District baseball: King’s Academy almost denies Benjamin trip to championship at Newman

PALM BEACH GARDENS — The arms were hot and the bats were not at Benjamin's Jacobs Field on Wednesday.

Now, the Buccaneers (15-9) are returning to district finals after walking off King's Academy in a 1-0 thriller.

But the reigning district champions almost didn't survive to make the trip to rival Cardinal Newman.

Here are three takeaways from the pitching duel with an electric ending:

King's senior Tanner Barfield brings heat for Lions

King's senior pitcher Tanner Barfield set the bar high from the moment he stepped on the mound for the Lions (10-11). He struck out Benjamin senior Ben Swank, a Williams College signee, looking twice before fielding a groundout and sending his first Buccaneer back to the dugout.

"My mindset going into the game was to leave it all on the field no matter what knowing it could be one of my last high school games," Barfield said.

The Dyersburg State signee struck out five through six innings, and didn't allow a hit until Tennessee commit Griffin Miller fired off a line drive single up the middle in the bottom of the fourth.

"Early in the game I was getting most of my outs with fastballs on the corners and getting weak contact. As it got later in the game, landing my off-speed for strikes early in counts helped a lot," Barfield said. "As a team, we all play for one another so I knew the defense would have my back and make some tough plays behind me."

After Benjamin, Barfield's career ERA stands at 2.01. In his third and final year on varsity and nine appearances on the mound, he picked up thrilling wins against Boca Raton and Palm Beach Central, and notched 45 strikeouts to lead the pitching staff. Through 45 innings, he allowed 37 hits, earned 13 runs, and walked nine.

Benjamin sophomore Johnny Havlicek has a day on the hill

Barfield wasn't the only slinger who had himself a day on the hill. Sophomore Johnny Havlicek was dealing for the Bucs, tallying 65 strikes in 97 pitches to sit down nine Lions.

"On the mound, I felt like establishing the fastball was the most important to keep a rhythm going. When the fastball is on, your other pitches will follow," Havlicek said.

The lefty gave up five hits − two to King's sophomore Dominic Bretti − and the Buccaneer defense stepped up to support Havlicek's complete game performance down the stretch.

"Coming into the game, we knew their pitcher can locate very well, and we knew we would have to battle against a very well coached team in King's Academy," Havlicek said. "Playoffs is a win or go home situation and I couldn't be prouder of how our team stuck in it defensively and offensively."

Who's the freshman who sealed the trip to the district championship?

Benjamin avoided extra innings and kept its chance to defend the district thanks to an unlikely hero. A leadoff single for Miller put the man the Bucs needed on base before a passed ball and wild pitch helped him advance to third.

When freshman Brandon Owens came up to bat, it took just one foul before he straightened it up and brought Miller home.

"As a freshman, I learned to just play the game and have fun and not put a lot of pressure on myself," Owens said. "I learned to be a great teammate and be a positive contribution to the team."

Although it's Owens' first year on varsity at Benjamin, an opportunity he feels "very blessed" to have, it's not his first time getting credit for a walk-off victory.

"It's a great feeling to be able to help out the team when the game is on the line," Owens said. "I'm very happy that we could pull off a win after Johnny pitched a great game and everyone played hard."

With a rematch of last spring's championship against No. 25 in the state Newman on deck for Thursday, King's proved to be just the wakeup call that Benjamin needed. Especially since the Crusaders downed the Bucs, 6-5, in a walkoff back in March.

Havlicek knows that if Benjamin still wants to own District 11, it'll take "optimum energy from the jump."

"Without a good mutual energy within our team, nothing will happen. Our expectations for tomorrow are to win. Simple," he said.

"We always want to go into a game with a winning mindset."

Emilee Smarr is a sports reporter for the Palm Beach Post. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: District baseball: King’s almost denies Benjamin trip to championship