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Boys prep baseball notebook

By JOHN C. COTEY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 27, 2002

East Lake takes home title

COUNTRYSIDE -- In the postgame huddle, East Lake coach Lee Byers rattled off names of those he thought played well in Friday's final at Countryside.

After each name, applause. It took a while.

There was a lot for a coach to like about a 7-4 victory over Clearwater for the team's first district championship since 1997.

From the relentless offense to a gutsy effort by starter Mike Billek to shut-'em-down relief by Scott McMullian, the Eagles showed why they are No. 6 in Class 5A.

The Eagles (26-4) will host defending state champion Seminole in Tuesday's region quarterfinals, while Clearwater (14-13) travels to Northeast.

After squandering a 4-2 advantage in the top of the fourth, East Lake took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning on Chris Coghlan's hit.

The top four in the Eagles lineup were near-perfect, reaching base in 13 of 16 trips to the plate and going 6-for-11 with six RBIs. Leadoff hitter Bill Manion was hit by pitches three times, Jeff Germano had two RBI doubles and Coghlan went 3-for-4 with three RBIs for the second straight game.

"It's fun watching them hit, ain't it?" said Byers, who won his third district title in 11 years at East Lake.

Billek gave up seven hits, walked four and threw three wild pitches in 51/3 innings, but left with a 5-4 lead. With runners on first and second, McMullian relieved and got leadoff hitter Mark Morris to ground out and Scott Paulk to pop up.

After Germano and Mike Guidi drove in insurance runs in the sixth, McMullian finished the Tornadoes by getting Matt Monnier to hit into a 4-6-3 double play.

Warhawks edge Vikings

SEMINOLE -- Jimmy Kubek's two-run single in the third helped Seminole defeat Northeast 3-2 and win the title. With two outs and the bases loaded, Kubek lined a pitch off Shane Riggs to give Seminole a 2-0 lead. In the fifth, his flyout to left moved Skylar Delgado to third. Delgado scored one batter later on Mike Abrahamson's liner to first that was misplayed.

"Those are the kinds of things we're looking for at this time of the year," Seminole coach Scott Miller said. "We need clutch hits and strong showings from our pitchers."

Paul Buhrow gave Miller five scoreless innings before being relieved in the sixth after loading the bases with no outs. Cody Reed allowed a two-run single to Phillip Catalan before retiring the next five batters to close out the game.

-- SAM STANTURF

Dunedin ends it early

CLEARWATER -- Dunedin won its fourth district championship in five seasons with a 14-2 rout of Bradenton Southeast.

Dunedin jumped ahead early with six hits and eight runs in the first inning, sparked by Ryan Harvey's three-run homer. Southeast starter James Curtis (0-4) lasted one-third of an inning and gave up six earned runs.

Dunedin starter Jamie Garris (9-0) pitched four innings before being relieved by Brian Chamberlain. Garris struck out five and walked none, and Chamberlain allowed two runs in the fifth. "All we can do is go out there and do what we do," Falcons coach Tom Hilbert said. "We can't worry about what the other team does. We have to stay focused and play our game."

-- ERIC MUSKATEVC

Big inning costs IRC

TAMPA -- Indian Rocks Christian kept up with two-time defending district champion Seminole Presbyterian for two innings before everything fell apart right in front of the Golden Eagles.

And behind them, and to the left, and to the right ... Indian Rocks Christian commited three errors in the third, and Seminole Presbyterian ran through three pitchers, sent 15 batters to the plate and effectively won the game before there was one out in the inning.

When the game ended after five innings, the Lancers had added a third straight district title with a 12-2 win, and Indian Rocks had earned a trip to Winter Haven on Tuesday night to play All Saints' in the region quarterfinal.

No matter where Indian Rocks played the field, Seminole found the holes. The Lancers pounded out seven hits in the third, and every player in the lineup scored at least once. And Indian Rocks (16-11) didn't help itself by throwing pickoff attempts into rightfield, failing to pick up ground balls and bouncing pitches past the catcher.

The game almost ended after 41/2 innings, as Seminole held an 11-0 lead and wouldn't have to bat in the bottom of the fifth. But Indian Rocks got singles from Matt Sitton and Kevin Wright, both of whom scored to cut the Lancers' lead to nine. Seminole opened the bottom of the inning with a Tommy Salemy double to the leftfield wall, moved to third on Chris Phethean's grounder to second and ended the game when he scored on a wild pitch.

"They hung with us and battled back," Seminole Presbyterian coach J.J. Pizzio said. "But we did what we needed to do."

-- MIKE READLING

Mustangs roll to victory

ST. PETERSBURG -- Lastings Milledge went 2-for-3 with two home runs and four RBIs to lead host Northside Christian to an 11-1 five-inning win over Bradenton St. Stephen's and its fourth consecutive district title.

Andy Park led off the first with the first of his four singles for the Mustangs and scored the first of his three runs on Milledge's first homer, a two-run shot to left-centerfield. Jeremy Hunt followed with a home run to centerfield off John Tinnell (1-1).

"Milledge is really on a roll," Mustangs coach Darrell Don said. "He gets hits in big situations. As the year goes on, he gets better and better."

The three-run lead was more than enough for Todd Redmond. Redmond (10-0) held the Falcons to three hits and one run, a home run in the fourth by Mike Christopher. The runs and hits were the first against the Mustangs in the tournament. Redmond threw a complete game, striking out six and walking three.

"The secret to success was to keep the hitters off balance, stay focused and just throw strikes," Redmond said.

The Mustangs led 5-1 in the fourth when Brian LeClerc ignited a four-run rally with a single and two stolen bases. The hit was the first of four in a row, including Milledge's second home run. The Mustangs closed out the game in the bottom of the fifth on Hunt's third hit, a single, which scored Park's third run.

-- AARON THOMAS

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