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East Lake slams Fort Myers on its way to state

EAST LAKE -- There were several impressive feats Tuesday in East Lake's 9-3 win over Fort Myers in the Class 5A, Region 3 final.

There was Tyler Huegel's two home runs, one of which was a first-inning grand slam.

There was the defense of second baseman Chris Coghlan and rightfielder Kyle Ripley, who made a falling-down, over-the-head catch at the warning track with the bases loaded to end the game.

But perhaps the most impressive feat was the agility of East Lake coach Lee Byers.

In 27 years as a varsity coach at St. Petersburg Catholic, Pinellas Park and East Lake, Byers had never advanced to the state tournament and had little experience in postgame celebrations.

Still, it took his players four tries before they finally got the veteran coach with the traditional water-bucket-over-the-head routine.

"Four times," Byers said. "Not bad."

East Lake (29-4) will play Chamberlain (14-12) at 8 p.m. May 17 at Legends Field in a state semifinal. This is East Lake's first state tournament appearance. The Eagles got to the region final in 2000 but lost to Sarasota.

Fort Myers was late arriving to the game after centerfielder Adam Malloy suffered an insulin attack around noon and was rushed to the hospital. The Green Wave arrived around 3:30 for the 4 p.m. game and had little time to warm up. Malloy recovered and arrived in time to play in the fourth inning.

That could have been the reason for Fort Meyers' slow start. Huegel, the Eagles' starting pitcher, walked two batters in the first but did not allow a run.

In the bottom of the first, Bill Manion led off with a double against Fort Myers starter Adam Zak. Jeff Germano followed with an infield single, and Coghlan reached on an error by Andy Davis to load the bases.

On the first pitch from Zak, Huegel hit a towering shot over the leftfield fence to make it 4-0.

"It was a hanging curveball," said Huegel, who has six home runs in district and region games. "It was almost like the pitch just froze. I got a good look at it."

Huegel (9-1) kept Fort Meyers hitters off balance for most of the game. By the time Scott McMullen relieved him with one out in the seventh, Huegel had scattered 10 hits, allowed three runs and struck out four.

East Lake tacked on two runs each in the third and fourth innings.

In the third, designated hitter Alan Smith drove in two runs with a triple to right. In the fourth, Coghlan scored on a passed ball and Mike Guidi's sacrifice fly scored Huegel.

Huegel hit his second home run in the sixth, a solo shot that cleared the left-centerfield fence.

"The bigger the game, the better he plays," Byers said.

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