Thrush dominant with two-hit shutout against West Boca as Dwyer advances to 6A baseball final four

Dwyer senior pitcher Dawson Thrush tossed a two-hit shutout and senior infielder Bryce Jackson homered to lift the host Panthers past West Boca 3-0 in a Class 6A regional final on Monday night.

Dwyer (21-7-1) advances to a Class 6A state semifinal in Fort Myers on Thursday. Dwyer had previously reached the state final four in 2021. They fell in the regional final in 2022 and 2023.

Dwyer avenged a 7-4 loss to West Boca in the district championship contest from earlier in the month.

Thrush, an Air Force signee, allowed three walks and had two strikeouts.

“It’s the best feeling ever,” Thrush said. “We have been so close the last few years. It feels great to have one of my best games.”

Thrush also pitched a complete game and hit a home run in a 4-1 regional semifinal victory against West Boca last season.

“Dawson has been one of the driving factors of the whole team from his leadership to his baseball skills,” Dwyer coach Jordan Yamamoto said. “He has been keeping our guys on track and focused. When his name is called, he goes up there and he is clutch.”

The Panthers opened the scoring in the bottom of the first as Jackson ripped a solo home run to right-center.

Jackson, a University of South Florida signee who primarily plays third base, started at shortstop with Thrush on the mound.

“It’s been amazing and it’s no better feeling,” Jackson said. “I love our team and we have worked so hard everyday in practice to get where we needed to be.”

Dwyer pushed across two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.  Sophomore left fielder Dom Pecoraro hit a bouncer off the first-base bag and into right field for an RBI single to score senior first baseman Trevor Majer to make it 2-0. Junior catcher Max Abrams had an RBI single to left to extend the lead to 3-0.

West Boca (18-12) stranded runners at first and second in the top of the fourth inning on a flyout to right field in foul territory.

The Bulls also stranded a runner at second in the top of the sixth on a groundout to first.

West Boca senior pitcher James Litman, an FAU commit, tossed six innings and allowed four hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

West Boca senior shortstop Tyler Lichtenberger, an Appalachian State commit, recorded a single and stolen base in the loss.

Yamamoto, who is in his first season at Dwyer, was a former major league pitcher for the Miami Marlins and New York Mets.

“These boys have worked on getting better since the offseason and came together as a team,” Yamamoto said. “They have been waiting to do this for awhile. I am just proud of them. I’ll put my boys up against anyone in the state with how we play, battle and fight.”

West Boca defeated St. Thomas Aquinas 4-3 in the regional quarterfinal and cruised past South Broward 9-0 to advance to the regional final.

Dwyer defeated Martin County 8-3 in the opening round of the playoffs and rolled past Southwest 11-4 in the regional semifinal.