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Tampa Catholic wins 13th in row

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By SCOTT PURKS

Tribune correspondent

Published: April 7, 2009

TAMPA - Leto's Nick Gonzalez is no slouch, which is why Tampa Catholic struggled to hit the 6-foot-4 lefthander the first couple of times through the lineup.

Tampa Catholic, however, is no slouch, either, which is why the Crusaders started touching up Gonzalez later in the game.

When Gonzalez left in the sixth inning after throwing more than 90 pitches, it was all but over for the Falcons, who lost 10-2 after trailing only 4-2 after six innings.

"Nick Gonzalez is a tough pitcher who is as effective as his curveball is working," Tampa Catholic coach Rich Arena said. "Once we saw him a few times and got to the later innings, things started to look a little better."

The victory made it 13 consecutive for the Crusaders, who sealed up the Saladino's Pacific division with a 3-0 record. TC, which won last week's tournament in Dunedin, continues today at Brandon in the Saladino quarterfinals.

"We're on a nice roll right now and we are focused on keeping it going," Arena said. "We believe."

On Tuesday, TC (14-4) was led by Trent Stoker, who threw a shutout into the sixth inning before giving up a triple and a home run.

"We came into today thinking we had a good chance to win," Leto coach J.J. Pizzio said. "Unfortunately, it didn't work out. But, hey, that's baseball. That's the way it goes sometimes."

Jason Cruz is expected to throw today for the Crusaders, who appear to have plenty of arms left in the wings to make a run at the Saladino championship, which they have never won.

BLOOMINGDALE 15,

CHAMBERLAIN 9

The Bulls and Chiefs traded lots of hits and a few leads before the Bulls finally pulled away from a tie at 9 in the fifth inning. By the time the game ended, the teams had combined for 27 hits. Bloomingdale and Chamberlain, however, are done for the week, ending the tournament with 1-2 records.

BROOKS-DeBARTOLO 12,

MIDDLETON 9

Brooks-DeBartolo jumped ahead with a 4-0 first-inning lead and never looked back, stretching the advantage to 12-3 after five innings. J.D. Williams once again had a big day, collecting a couple of hits, including a two-run homer. Brooks-DeBartolo improved to 13-5 overall and 2-1 in the Saladino.

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