was able to work the count. When he threw me a 3-2 fastball, I was able to just throw my hands at it, and it happened to go out.”

The freshman then followed that up with a single and a stolen base in his second at-bat. On the day, Schulefand finished 2-for-3, with two RBIs, two runs, and a stolen base. His performance was not surprising to his manager.

“That’s the kind of kid he is,” said Panthers Manager Ryan Shealy. “To be honest, that’s why he’s on our varsity team. He’s the kind of kid who’s very confident in his abilities. He certainly has a bright future ahead of him and we’re excited about him.”

For Shealy, it was also a game of new beginnings. The Panthers manager had been an assistant under former Manager Glen Pierson for several years before taking over the reins in 2014.

While Schulefand was providing the offense for Pine Crest, it was Garret Rukes that provided the mound-work. Rukes started slowly, as typical lefties do, giving up three hits in the first inning. The Panthers southpaw was able to wiggle out of the jam, only giving up one run. From there, Rukes settled in, allowing only two more hits on the day.

“I think a little bit of that,” said Rukes, when asked whether the first inning was a result of first game jitters. “I didn’t have my best stuff today. After I got out of that first inning, I just changed my approach to focusing on getting the next guy out, and I was able to settle in there a little bit.”

Rukes was not the only Panthers pitcher to shine on this day. Adam Saks was summoned to the hill in the fifth after Chris Graffeo and Stephen Gogreve worked two-out walks. Saks retired the side when Josh Parker hit a deep fly to center. Saks then retired the final six Eagles hitters in order to notch the save.

“It’s huge,” said Shealy, referring to Saks’ performance. “We are lucky this year to have depth on the mound. We have a strong staff, and we used two of our better ones today.”

It was a frustrating day for Pope, who came into this season knowing they would be facing some of the top teams in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Manager Pete Graffeo loaded up the schedule with traditional powerhouse teams, and knew that even in defeat, the eagles would grow with games like this.

“This year we set up a real difficult schedule because we wanted to work on really keeping our focus from game to game,” said Graffeo. “There’s no spots on our schedule where we are just going to be able to cruise. Was I happy with the result today? No. But I saw some good things. We hit some balls hard, and did some other things well. So this is just the start of the journey. The goal is to be ready and tested at the end of the year.”

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