By STEVE JACKSON
The five high schools playing baseball in the South Shore complete their regular season this week. A “second season” of district playoffs starts May 1, seedings and sites to be determined. Lennard High is the only one of the five squads guaranteed to finish April 28 with a regular-season record over .500. Head Coach Victor Martinez’ Longhorns possess a 14-8 mark heading into this week’s games with 5-16 Freedom High in Ruskin April 25 and with 11-11 Wharton High in Tampa April 27.
Longhorn senior Jackson Mueller, who is also a big part of the successful pitching rotation, celebrates a lead-off single as he is substituted for a pinch runner.
Lennard senior Trey Miranda warms up prior to game action on senior night vs. Brandon.
Sumner High has been in a tailspin, losing five in a row to fall to a 10-11 record going in to the early game this week with the 13-8 Armwood Hawks at the Sumner diamond. Coach Kennedy Duran’s Stingrays’ last regular-season match is against the hapless 1-19 Middleton Tigers, April 27 in Tampa at 7 p.m.
The Riverview Sharks snapped an eight-game losing skid last week, beating the Sarasota Sailors 8-5. That puts Coach Jason Smith’s Sharks at 7-14 with an early week game at 5-16 King High and an April 27 clash at Riverview with 15-6 Jefferson High.
East Bay, struggling under Coach Rowland Ruiz all season, faces the 8-11 Robinson Knights in Tampa early this week with one last opportunity to improve a regular season 4-15 worksheet.
Riverview and East Bay both went 1-2 last week. The Sharks of Coach Jason Smith won in Sarasota Saturday after dropping games earlier in the week to Bloomingdale and to Gaither. East Bay lost a close game last week to Newsome 10-8 and beat King 9-4 by scoring seven runs in the top of the last inning. In the final Indians home game of the season last Saturday, a last inning four-run EB rally fell short in the 10-9 loss to Wharton.
Francis Fedor Photos
Lennard Longhorn senior Joseph Rivera shares a handshake with head-coach Victor Martinez as a part of the senior night festivities vs. Brandon on April 17.
Spoto lost a pair of nail biters last week and then fell 15-8 to Leto Saturday despite big offensive games of juniors Peyton Nisy and Abel Jiminez. The Spartans had a golden opportunity to end the regular season with a victory in an early week trip to the 3-18 Tampa Bay Tech diamond April 25, which concluded Spoto’s regular season under Head Coach Stephon Knight.
Lennard senior Tim Mendizabal adjusts his batting gloves as he prepares to step into the batter’s box against Brandon.
Lennard High, the South Shore’s top winning team, thrashed cream-puff Brandon early in the week behind the no-hit pitching of seniors Carter Payne, Logan Covey and Carter Menotii. Payne and Jackson Mueller then helped the Longhorns topple Plant High on April 20. The come-from-behind 5-3 win over Plant, now 15-5, was sparked offensively by Trey Miranda, Alex Brazer, Covey, Tim Mendizabal and soph RJ Torres. Lennard could not do much against the 20-2 Sickles Gryphons last Saturday. The Tampa visitors won 5-1 as only an Alex Brazer home run put Lennard on the scoreboard. An early-week contest with 5-16 Freedom is the Horns last regular season home game. Then the regular campaign ends this Thursday in Tampa with 11-11 Wharton.
Nine seniors on the Lennard Longhorns baseball team were honored on senior night last week: Trey Miranda, Alex Brazer, Logan Covey, Tim Mendizabal, Jackson Mueller, Carter Menotii, Tyler Ewell, Joseph Rivera and Carter Payne.
