Bulls, South Fork renew rivalry Friday

Published May 2nd, 2008

By Mario Sarmento
SPORTS EDITOR

The last time West Boca Raton and South Fork played a baseball game, Bulldogs coach Mike Harper said his team had finally gotten the monkey off their backs.

The Bulldogs got their first-ever win over West Boca Raton in a thrilling 3-2 win at West Boca that gave South Fork the district title.

The two teams will face each other in the rematch Friday night at 7 p.m. at South Fork.

As for lessons learned from their last encounter, which was decided after Bulldogs right fielder Nick Zaharion threw out Bulls runner Cody Emerson at the plate in a disputed play, West Boca coach Brian Joros said nothing was gained from the loss.

“We already knew they were a good team,” he said.

“We’ve played each other so many times the last few years. They pitch to our weaknesses and we pitch to theirs.”

It doesn’t even matter to the Bulls that they will play this game in the unfriendly confines of the South Fork campus.

“We beat them there the last time we played there,” Joros said.

West Boca has already won once on the road this postseason, defeating Sebastian River 4-2 in nine innings Tuesday behind another great start by Brian Busch, who upped his season record to 8-1 after striking out 10 batters.

Busch even had one of his best days at the plate with a 4-for-5 performance.

As far as where that all-around effort ranked with the rest of his outings this season, Joros said, “that would be impossible because that’s every time he’s out there. It would be an injustice to say that with the other 20 times he’s done well.”

Joros hasn’t yet decided on a starter, but he said he has four options, including Jay Whalen and Dusty Albanese, who both struggled with their control in the early innings against South Fork last week.

But Joros said those performances won’t carry much weight in his decision because, “That’s never been a problem in the past.”

West Boca’s main advantage will be playoff experience and the fact they’re battle tested.

The Bulls always seem to play in these types of high pressure, low-scoring contests, and Joros thinks it’s hardened them for playoff competition.