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Dunedin steams on

Brandon makes some early mistakes that prove fatal as the Falcons take advantage for a 5-0 win.

By ERIC VICIAN
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 4, 2002

BRANDON -- A team doesn't get to be 31-0 and ranked among the top three in the nation by various publications without a certain degree of discipline. It knows how to take pitches; how to take advantage of miscues; how to pitch out of jams and how to play sound defense.

Dunedin once again proved itself the model of consistency Friday night in front of a standing-room-only crowd at Don Powell Field.

By virtue of its 5-0 win over host Brandon, Florida's lone undefeated team advanced to Tuesday's region final. The Falcons will host Estero, which moved on by breaking a 6-6 tie to edge Plant in the bottom of the seventh 7-6.

The Falcons scored two runs in the first inning on four Brandon errors and got a three-run home run from Steve Doetsch in the second.

From there, Dunedin held on with solid pitching and defense.

"We're very consistent in all parts of the game," said Dunedin coach Tom Hilbert after his club advanced to host his first regional final. "We pride ourselves on that. The Falcons are always going to be known for swinging the bats, but tonight we had to rely on pitching and defense (late in the game)."

Doetsch, expected to be a high pick in this summer's Major League Baseball draft, hit his third home run, a towering shot that sailed more than 400 feet into the oak trees over the left field fence. He also drilled Brandon's Angel Sustache at the plate in the fourth inning by firing a strike from right field.

The Eagles never got any closer to scoring.

Jamie Garris (10-0) took over on the mound. He struck out eight Eagles and pitched out of trouble in four innings. The senior left the bases loaded in the fifth inning and stranded Sustache and Ryan Macko in scoring position in the sixth.

"I think they were looking forward to playing the game and pulling off the almighty upset," first-year Eagles coach Mike Bell said of his team. "They just did some uncharacteristic things for what they've done the second half of the year."

Brandon (17-11) settled down after its early miscues as Chris Cates also struck out eight Falcons, including all three in the third inning.

But the Eagles stranded eight runners on base including six in scoring position and three on third base.

Dunedin is two wins away from playing for its first state title since 1964.

The Falcons also have a shot at being named mythical national champions, like Seminole last year and Jesuit in 1997.

But Hilbert said his team isn't thinking that far ahead.

"We have a team of leaders," he said. "We could have lost a game or two, but they haven't thought a week or two down the road, they focus on the next game."

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