Westminster Academy Overpowers Oxbridge Academy

The Westminster Academy Lions hosted the Oxbridge Academy Thunderwolves on Friday evening. Under the lights at the DeVos Family Baseball Complex, the Lions dominated play and sent the Thunderwolves home on the short end of a 13-1 game.

After taking a big lead in the middle innings, Westminster Academy (8-2, 4-0 District 3A-14) batted around and parlayed seven singles and also a double by Warienus into a seven-run fourth inning to put things away.

Westminster used dominating pitching and two big innings to power past Oxbridge Academy (5-4, 3-2). Senior right-handed pitcher Trace Norkus was the star of the game. Norkus, who has signed on to play for the University of North Florida next year, had complete control on the mound. Mixing fastballs, sliders and change ups, Norkus kept the Thunderwolves’ batters at bay, striking out twelve in the five innings pitched.

“Everybody is hot right now, and our pitching, you saw Trace tonight,” senior Thomas Messer beamed after the game. “He had twelve strikeouts in five innings. He was huge.”

Westminster backed up Norkus’ excellent pitching by being relentless at the plate in the second and fourth innings. After spotting Oxbridge a run in the first inning, the Lions used timely hitting, some miscues by Oxbridge, and aggressive base running to push six runs across the plate in the second.

Norkus led off the inning by getting on with an infield error. With Luis Leal running for Norkus, Messer took the first pitch he saw and lofted it over the left fielder’s head to the base of the wall for an RBI double, as Leal raced all the way from first to score the Lions’ first run. From there the flood gates opened. Oxbridge pitcher, Zach Chivers, got freshman Zach Goberville on a strikeout, but the ball got away from the catcher and Goberville wound up on first and Messer on third. Westminster followed with a bunt-RBI base hit by Nick Gauntner. Shortstop Jake Dudas added an RBI single to center and the ninth hitter of the inning, Corey Acton, knocked in the sixth run with a shot to center.

“We wanted to go after the first good pitch to hit,” Westminster Manager Nick James explained. “They had a nice left-hander on the mound. He throws a good breaking ball.”

After the big second inning, James was more than happy to get the ball back in Trace Norkus’ hand. Norkus stuck three batters out in the third and followed that up with three more in the fourth.

“Trace and I work with each other a lot. He was comfortable out there and it showed,” Zach Warienus said. “He had his stuff. He hit his spots and he did not miss much.”

On the heels of signing his college future, Norkus followed it up with a special prformance.

“He’s a great competitor. He’ll be pitching there next year at UNF and they will see that they have a great one with him on the mound.” James said. “Trace has really stepped up this year. He worked hard in the offseason and has become a leader on our staff. He stepped up tonight with a great game.”

James also had some praise for catcher Zach Warienus.

“Zach is a blue-collar kid, a blue-collar player,” James said. “He works hard everyday. He does everything the right way on and off the field. His teammates trust him, the coaching staff trusts him.”

It was a complete game for Westminster Academy. Along with Norkus’ work on the mound, Nick Gauntner contributed with two hits and two RBIs and Jake Dudas chipped in for two hits and an RBI. They also received great production from Thomas Messer, with two hits, two runs and three RBIs.

“Thomas Messer has been with us since the seventh grade. He has seen a great deal of baseball,” James said. “His time has come. He had some good opportunities last year and he has step right in this year without missing a beat. He has a great approach and a good demeanor. He has done a great job thus far this year.”

With a good start for the 2015 season and his players gelling as a cohesive unit, James may enjoy a few more days like Friday in the future.

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