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Baseball: Pasco Routs Nature Coast, 11-1

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By BART O'CONNELL

Tribune correspondent

Published: March 5, 2009

DADE CITY - Nature Coast starter Mike Adams and his array of dipping, diving and darting lefty pitches present the kind of challenge teams need a game-plan for.

And Pasco's plan, to make him work a high pitch count and force him to throw strikes, was amazingly effective.

The Pirates (6-1, 5-0 Class 4A, District 8) needed two innings, but finally figured Adams out en route to an 11-1 win in six innings, thanks to the mercy-rule.

Third baseman Brennan Allen led the Pirates' offense with four RBIs, including the second of back-to-back homers in the sixth which was affectively a walk-off with the mercy rule. Jorge Jaramillo also homered for Pasco, while Cole Stancil went 3-for-4 and Josh Johnson had two runs and 2 RBIs.

"We know [Adams] throws off-speed stuff, so we were going to sit back and take the base hits," said Allen. "We weren't planning on [winning by the mercy rule]."

The Pirates led 1-0 in the third on a bases-loaded single by Jaramillo when Allen came to the plate. Expecting an inside pitch, he ripped the off-speed delivery down the third base line, and it hopped all the way to the wall before three runs came home.

After Cole Stancil singled and scored on a sharp Jacob Schrader single, making it 5-0, the Pirates tacked on four more in the sixth, highlighted by a Johnson two-run double.

The struggling Sharks (3-2, 2-1) lineup had no answer for Pasco pitchers Kevin Gude, Matt Castle and Matt Gude. They combined to give up just two hits, none by the bullpen, and induced a pair of double plays.

Pasco, meanwhile, tallied 13 hits, and every player in the lineup either got a hit, scored or drove in a run.

The Pirates will play at Wiregrass Ranch tonight, looking for their sixth consecutive district win.

NCT 0 0 0 1 0 0 x x = 1 2 2
Pasco 0 0 4 1 4 2 x x = 11 13 2

Mi. Adams, Collins (5) and Ma. Adams (NCT); K. Gude, Castle (4), M. Gude (5) and Jaramillo (P). W – K. Gude. L – Mi. Adams. 2B – Allen, Johnson (P). HR – Jaramillo, Allen (P). Records – NCT 3-2, 2-1; P 6-1, 5-0.

Correspondent Bart O'Connell can be reached at tampasport@gmail.com.

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