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Baseball: Mitchell Gets More Great Pitching; Wins SAC Title

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By RICK HARMON

Tribune correspondent

Published: April 23, 2009

ZEPHYRHILLS - If anyone thinks Mitchell is just Patrick Schuster's team, better take a look at the Mustangs statistics.

Yes, Schuster is 8-0 in nine appearances. Yes, he has thrown five no-hitters this year, including four in a row.

But the Mustangs finished the regular season Wednesday with a 2-0 victory against Zephyrhills to win their first outright Sunshine Athletic Conference championship in school history. Mitchell finishes with a 22-3 mark, also a school record.

That means the rest of the Mitchell pitching staff went 14-3. Wednesday's winning pitcher Matt Hewitt won his seventh game in eight decisions and Michael Grande, a transfer from South Carolina, is 6-0. Add it up and you have a three-man starting staff with a 21-1 record, a 1.35 ERA with 232 strikeouts.

Against Zephyrhills (16-8), Hewitt was nearly as impressive as Schuster has been. The senior right-hander only gave up a lead-off double to Terrell Bunyan in the third inning and a pair of singles to the Guys (Tyler and Jacob) in the sixth. Hewitt struck out 12, walked one and hit another.

"Our pitching is definitely our strength" said Mitchell coach Scot Wilcox. "And I knew that coming in. Hewitt does a great job. He goes out there and controls the game. He rarely lets the game get out of control. He's a bulldog."

Three times (first, third and sixth innings), Zephyrhills left two runners on base. Three times, the Bulldogs were able to reach first on strikeouts – two on wild pitches and once on a passed ball. But Hewitt's nasty curveball was the reason for that.

"Once [Hewitt] settles in, he controls that strike zone," Wilcox said. "He gets that curve ball [working]. They didn't have very many base runners except for those third strikes. His curveball bites so much that a couple got away from Doug [Burlett, Mitchell catcher]."

Across the diamond, Zephyrhills left-hander Chris Fern was throwing a gem of his own. Fern (4-4) allowed five base runners (four walks and a fielding error) but no hits against the county's best-hitting team through five innings.

But in the sixth inning, Burlett hit a 1-out fly ball that dropped between the right fielder and the second baseman for a single. Tim McCormick came in to pinch-run for Burlett but it wasn't needed as Matt Hart hit a 3-1 fastball over the center-field fence for his seventh home run of the season to account for the only runs of the game. It was Hart's first-inning home run Monday against Pasco that aided Schuster's no-hitter.

Mitchell 000 002 0 — 2 2 1
Zephyrhills 000 000 0 — 0 3 1

W—Hewitt (7-1). L—Fern (4-4). 2B—Bunyan (Z). HR—Hart (M). Records—M 22-3, 10-0 SAC; Z 16-8, 6-4 SAC.

Correspondent Rick Harmon can be reached at tampabaystringer@gmail.com.

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