By STEVE JACKSON
The five South Shore high school baseball teams close out the regular season this week and next week. Sumner High and Riverview High open the so-called second season with Class 7A-District 7 action May 1 or 2. Lennard High and East Bay High open Class 6A-District 11 action the same dates. Opening its playoff also on May 1 or 2 is Spoto High in Class 5A-District 9.
Last week the Lennard Longhorns swept to three straight wins to climb atop the mythical leader board in the South Shore with a 12-7 record. The pickings start somewhat easier this week. The weak 2-16 Brandon Eagles traveled to Ruskin for an early week game against the Longhorns. Then the Horns have a tough finish to this week. The 14-4 Plant Panthers visit Thursday at 7 p.m. And the even tougher Sickles Gryphons, sporting an outstanding 17-2 worksheet, visit this Saturday morning at 10. Next week wraps up the regular season. On April 25 Freedom comes to Ruskin with its 5-14 record. Lennard caps the regular season at 9-10 Wharton next Thursday evening at 7.
Horns Coach Victor Martinez enjoyed clobbering rival neighbor Sumner High 12-4 to start last week. Lennard blew open a close game with a six-run top of the seventh inning. Horns senior Alex Brazer smashed a round tripper, went 2/4, two runs, two RBIs. Three other Horns had two hits: seniors Trey Miranda and Tim Mendizabal and junior Adrian Camacho. Four other Lennard batsmen also registered a hit. Lennard pitchers senior Carter Payne with 5.2 innings and junior Zack Bird with 1.1 inning took care of the pitching. The young men from Ruskin also scored two in the top of the seventh for a 5-3 victory over the Riverview High Rams in Sarasota last week. Brazer and junior Jose Smith each got a hit and drove in a pair of runs. Senior Logan Covey also contributed a hit and an RBI. Bird, freshman Talan Miranda and senior Jackson Mueller handled mound chores for Coach Martinez. Lennard made it three for the week Friday night by demolishing Manatee High in Bradenton 12-1. It was a big offensive outburst across the lineup for the Longhorns. Pacing the way were senior Joseph Rivera with 2/4 and two RBIs. Soph RJ Torres also chimed in with 2/3, two runs, three RBIs. Covey added 2/4, three runs. While the Longhorns were bashing the Hurricanes, hurlers Mueller and frosh reliever Christian Skaggs kept them at bay offensively.
The East Bay Indians finally picked a third victory by bashing Tampa Bay Tech 21-11 last Thursday. The win pushed the Indians of Coach Rowland Ruiz to 3-13. East Bay lost a heartbreaker 5-4 to Bloomingdale earlier in the week. Not even one-half of an inning was left blank by either side in the five-inning donnybrook between EB and TBT. Offensively, the Indians were paced by their sophomore hitting star Rory Beauford. Beauford knocked home seven runners on a 3/5 game with two runs and two doubles. Other Indians enjoying the slugfest were junior Andrew Gingrich with 2/3, four runs; frosh Jeffrey Diab 2/3, one run; seniors Kayleb Wright 2/3, two runs; Taurean Norman 3/5, two runs, four RBIs; and Ty Andrews 2/3, three runs, one RBI. A pair of East Bay senior pitchers, Jacob Beams and Tayton Laing, held TBT to its 10-run deficit as the Titans fell to a 2-16 record later. Other Indians garnering either a hit or a run or both were Derek Gutierrez, Domanick Roush, Dylan Simonsen, Jacob Bendever, Kyler Browning, Reilly Kinney, Sherman Johnson, Shawn Dowe and Robert Hayes.
East Bay has three games this week. On Tuesday the team makes a trip to Lithia for 12-6 foe Newsome. It gets a bit more competitive April 21 for a Friday night affair at the 5-13 King High Lions. The next day sees East Bay’s final home game of the season with 9-10 Wharton at 10 a.m. on Big Bend Road. The EB regular season closes April 25 at the 7-10 Robinson Knights at 7 p.m.
Spoto High, under Coach Stephon Knight, has a couple of tough opponents this week and then a pair of cupcakes to conclude the regular season. The 9-10 Spartans trekked to Plant City for an early-week battle with the 8-11 Raiders. Awaiting Spoto in Tampa for a Thursday battle on the diamond is the 10-9 Chamberlain Storm. Another trip to Tampa for Saturday, April 22 could prove to be beneficial for Spoto’s record. The Spartans tangle with the 6-10 Leto Falcons at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Spoto wraps up its regular season at the hapless 2-16 TBT Titans next week on April 25.
The Spartans were 1-2 last week. The early week saw a 5-1 one-hit loss to Newsome. Last Thursday, the Spartans got fat offensively at Brandon’s expense. Spoto had a 13-run fourth inning to put away the contest 17-7 over the lowly Eagles. Every Spartan scored at least one run except hurler Anthony Alicea. Junior Cullen Cairns and freshman Alicea handled the pitching for Coach Knight. Pitching could not stop or slow Steinbrenner in the Saturday game at Spoto. The Warriors jumped out to a six-run first inning. Spoto never came close, scoring a lone run in the fourth and losing 15-1.
The Riverview Sharks suffered their sixth loss in a row last week. Palm Harbor tallied nine runs in the third to overpower the Sharks 11-1. Sharks Coach Jason Smith goes up against three winning teams this week in an effort to improve the Sharks’ 6-12 worksheet.
Early week play saw a Sharks trip to 11-7 Bloomingdale. Then on Thursday at Riverview, the Gaither Cowboys come to the Sharks’ lair looking to improve their 14-5 mark. Riverview caps off this tough week with a Saturday jaunt to engage the 15-5 Sarasota Sailors. The Sharks most realistic chance to snap the losing streak may be April 24 with a visit to 5-13 King High. Riverview concludes its regular season at home against the 13-5 Jefferson Dragons April 27.
Meanwhile, the Sumner Stingrays were 0-2 last week to drop to a 10-9 record with three straight losses. It does not get any easier for Coach Kennedy Duran’s Rays. On April 18, Sumner went to play 15-3 Durant. The week ends with a drive to Dover to play 12-6 Strawberry Crest at 10 a.m. Saturday. The grind continues next week for Coach Duran with an April 25 match with 11-7 Armwood. Sumner finally gets a break with its final game of the regular season at home versus 1-16 Middleton High on April 27. (See more Sumner sports in The Observer-News print and in ObserverNews.net).