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Gaither, St. Pete Score Upsets

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 22, 2008

TAMPA Gaither's Sergio Delgado and St. Petersburg's Gordon McLean had very different outings during Tuesday's Class 6A-District 7 baseball semifinals at Alonso, but both pitchers ended up accomplishing the same thing. Both Delgado and McLean tossed complete games in leading their respective teams to upset victories.

Delgado limited second-seeded Sickles to four hits in a 5-1 victory for the third-seeded Cowboys. McLean, meanwhile, flirted with trouble several times but benefited from great defense in the fourth-seeded Green Devils' 6-3 victory over top-seeded Alonso.

Gaither (16-7) staked Delgado to an early lead, with two runs in the first inning, scoring once on Brady North's sacrifice fly and another on a Gryphons (17-6) error, and the senior right-hander took over from there. The only blemish on Delgado's line was an unearned run allowed in the fourth when Josh Velez, who was hit by a pitch, stole third and scored on an error with two outs. Delgado had five strikeouts and didn't walk a batter.

St. Petersburg (17-10) also set the tone early against the Ravens (21-4). The first five Green Devils hitters reached base against Alonso starter Alex Panteliodis, and before the inning ended the Ravens trailed 4-0.

Alonso cut the deficit to 5-3 in the fifth, with Tyler Ding's double to left bringing in the first two runs, but the Green Devils escaped harm in the later innings thanks to some nifty glove work.

St. Petersburg turned double plays in the fourth, sixth and seventh to help snuff out Alonso scoring chances. McLean, who allowed eight hits, walked six and struck out three, started the final double play when he snagged Sherman Johnson's hard shot up the middle. It turned into a 1-6-3 game-ending double play.

Gaither and St. Petersburg, which clinched playoff berths with the wins, will meet Thursday for the district title.

Adam Adkins

CLASS 6A-DISTRICT 8: Hillsborough County will be shut out of the district championship, as Plant City and Riverview lost in Tuesday's semifinals.

The sixth-seeded Raiders lost to No. 2 Lakeland, 3-2, and the fifth-seeded Sharks were defeated by No. 1 Sarasota, 5-4.

The Raiders trailed 3-1 going into the seventh. After the first two batters recorded outs, the next three singled to make it 3-2, but a strikeout ended the game.

Plant City (11-13) was led by Kyle Madill (3-for-3 with a walk and a run), Micah Carmony (2-for-4 with a RBI and a run), Travis Hippler (2-for-3) and Brent Butler (2-for-4).

Riverview's Brett Blakey had a big night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, two RBIs and a run scored.

Several pro scouts were in attendance to get a look at Riverview southpaw Anthony Ferrara and Sarasota's Casey Kelly.

Ferrara (4-4) allowed eight hits and five runs (two earned) in six innings. He struck out five and walked three. Kelly (8-1) gave up 10 hits and four runs (three earned) in seven innings. He struck out 10 and walked one.

Trinton Jones went 2-for-4 with a run scored for the Sharks (12-11).

Gregg Becnel

CLASS 5A-DISTRICT 7: Jeremy Johnson hit an eighth-inning walk-off home run to give Wesley Chapel a 3-2 win over River Ridge at the Jim Valentine Athletic Complex.

The victory gives the second-seeded Wildcats (10-13) a berth in Thursday's final, where it will play the winner of tonight's Ridgewood-Land O' Lakes game.

The victory gives the Wildcats their first playoff berth in school history.

Johnson hit a one-out shot 330 feet over the left-field fence. Wesley Chapel relief pitcher Brett Lee pitched a perfect eighth inning to pick up the victory.

River Ridge (11-13) scored twice in the second inning, on Mario Custodio's RBI single and a Tommy Rutledge home run.

Wesley Chapel tied it in the sixth when pinch runner Ubaldo Urrutia scored on an infield error and Ricky Brown scored on a groundout.

"It's an excellent way to win a ballgame," said Wesley Chapel coach Chuck Yingling.

"This is an excellent accomplishment. We are in the playoffs for the first time in the history of the school."

Larry Bugg

CLASS 3A-DISTRICT 11: At Clearwater, it looked like Berkeley Prep (10-16) might be able to pull off an upset. But Clearwater Central Catholic's Jimmy Dowdell led off the bottom of the fifth with a towering homer, and the Marauders scored seven more runs for a 9-1 win.

Host Clearwater Central Catholic (23-2), ranked No. 16 in USA Today's national prep baseball poll, had defeated Berkeley by a combined score of 28-5 in two previous games. The Buccaneers seemed to have CCC on the ropes with the game tied at 1 in the bottom of the fifth.

"I guess we were a little bit uptight," Dowdell said. After the homer "guys got a little bit motivated and got a bit more relaxed."

CCC will face Tampa Catholic for the district Thursday at 7 p.m. Both teams secured region playoff berths by winning their district semifinal games.

"We thought the whole time we could beat [CCC] if we played good defense," Berkeley Prep coach Justin Houston said. "We had a great game plan. The problem for us was [CCC relief pitcher Zach] Olson. I tip my cap to him. He did a phenomenal job."

Tampa Catholic had little difficulty beating St. Petersburg Catholic, 7-2. Jayson Cruz went the distance for his third win this season against SPC, allowing the Barons six hits while striking out two. Ryan Hammer's two-run double in the second, scoring Shane Rowland and William Knox, was the big hit.

"I thought I did good," Cruz said. "I was able to get my curve balls over for strikes, which was important."

Lee Diekemper

CLASS 2A-DISTRICT 9: Offense ruled the day for both semifinal games Tuesday at Tampa Prep, as the host Terrapins beat Indian Rocks Christian 11-7 and top-seeded Bishop McLaughlin topped Calvary Christian, 18-8.

Tampa Prep (12-13) earned its first berth in the district championship since 2004, and Bishop McLaughlin (19-5) will be shooting for its second straight district title. The Hurricanes are in Class 2A for the first time this year, getting bumped up from 1A.

The Terrapins came back from a six-run deficit that Indian Rocks Christian had built in two innings. Tampa Prep scored three runs in the bottom of the second, four in the third, one in the fourth and three in the fifth to close out the win.

"They got up on us early, 6-0, and the kids battled back offensively and put the ball in play hard," Tampa Prep coach A.J. Hendrix said. "When you have 16 hits, you score a lot of runs."

Bishop McLaughlin and Calvary Christian both pounded the ball early as the Hurricanes took the 3-0 lead in the first and the Warriors answered with four in the second.

The Warriors scored four more in the fourth to take an 8-5 lead. The Hurricanes score two in the bottom of the fourth to come within one, then erupted for 10 in the bottom of the fifth to end the game early.

Bishop McLaughlin had seven hits in the fifth, drew five walks and had a hit batter.

Calvary Christian used three pitchers in the fifth inning, but none could stop the onslaught of runs.

"There wasn't much defense, not too much pitching," Bishop McLaughlin coach Nick Rodriguez said. "It was a bad way to get a win, but we'll always take a win, especially at this point."

Cristina Ledra

CLASS 1A-DISTRICT 10: Top-seeded Cambridge Christian (20-2) locked up the program's fourth consecutive playoff berth with a 10-0 victory against fourth-seeded Tampa Bay Christian in a district semifinal at Doc Nance Field, a game shortened to five innings because of the mercy rule.

Lancers starter Michael Miller tossed a complete game, yielding just one hit and no walks while striking out nine.

Will Bakos hit an inside-the-park home run for the Lancers, Peter Miller had an RBI single and Andrew Widell finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs, which came on a triple in the fifth to end the game.

Cambridge Christian will face Bayshore Christian on Thursday for the district title.

Adam Adkins

CLASS 1A DISTRICT 11: Oldsmar Christian outlasted Citrus Park Christian for a 9-7 victory Tuesday at Canterbury to advance to the district final. The Eagles will face top-seeded Canterbury in the title game Thursday.

Oldsmar Christian took a 7-2 lead after two innings on only one hit. The contest looked like it would be a blowout. But Citrus Park Christian, with only nine players available, battled back. The Hillsborough County team picked up runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings and held Oldsmar Christian to one run in the fourth and one in the sixth. Down 9-5 entering the seventh, Citrus Park scored two more and had runners on second and third when the game ended.

Citrus Park Christian outhit Oldsmar Christian 11-6, but walks, errors, and base-running mistakes cost the visitors.

Citrus Park had the game's only extra-base hits. Nick Robin hit a triple, while David Ryan and Joseph Linquist had doubles. Jacob Peters scored three runs, had a single and drew a walk, and he also pitched six strong innings for Oldsmar Christian. Oldsmar Christian had seven errors, and Citrus Park Christian had six.

"We are young, but we have heart," Oldsmar Christian coach John Burns said. "I am proud."

Mike Moore

A Tribune staff report

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