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Wake-Up Call: A ring's the thing for Ding, Ravens

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By JOEY JOHNSTON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 21, 2009

The Wake-Up Call greets you each weekday with news, views and a few Tampa Bay area sports offerings to anticipate for the day and night. We encourage suggestions and contributions.

Good morning!

Two years ago, the strangest thing happened to Tyler Ding in his last season of Pony baseball. He swung and lifted a high drive to left center field. It hit the top of the fence and caromed over.

Home run.

"Pretty much all of my friends had gone over the wall, but not me," Ding said. "I was kind of shocked. I was 14 - and that was the first time it happened for me. Just thought it was a lucky shot or something."

It's not lucky these days. Ding, junior second baseman for the Alonso Ravens, has developed a legitimate power stroke that came up big in last week's Class 6A region finals.

Ding (5-foot-9, 160 pounds) was 4-for-6 with five RBIs in Alonso's double-header sweep at Melbourne. The Ravens prevailed 8-1 and 6-1 - with Ding smashing a two-run homer in each game.

For the second time in school history, the Ravens (28-3) are headed to the state tournament. Alonso meets Lake Brantley (29-3) in the Class 6A state semifinals on Friday afternoon at 1 in Port St. Lucie.

If Alonso prevails, it advances into Saturday's 6A championship game against the winner of Lake Worth Park Vista and Miami Columbus.

It's a big deal. Hillsborough County hasn't had a public-school state baseball champion since 1988 (Plant). And, of course, Armwood and Plant get a crack at the Class 5A title, beginning with Monday's semifinals.

What's more, Hillsborough County hasn't had a state baseball champion in Florida's largest classification in 38 years - Lou Garcia's Robinson Knights defeated the Miami Beach Hi-Tides 5-2 to win the 1971 big-school title at Orlando's Tinker Field.

"We've had some ups and downs this season," said Ding, pointing out the season-ending injury to ace pitcher Ray Delphey. "But lately, it has been all ups. We want to get two more wins and finish this thing out."

Alonso has another ace in Thomas Dorminy, who had a no-hitter against Melbourne and is expected to get the call in Friday's game. Dorminy said Alonso's offensive output has been appreciated by the pitchers.

"When we need the clutch hits, we usually get them, and Tyler has been a huge part of that," Dorminy said. "He can flat-out hit. People see him and they don't expect the power, but he's got a lot of pop in his bat. He's always hitting homers in practice and we've seen him hit it 400 feet. He means a lot to our team."

Ding, who is batting .480, said he's hopeful of attracting interest from colleges. Florida State University is a particular favorite, but "I just want to play somewhere." For now, though, Ding is concentrating on doing what's necessary to help Alonso's state quest.

"We want to go out there and make a statement," said Ding, who was part of two national championships with 14-and-under AAU teams.

So far, Ding's statement has been quite powerful.

Power surge for Raburn

Yes, Detroit Tigers right fielder Ryan Raburn (Durant) is officially hot. Raburn has homered in his last three games. He was 2-for-2 in Wednesday night's 5-3 victory against the Texas Rangers - including a homer to center field, a single and a walk.

Bowles nears All-American status

FSU sophomore Clint Bowles of Tampa defeated Texas Tech's Raony Carvalho 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday to open the NCAA Men's Singles Tennis Tournament at College Station, Texas. If Bowles defeats Rice's Bruno Rosa in today's second round, he earns All-American status.

UF's Tucker still producing runs

The Florida Gators fell to Arkansas 8-5 in Wednesday's opening round of the SEC Baseball Tournament at Hoover, Ala., but UF freshman first baseman Preston Tucker (Plant) continued his outstanding individual season. Tucker was 1-for-4 with three RBIs, giving him 20 multiple-RBI games (the most by a Gator since Matt LaPorta - now playing with the Cleveland Indians - had 22 in 2005).

Longoria voted game's 20th-best player

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria was voted the 20th-best player in baseball by The Sporting News. The magazine polled 100 Hall of Famers, major-award winners and baseball personalities to produce a list of the top 50 players in baseball today.

The top 10:

1. Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols.

2. Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez.

3. Mets RHP Johan Santana.

4. Dodgers LF Manny Ramirez.

5. Marlins SS Hanley Ramirez.

6. Phillies 2B Chase Utley.

7. Blue Jays RHP Roy Halladay.

8. Yankees SS Derek Jeter.

9. Yankees RHP Mariano Rivera.

10. Braves 3B Chipper Jones.

Jay Gruden surfaces in Orlando

Jay Gruden (Chamberlain) was named offensive coordinator of the United Football League's Orlando franchise, which is led by former New Orleans Saints coach Jim Haslett. Gruden had been working on his older brother's staff with the Bucs since 2002 and coaching the Arena League's Orlando Predators (the league is taking a hiatus). The UFL, planning to begin its inaugural season in October, has franchises in Orlando, New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas. The league will play on Thursday and Friday nights with a championship game on Thanksgiving weekend. The league plans to add more franchises in future seasons and it could be around - conveniently so - if there is labor trouble in the NFL.

Fairel strikes early and often

Former FSU left-hander Matt Fairel (Winter Haven) last week had 13 strikeouts (and just one walk) for the Class A Dayton Dragons in a six-inning stint against West Michigan. Fairel, once a 35th-round pick of the Cincinnati Reds, has struck out at least 10 batters in three of his eight starts.

Robinson back to Triple-A

The St. Louis Cardinals optioned outfielder Shane Robinson (Jesuit) back to Triple-A Memphis. Robinson, called up after an injury to Rick Ankiel, hit .240 with one RBI in 25 at-bats.

Dukes on the shelf

Washington Nationals outfielder Elijah Dukes (Hillsborough) was placed on the disabled list (retroactive to May 18) with a left hamstring strain. He suffered the injury on Friday and aggravated it while trying to play on Sunday. Dukes is batting .277 with four home runs and 24 RBIs. The Nationals will visit the Rays - Dukes' old team - for a three-game weekend series on June 12-14 at Tropicana Field.

Birthday wishes

Happy birthday to Texas Rangers OF Josh Hamilton, one of the great reclamation stories in recent baseball history. Hamilton was the can't-miss No. 1 overall selection of the 1999 amateur draft by the Rays, but he was down and out after years of substance abuse. The Rays left him unprotected and a rehabilitated Hamilton made it all the way back, first with the Cincinnati Reds, then with the Rangers. Hamilton had an unforgettable performance in last season's Home-Run Derby during the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium. Today, Hamilton turns 28.

The Answer Man

Here's the answer to Wednesday's trivia question:

Former Chamberlain High School player Chip Glass, who played at FSU, was a tight end for the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 21, 1970 during the first prime-time "Monday Night Football" game on ABC. The Browns defeated Joe Namath's New York Jets 31-21.

Thursday trivia

Here's our daily sports trivia question, featuring a Tampa Bay/Florida spin. Try your luck by commenting below.

The Rays will play a three-game series this weekend against the Florida Marlins at (ahem) LandShark Stadium (named after the Miami Dolphins secured a deal with the joint brewing project of Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville and Anheuser-Busch InBev - Land Shark Lager). Since the Dolphins opened the multi-purpose venue in 1987, the stadium was known by three other names. Can you name them?

Check for the answer in Friday's Wake-Up Call.

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