DUNEDIN - Englebert Complex had a crazy feeling Saturday.
Three games at 5 p.m. provided fans everything from Dunedin's 11-6 blowout over Lakeland to the wild seventh-inning finish of Northside Christian's 2-1 win over Northeast in the Dunedin Tournament.
Between the close contests and the not-so-close contests, Countryside and Clearwater Central Catholic provided some intrigue. Countryside threw everyone, six pitchers in all, at Clearwater Central Catholic, but the Marauders battled through and defeated the Cougars 8-2.
"I was happy that they could put new guys in there and it's hard to get into the rhythm, but I was happy that we were still effective against them," CCC coach Todd Vaughan. said.
Countryside's Jimmy Gregorich (0-1) got the loss after the Marauders broke a tie at 2 in the fifth inning. Chris Heil singled in Bobby Uzdavines to ignite the four-run side. Heil finished with three RBIs, and Uzdavines was 2-for-3 with three runs.
Brett McKean doubled twice for the Marauders, who added two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning before Charlie Olsen replaced starter John Petika and recorded the save.
"Three-O, three-one, they get ahead of the count and the whole game changes," Countryside coach Darnell Coles said. "I'm still proud of my guys, but we have some adjustments to make and we'll certainly take care of them."
The Cougars outhit CCC 8-7, but on their best opportunity of the night CCC did defensively what it had done all night: turned a double play. Countryside had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the sixth inning before a shallow fly ball was caught and thrown home for the third out at the plate.
"We got to think a little more up the middle opposite field at that point," Coles said.
Petika (1-3) threw six innings, struck out four and allowed two runs, both in the top of the fourth inning.
Dunedin's Dan Mortenson blasted a three-run home run in the first inning of the Falcon's win over Lakeland. Ricky Rogers got the win.
Northside Christian (7-2) edged Northeast on a wild pitch with the bases loaded during their last at-bat in the seventh inning. Chris Byrne scored from third.
