By STEVE JACKSON
All five South Shore high school baseball teams completed their regular season last week. All five competed in the post-season district playoffs Monday and Tuesday this week in games after this newspaper’s deadline. District championships are Thursday, May 2, at 7 p.m. District champs from this week have the top 4 seeds for the regional playoffs. At-large bids go to teams that finish 5 through 8 in this week’s district playoffs. Regional playoffs start Tuesday, May 7, with winners advancing to the 2024 FHSAA (Florida High School Athletic Association) State Baseball tourney in Ft. Myers, beginning Wednesday, May 15.
The top finisher in the South Shore was Sumner High with a 14-6 record. Sumner scored a total of 125 runs and gave up 85 for the season. The No. 3 seed Stingrays of Coach Kennedy Duran opened District 7 earlier this week against No. 6 seed Riverview High Sharks of Coach Garrett Thompson. The Sharks had the worst season record in the South Shore at 4-19. The winner of Sumner-Riverview advances to play No. 2 seed Plant High on Tuesday, April 30. District championship is Thursday, May 2, versus either No. one seed Palm Harbor High or No. 4 Alonso or No. 5 Steinbrenner.
Lennard senior Zack Bird has flowers in hand as he gets ready to meet up with family at the pitchers mound on senior night.
Lennard High, with a 12-11 season mark, and East Bay High at 14-7, could possibly meet for the 6A District 11 championship Thursday, May 2. However, both must navigate two tough District 11 opponents earlier this week on Monday and Tuesday to reach that point. Lennard started against 8-15 Plant City. The Longhorns of Coach Victor Martinez, if winners, were scheduled to play No. 2 seed 13-12 Palmetto High April 30 to earn a shot in the District championship versus No. 1 seed Manatee, 15-10; No. 4 seed Bloomingdale; or No. 5 seed East Bay in the May 2 District 11 championship at 7 p.m.
Spoto High of Coach Stephan Knight, at 6-18 for the regular season, is a No. 4 seed in its 5A District 9 tourney. Spoto tallied only 77 runs during the season and yielded 173. The Spartans are an extremely long shot for the District 9 championship game. Spoto opened post-season playoff action earlier this week against 8-12 Southeast High. The winner of that game faced No. 1 District 9 seed Jesuit High April 30. District championship is also Thursday, May 2, at 7 p.m.
Last week, Lennard played three pitchers’ duels and salvaged one of them. Early in the week, the Horns lost a 3-1 nail biter to 15-8 Strawberry Crest. Junior Horn hurler Talan Miranda pitched magnificently. Miranda went for five innings of one hit-no run work. Stellar reliever junior Pablo Garcia took the loss in extra innings with the visitors from Dover plating the tying run in the sixth inning and the winning runs in the ninth. Lennard senior Kevin Hunter went 1 for 3 and had the Horns’ only RBI in the fourth inning. Hunter was also the pitching and the hitting hero in a 2-1 win over the Chamberlain Storm April 24. Hunter was 1 for 3 at the plate and pitched a scoreless seventh inning. Starting pitcher for the Horns, senior Zack Bird, hurled a gem of four innings, one unearned run, nine strikeouts and a walk. Seniors Travis Browning and Landon Wilder each also threw scoreless innings. The other close loss of the week for Lennard came against 15-5 Armwood High last Friday. The Horns lost 3-2 as Armwood scored one in the sixth and the two winning runs in the seventh. Six Lennard pitchers threw well but not good enough for a win. Dependable, top hitting senior Matthew Counts went 2 for 3 with a run, an RBI and two stolen bases. Counts finished the regular season at .367. For the regular season, Lennard scored 109 runs and gave up 87.
Francis Fedor Photos
Longhorn head coach Victor Martinez greets Adrian Camacho as he works his way down the reception line on senior night.
The East Bay Indians of Coach Rowland Ruiz pushed their season mark to 14-7 with two easy wins last week. Swinging the bats with aggressiveness and efficiency, the Indians on the season registered 177 runs and coughed up 105. Shawn Dowe topped the Indians with a whopping .543 season average. As a team, East Bay batted .313 for the regular season. East Bay now has won six games in a row. The most recent wins came over winless Middleton High 11-0 and the Chamberlain Storm 17-7 last week. Early this week, East Bay played in a 6A District 11 opener against Bloomingdale with the winner going against No. 1 seed Manatee April 30. Then it is the May 2 District 11 championship game with either Palmetto High or, possibly, Lennard or Plant City.
Longhorn seniors receive a ceremonial first pitch from their family as a part of senior night festivities.
The Riverview Sharks ended the regular season last week with two losses. The Sharks were outscored early last week in a 13-6 defeat to the Gaither Cowboys. Offense for Riverview was provided by sophomore Driston Marino with 2 for 4 at the plate and a run. Junior Ryan Butner stroked a 2 for 3 night, two RBIs and a double. Senior Elijah Tishman was 1 for 3 and an RBI. Senior Ronald Blake scored a run. However, three Riverview pitchers were pounded for 13 runs and 11 hits. Five errors by the Sharks also contributed to the loss to Gaither. The last game of the regular season against Steinbrenner also went the wrong way for the Sharks in a 12-2 defeat April 25. Riverview’s Butner, Ronald Blake, Elijah Tishman and freshman Brady Rebello each had a hit, but that was not nearly enough to match Steinbrenner, which smacked 16 hits against three Shark pitchers. For the season, junior Ryan Butner compiled a team leading .323 average as well as playing outfield and pitcher, and a team-tops nine stolen bases. For the season Riverview scored only 83 runs and allowed 218 runs in its 23 games.
To see articles and photos by Francis Fedor about Sumner High sports see this week’s paper and the digital version at ObserverNews.net/.