Palm Beach County baseball digest: Park Vista star throws first no-no, Trinity rebuilds and more
Ethan Mattison had pretty much done it all in three seasons as Park Vista High's ace. Shutouts. Playoff victories. Double-digit strikeout games. A win over nationally ranked Parkland-Stoneman Douglas.
There was only one box left to check – a no-hitter.
And the senior left-hander accomplished that in his final regular-season start Tuesday night, striking out 15 in a 4-0 victory over Wellington. Mattison needed only 92 pitches to complete the seven-inning gem.
"He was unbelievable," Cobras coach Larry Greenstein said. "He's very critical of himself, but there wasn't too much to criticize tonight."
Mattison threw 22 pitches in the first inning and issued one of his two walks. After that, the Florida Gulf Coast commit was on cruise control. He struck out every batter in the lineup at least once. The Wolverines put only six balls in play. He threw only seven pitches in the seventh inning, fittingly ending the game with a strikeout.
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"We faced a really talented pitcher who was starting to get into playoff mode, and he wasn't messing around," Wellington coach Scott Riddle said. "He just said, 'Here's my fastball. I'm going to throw it down the middle and you're not going to hit it.' And that's what happened."
Mattison came close to a no-hitter earlier this season, taking a perfect game into the seventh against Palm Beach Gardens.
What followed was one of the wildest and most bizarre innings of the season. Mattison started it with his 13th strikeout of the game, but the ball got away from the catcher and the batter reached first. After Luke Hogue singled to break up the no-hitter, Mattison committed a two-base throwing error and the Gators wound up scoring four unearned runs. Hogue homered off reliever Taro Pustilnik in the eighth to give Gardens a 6-4 victory.
In his next start, Mattison threw seven shutout innings and struck out 14 but got another no-decision, with Park Vista defeating Port Charlotte 1-0 in eight innings.
In nine starts this season, Mattison's numbers are otherworldly: 6-0, 0.41 ERA, 101 strikeouts. In 51 innings, he has given up 27 hits, nine runs (three earned) and 19 walks. And now he's thrown a no-hitter.
"I'm glad I got to see that before he leaves," Greenstein said. "He's been our guy for three years now."
Trinity bounces back
Trinity Christian has dominated Class 2A in Palm Beach County for years, winning state titles in 2016 and 2017 and making deep playoff runs most other years.
So when the Warriors started the season 1-8, it raised eyebrows across the county.
"This is my 20th year here and it's the first time I've had to rebuild," coach Miguel Cuello said. "When you rebuild, you know you're going to take some hits."
Cuello lost nine seniors off last year's team, including four-year starter Ariel Antigua, now at Tennessee. A couple of other players transferred. That left Cuello with two eighth-graders, Alec Cabrera and Mason Ryder, starting in the infield and a freshman, Peyton Warner, leading the pitching staff.
For the first half of the season, the results were predictable. But the Warriors have surged in the second half, ending the regular season last week with a 6-0 win over Class 6A power Dwyer and a 23-2 rout of district rival Boca Raton Christian.
Warner and sophomore Daniel Cabrera combined on a two-hitter, striking out nine, to hand Dwyer its first shutout loss of the season. Cuello said the pitchers were "a little down" about not facing the Panthers' best hitters, who sat out the final regular-season game.
At age 15, Warner is throwing in the mid-80s and leading the team in ERA (1.45), innings (38 2/3) and strikeouts (46). At 14, Alec Cabrera leads in batting average (.338) and RBIs (16). "I knew he was going to hit, but not like that," Cuello said.
And after playing a daunting schedule that included Calvary Christian, Cardinal Newman, North Broward Prep and Doral Academy, the Warriors (8-12) are the top seed in District 14-2A and peaking for the playoffs.
"Now people are saying, 'This is the Trinity team that we know,'" Cuello said.
36-0 – and it wasn't football
Glades Day coach Rene Leon didn't feel much like celebrating after last week's victory over Pahokee.
"They weren't making any outs," Leon said, trying to explain how his team managed to beat the winless Blue Devils 36-0 in three innings. "We stopped stealing after we got up 10 runs. We weren't going on wild pitches. After a while, I told my kids to stop at first base on any hit."
And still the runs kept coming. Pahokee's starter threw 79 pitches and didn't get out of the first inning. Glades Day hit four home runs – two by Blake Barnes and one each by Marquis Clarke and Jadin Herrera – on a smaller-than-normal field. The Blue Devils walked 10 batters, made five errors and managed only one hit.
"I wish it didn't happen," Leon said.
The Gators now turn their attention to the playoffs. They compete in Class 1A, the state's designation for rural schools, most of which are in North Florida. As the No. 2 seed in District 8, Glades Day will host Bronson on Tuesday, setting up a likely rematch against Williston for the championship.
Williston (7-18) edged out Glades Day (14-7) for the district's top seed in the last week of the MaxPreps/FHSAA rankings, with the Red Devils' strength of schedule trumping the Gators' superior record. That means Glades Day will have to take a 4 1/2-hour bus ride on Thursday if both teams advance to the final.
Leon hopes the memory of losing to the Red Devils in last year's title game will motivate the Gators. He plans to have his top three pitchers – Gray Redish, Herrera and Clarke – rested and ready to go.
The coach hasn't had a chance to scout Williston or any of his far-flung district opponents, but he doesn't see that as a disadvantage.
"I look at it as even," Leon said. "We don't know what they have, but they don't know what we have."
Glaring omission
Last week's Baseball Digest reported that American Heritage-Delray coach Carm Mazza won his 500th career game, joining one other active Palm Beach County coach (Cardinal Newman's Joe Russo) in the 500 club.
Actually, he joined two others in the club. Park Vista's Larry Greenstein, in fact, has won more games than either Russo or Mazza. The current totals: Greenstein 597, Russo 582, Mazza 504.
Week 10 standouts
Kaden Bartlett and Zach Stefan, Boca Raton: Combined to pitch 11 shutout innings, giving up four hits and striking out 14, in a 1-0 victory over Suncoast.
Chase Ceppo, King's Academy: Pitched a complete-game three-hitter with 12 strikeouts in a 1-0 victory over St. Andrew's.
Emery Coleman, St. Andrew's: Pitched seven shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out nine, in a 1-0 extra-inning loss to St. John Paul II.
Victor Garcia-Gosling, John I. Leonard: Went 7-for-12 with a double, two triples and four RBIs as the Lancers went 3-0.
Gabe Graulau, Jupiter: Went 5-for-6 with two doubles and five RBIs in victories over Benjamin and Martin County; also pitched two scoreless innings against Benjamin.
Roman Zabala, Spanish River: Went 7-for-11, scored three runs and drove in a run as the Sharks went 2-1.
Rick Robb's Final Top 10
1. Cardinal Newman (19-5-1)
2. Jupiter (18-7)
3. Dwyer (17-6-1)
4. Boca Raton (18-7)
5. Suncoast (19-6)
6. Park Vista (14-11)
7. West Boca Raton (14-11)
8. Benjamin (14-9)
9. American Heritage-Delray (14-10)
10. Santaluces (15-10)
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Baseball digest: Ethan Mattison's no-no, Trinity Christian's rebuild
