Aaron Tullo turned in his second pitching gem in a week, and streaking St. Petersburg moved into sole possession of first place in its conference and second in the district with a 2-1 win over Pinellas Park at the Huggins-Stengel Complex.
St. Petersburg is 4-0 in the South Division of the Pinellas County Athletic Conference with three league games remaining. Pinellas Park dropped to 4-1. The Green Devils also improved to 7-2 for second place in Class 5A, District 10, moving past the Patriots (5-3).
Tullo, a sophomore, beat Seminole last week and won St. Petersburg's biggest game of the year Tuesday. After allowing a leadoff single to Stevie Mullins that led to the Patriots' only run, Tullo allowed just one more hit in a complete game victory. He walked four and struck out eight to improve to 5-3 on the season.
After squandering numerous opportunities, St. Petersburg (12-5) finally provided Tullo some run support in the fifth inning. Kyle Stang doubled to lead off the inning, and was sacrificed to third. After a fly out to right field that was too shallow to score Stang, Nolan Brannon walked and a Pinellas Park error on the next play helped the Green Devils tie the game.
Marquis Ford, running for Brannon, stole third base and scored on an errant throw.
The victory was the Green Devils' seventh in a row.
"We're getting the key hits in key situations and playing smart ball," said St. Petersburg coach Stefan Futch. "We're not giving games away."
TAMPA PREP 7, SHORECREST 6: The 2A-11 race got tighter as visiting Tampa Prep won with a seventh-inning rally.
The Terrapins (11-7) held a 6-3 lead before Luke Darr slammed a three-run homer in the sixth to even the score. Darr had a double to go with the homer and scored two runs. He launched his homer into a strong wind.
"Wind or no wind, that ball was out of any park," Shorecrest coach Don Reed said.
Tampa Prep came back in the seventh on a walk and a bunt single by Dylan Johnson, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three runs scored.
"He was a thorn in our side all day," Reed said.
J.P. Goldsberry hit a long drive with one out over the Shorecrest outfield, and Johnson scored easily for the victory.
The Chargers could have taken the lead in the district with a win, but now share first place with Tampa Prep and Northside. The three teams are tied in each of the first five tiebreakers, including head-to-head games, to determine district seedings. Shorecrest (8-12) has two district games remaining.
CCC 13, BAYPORT (WISC.) 0: Clearwater Central Catholic batted around in the first inning and romped past visiting Bayport. Wake Forest signee Ryan Webb struck out nine over five innings to improve to 7-0. The game was called due to the 10-run mercy rule.
CCC (13-5) scored first when Bobby Uzdavines led off with a walk and later scored on a Geoff Craig single. Three more singles later, Brett McKean hit a three-run double. Uzdavines closed out the inning with a two-run homer to make it 8-0. John Petika hit a two-run double to make it 10-0 after the second.
Craig closed the scoring with a two-run homer in the fifth.
Bayport (1-2) was visiting from Wisconsin during spring break.
"Ryan (Webb) dominated for us," CCC assistant coach Gary Wilson said. "The whole team is playing pretty good right now. We're starting to get some runs on the board. Our key right now is to get ready for districts."
The Marauders are tied for second with St. Petersburg Catholic in 3A-9 behind Jesuit.
TARPON SPRINGS 11, ZEPHYRHILLS 2: Karl Midgette had three RBI and his brother, Kyle Midgette, struck out nine over four innings to lead the Spongers (14-4) past the host Bulldogs (8-8).
Matt Klimas hit a two-run homer in the fifth for Tarpon Springs.
The Spongers jumped to an early lead with three runs in the first. Kyle Hammond walked, stole second, and scored on a base hit by Karl Midgette for their first run.
Tarpon Springs hosts rival East Lake today.
KESWICK CHR. 6, TEMPLE HEIGHTS 4: Keswick Christian (8-5) jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held off visiting Temple Heights (8-10). Blake Engelhart went the first four innings for the Crusaders, allowing three runs before reliever Seth Montgomery struck out six over three innings to close out the win.
Montgomery doubled twice in his first appearance since returning from an arm injury.
EAST LAKE 4, CLEARWATER 3 (10): It took nearly two months, but the Eagles finally beat the visiting Tornadoes. The game began March 2 but was suspended after eight innings due to darkness.
When play resumed on Tuesday, Pete Ganci pitched two shutout innings for East Lake before the Eagles put it away in the bottom of the 10th.
No. 9 hitter Donnie Hathaway led off the inning with a single, his third hit of the game. After two walks to load the bases, Dan Boucher hit a double play ball to second, but Boucher beat the throw to first and Hathaway scored to win.
The Eagles blew a chance to win an inning earlier, putting runners on first and third with none out, and loaded the bases one out later, but failed to capitalize.
"I'm happy with the win," East Lake coach Lee Byers said. "We're still young and making strange mistakes at strange times, but we're playing well."
Boucher went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Bill Manion added two hits and an RBI.
BOCA CIEGA 9, GIBBS 0: Freshman Donnie Alfro allowed just two hits in a complete game shutout to lead the Pirates (11-9).
Alfro struck out only two, but kept the ball on the ground while teammate Kase Friolo led the Boca Ciega attack with two doubles. Sean Russo added two RBIs.
The Pirates jumped to a 3-0 first inning lead and scored four more in the seventh.
HILLSBOROUGH 2, KING 0: The bus transporting Hillsborough to King arrived behind schedule, pushing the first pitch between the Terriers and Lions back almost 20 minutes. Like their bus, the Terriers' bats arrived a little late, but Hillsborough scratched out two fifth-inning runs and Michael Garcia made it stand.
The Terriers (14-6) got all three of their hits against starter Stephen Locke (5-2) in the fifth. Garcia doubled down the leftfield line and courtesy runner Mike Burgess came around to score on freshman Todd Brazeal's looping liner into rightfield. Hillsborough loaded the bases on two hit batters before Devon Cason lined a run-scoring single for a 2-0 lead.
- Times correspondents Jeff Berlinicke and Brandon Wright contributed to this report.
