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Palm Harbor Majors closing in on crown

Palm Harbor's Majors are one win away from capturing a state championship and ending a decade-long drought for Pinellas County. All it took was a 3-2 win over North Springs and a little bit of luck.

Starter Jamison Sweat made a remarkable recovery from a right elbow sprain suffered Saturday to hold North Springs to five hits over five innings Monday. Sweat was pulled from Palm Harbor's opening game after he was struck by a wild throw during warmups.

"We put him out there with the intention that if he felt anything, we would yank him out right away," coach Ed Garton said. "But the elbow held up. Just a courageous effort."

Ryan Garton's ground ball in the first inning scored Zack Sobel for Palm Harbor's first run. David Gubernick slamed a solo home run to leftfield in the third for the winning run.

The win sets up a championship game with Braden River tonight at 6 after Braden River knocked off two-time defending state champion Apopka.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime achievement for these kids," Garton said. "They've worked so hard for the past three years, but you also need to have luck."

A win tonight will end a drought dating back to 1991 -- the last time a Pinellas County team won the state tournament.

"We're just trying to stick with our fundamentals and, God willing, good things will happen," said Garton.

SENIOR BASEBALL: All weekend, the Pinellas Park National All-stars have been making progress toward a state championship. It all came to an end Monday with a 7-6 loss to Beerfield Beach and a little bump from a Beerfield coach.

After jumping out to an early 6-0, Beerfield Beach chipped away to pull within two runs of the lead. With two outs and the tying run on base in the bottom of the sixth, Pinellas Park National third baseman Kevin Garcia dropped what would have been an inning-ending pop-up in foul territory. Garcia was backing up along the third baseline when he bumped into Beerfield's third base coach, who did not move on the play.

Pinellas Park coaches argued for an interference call to no avail.

Mickey Storey added insult to injury by hitting a three-run home run, pushing Beerfield ahead for good.

Kyle Griffith started for Pinellas Park, going four innings and allowing four runs. Griffith collected four hits. Jimmy Haas had three hits for Pinellas Park.

9-10 BASEBALL: Tampa Bay withstood a last-inning rally from Winter Springs to hold onto a 4-3 victory and secure a spot in today's semifinals.

Clinging to a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth, Tampa Bay was on the verge of elimination as Winter Springs loaded the bases with no outs. Tampa Bay went to the bullpen for C.J. Dopico, who saved the day by getting a groundout, strikeout and pop out in foul territory to end the game.

Tampa Bay rebounded from a 16-3 loss to North No. 1 seed Ocala on Saturday with a 4-2 win over Tri-County on Sunday. Tampa Bay grabbed the lead then had to hang on as Tri-County put a couple of runners on but couldn't push across the equalizer.

Tampa Bay will meet the No. 1 seed from South, North Springs.

"At first, we were a little nervous, being away from home and staying at a hotel," Tampa Bay coach Joe Cimino said. "But then we settled down and did what we needed to do.

"I hope Ocala wins and we win, so we see them in the finals."

-- Times correspondent Roven Yau contributed to this report.

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