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Baseball: Bears Keep No.1-Seed Hopes Alive

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By RICK HARMON

Tribune correspondent

Published: March 27, 2009

Central coach Mike Ellison knew the Bears final Class 5A-District 7 game Thursday night was a big one. But he probably didn't know that the 2-0 win against Wesley Chapel at the Bears Den could be the difference that makes the Bears the No. 1 seed in the district tournament.

Land O' Lakes currently leads the district with a 5-2 record. Central is second at 5-3 and River Ridge is third at 4-3. Land O' Lakes and River Ridge play Friday night and if the Royal Knights win, all three teams would have 5-3 records. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head and all three would be 2-2. The next tiebreaker is the won-loss record of the tied teams vs. the highest-seeded team. That team would be No. 4-seeded Wesley Chapel. The Bears defeated the Wildcats both times (14-1 at Wesley Chapel and 2-0 Thursday at Central). Both Land O' Lakes and River Ridge split with Wesley Chapel.

"If River Ridge beats Land O' Lakes, there would be a 3-way tie for the top seed. But I like where we are," Ellison said. "I like it a whole lot better than I did last year [1-7, 5th place and lost to Ridgewood in the first round]."

The Bears (9-6 overall) got single runs from Mike Ogren in the first and sixth innings for the only runs of the game. Both times, Ogren was driven home with singles by Sal DeFranco off Wesley Chapel (3-9, 3-4 5A-7) starter Christian Illing.

"We were thinking about [Tuesday] when we led against Ridgewood," Ellison said. "We led them all the way to the last inning and they hit a 3-run homer on us and we lost that one by one run."

It didn't happen Thursday. Bears starter Ryan Garrity was nearly perfect. He only allowed four hits and only walked one batter. After giving up a single and a walk in the first, Garrity retired 19 of the final 22 batters he faced. Wesley Chapel never had a runner get past second base in the game. Garrity struck out eight.

"Two tough ones in a row," said Wesley Chapel coach Chuck Yingling. "We didn't execute on offense [Wednesday vs. Springstead] and we didn't execute on offense [Thursday]. We lost by one on Wednesday and by two [Thursday]. It's not so much hitting but executing bunts when they are called or hitting behind the runner. [Thursday] we didn't lay down a bunt and we had three opportunities. We had three innings where the leading runner got to second with no outs and never advanced him."

That Central is still in the running for the top seed is a little surprising to Ellison.

"[The district] is a lot more balanced than I expected," Ellison said. "I expected Land O' Lakes and Wesley Chapel to run away with it. The district is more balanced and that makes it a lot more fun."

Wesley Chapel still has a chance to avoid the No. 4 seed and that first-round game with Ridgewood. If Land O' Lakes wins Friday vs. River Ridge and Wesley Chapel beats Ridgewood, River Ridge and Wesley Chapel will finish 4-4 in the district and 1-1 against each other. The Wildcats hold the tiebreaker with the better record against Land O' Lakes, the highest-seeded team. Wesley Chapel split its two games with the Gators while River Ridge will have lost both times.

Wesley Chapel 000 000 0 — 0 4 0
Central 100 001 x — 2 7 0

W — Garrity (2-2). L — Illing (2-2). 2B — Romero (W); Ogren (C). Records — W 3-9, 3-4 5A-7; C 9-6, 5-3.

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

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