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Ravens take state baseball title

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By ADAM ADKINS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 24, 2009

PORT ST. LUCIE - It's been a while, but the Alonso Ravens finally brought home another state baseball championship to Hillsborough County.

Alonso capped a magical season by earning the program's first state title with a 4-3 win against Miami Columbus in the Class 6A state championship game Saturday night at Tradition Field. The Ravens became the county's first state champion since Tampa Catholic's 2001 title team, and the county's first public school program to win a state title since Plant in 1988.

"This is like a dream," Alonso senior catcher Adam Pendleton said. "It's unbelievable. It's awesome. I really can't describe it."

Alonso (30-3) reached the state title game in part because of a throwing error committed by Altamonte Springs Lake Brantley in Friday's state semifinal matchup. Errors proved costly again for Alonso's opponent Saturday, including one that led to what turned out to be the winning run for the Ravens.

With one out in the sixth, the Columbus catcher attempted to pick off pinch runner Ed Williams at third. However, the throw sailed into left field, allowing Williams to score easily to give Alonso a 4-3 lead. It was the fourth of five Columbus errors in the game.

"If you're around this game long enough, you know, we've been on the other end of the stick," Ravens coach Landy Faedo said. "I think we were here in the final four in 2004 and we lost because of a miscue. It just happens."

A Columbus error in the first also opened the door for Alonso's first two runs. Tyler Ding scored the first on a throwing error, and the Ravens took advantage of the extra out when Thomas Dorminy singled home Casey Smit to make it 2-0. But the Ravens' lead didn't last long.

Columbus put up three in the first as Alonso starter Jose Fernandez got off to a rocky start. He walked one, hit a batter, yielded three hits and balked twice in the inning. After that, however, the sophomore right-hander found his groove and retired 18 consecutive batters between the first and seventh innings.

"I got a little nervous. It was one of my worst innings. But thank God my coaches got me out of it and my team got behind me," Fernandez said through assistant coach Pete Toledo. "I never really felt comfortable, because baseball is baseball and you never really know what is going to happen. But I did what the coaches asked me do."

Fernandez left the mound with two outs in the seventh after yielding a two-out single and hitting the next batter to put the tying run in scoring position. But senior Jordan Huchro made quick work in his role, retiring the first batter he faced with a ground ball to first to set off the Ravens' celebration.

"It's amazing," Faedo said. "It's just a tribute to all of the hard work, all the time spent during the offseason working out and conditioning and playing baseball. I tip my hat to all these guys in our program."

Reporter Adam Adkins can be reached at (813) 259-7616.

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