By STEVE JACKSON
The East Bay High Indians baseball team is fighting this week in the best two of three Region 3 playoff series to continue its exciting playoff run for a state championship. Coached by Rowland Ruiz, the Indians won the District 9 championship last week, defeating neighbor Spoto High, 10-3, for EB’s sixth win in a row. EB, now 14-11, is the sole survivor from the South Shore 5 high school baseball squads district playoffs.
Francis Fedor Photos
East Bay head coach fires up the team prior to the Indians’ district championship playoff win over Spoto last week
Indian junior Rowland Ruiz turns third under the direction of his coach in win over Spoto last week.
Spoto High, of Coach Lastings Milledge, made it to the 5A District 9 finals where the Spartans were eliminated by East Bay.
The surprising Spartans ended their first season under Coach Milledge at 12-14. Sumner High, of Coach Kennedy Duran, could not get past Alonso High, losing 4-3 in the first round of its District 7 playoff, to finish the season at 11-12. The Lennard Longhorns, of Coach Victor Martinez, lost in extra innings to Palmetto High in Ruskin to terminate the Horns’ campaign at 10-13. The Horns were shutout 2-0 by the underdog Palmetto Tigers, who also upset Parrish High 4-2 for the 6A District 12 championship. The other SS5 diamond squad, the 10-15 Riverview Sharks, of Coach Garrett Thompson, was also knocked out for the season by losing its first round playoff contest, 5-0, to Horizon High of Winter Garden last week.
The South Shore focus is now on East Bay as the Indians are seeded #6 in Region 6. The visiting Manatee High Hurricanes, the #3 seed, bring a record of 17-10 to Big Bend Road to open the regional quarterfinals on Wednesday, April 23, at 7 p.m. The best two of three series continues at East Bay Thursday, April 24, at 7 p.m. If the two teams split, the rubber-match championship game is set for Saturday, April 26, at Manatee High in Bradenton at 7 p.m. Loser goes home, and winner preps for next regional playoff match-up April 30.
EB Coach Ruiz is expected to tap his top two hurlers against Manatee High and then go from there as needed. These are senior Mike Mowell and junior JJ Groover. Mowell hurled a complete game 5-1 win over a weak Hillsborough High last week.
East Bay catcher Jonathan Bryant celebrates an RBI triple to add insurance runs in win over Spoto.
Groover went four innings in the April 17 victory over Spoto, yielding no earned runs. The relief pitcher in that win over Spoto was the Indians’ sophomore pitching and hitting sensation, Connor Gavigan. Gavigan toiled 2.1 innings versus the Spartans, giving up no earned runs and striking out seven for all the outs while giving up only one hit. It’s Gavigan’s hitting that really sets the young sophomore apart, however. Gavigan is fourth in the entire state of Florida high school baseball with 40 RBIs on the season. Gavigan’s bat has been hot all season. He is currently touting a batting average of .432 In EB’s two crucial victories last week, Gavigan was 2 for 3 versus Hillsborough with four RBIs, a run and a stolen base. In the district championship game, Gavigan wore out Spoto pitching, banging out another 2 for 3 at the dish with a pair of RBIs and a double. Senior Rory Beauford has also been a consistent contributor at the plate all season for EB. In the Hillsborough game, Beauford was 1 for 4, scoring a pair of runs and stealing a base. Beauford continued to sparkle at the dish in the Spoto win, rapping 2 for 4, two runs, an RBI and a stolen base. Junior Jonathan Bryant also had a three RBI game against Spoto while going 1 for 2, a two-bagger.
East Bay senior first baseman Eddie Smith goes airborne to save a passed ball as Spartan Devin Dukes reaches first to open the District championship game
Overall, the Indians have scored 143 runs on the season and given up 135 in 25 games. Team stats on offense include a team batting average of .281 with six home runs, four by Gavigan and one each from Beauford and Smith. Pitchers have thrown 163 innings with 185 strikeouts and 107 walks and an era (earned run average) of 3.69.
Indian junior J.J. Groover warms up as he gets ready to face Spartan hitters in a district championship game.
Gavigan’s .432 batting average is tops on the EB team. The dynamic sophomore also has a team top 32 hits and 21 runs. Other offensive contributors include Beauford at .377, team top 24 RBIs; senior David Reyes, .310; junior Jeffrey Diab, .348, 14 runs; junior Jaxson Farchione, .318; junior Rowland Ruiz Jr., .375, 15 runs; sophomore Ethan Cunningham, .233; junior Bryant, .238, 11 RBIs; senior Eddie Smith, .218; and freshman Maxzell Mathis, .214. Individual pitching stats include senior Mowell with a 4-4 record, 3.30 era, 40.1 innings, 54 strikeouts, 33 walks; junior Groover, 3-3 record, 2.51 era, 39 innings, 40 strikeouts, 11 walks; senior John Viane, 1-0, 2.41 era, 29 innings, 26 strikeouts, 17 walks; junior Cameron Cook, 4-2, 4.49 era, 29 innings, 26 strikeouts, 10 walks; and sophomore Gavigan, 2-1, 0.66 era, 10.2 innings, 22 strikeouts, seven walks.
Some vital statistics for Manatee High of Bradenton, this week’s EB foe in regionals, are its 17-10 record, which includes a loss last week in the 5A District 10 championship game to Braden River, 6-4; a 14-10 squad from the Bradenton area. The Manatee Hurricanes scored 170 runs and yielded 96 on the season.
Other high school baseball teams remaining in contention for their regionals this week that are nearby and/or have competed with SS5 teams include Bloomingdale, Newsome, Strawberry Crest, Plant, Steinbrenner, Parrish, Palmetto, Wharton, Jesuit, Jefferson, Bishop McLaughlin, Tampa Catholic, Calvary Christian (Clearwater), Alonso, Sickles and Windmere.