Seminole give up baserunners but not runs in beating St. Petersburg for the district title.
By JEREMY WRITT
Published May 8, 2004
SEMINOLE - Early missed opportunities proved the downfall for St. Petersburg as it fell 3-2 to Seminole on Friday in the Class 5A, District 10 Championship.
The Green Devils failed to produce with runners on base.
"They had their chances early to score some runs," Seminole coach Scott Miller said.
Scott Foelgner, Vincent Grasso and Adam Reclohe led off the second inning with consecutive singles, but St. Petersburg failed to score. Seminole catcher Ricky Nolan threw a dart to first base and caught Foelgner leading off too far. Green Devils rightfielder Camillo Fortunato walked to load the bases but Kyle Stang and Ryan Luker both popped out to right to end the inning.
"We actually outhit them, but they got the big hits when they needed them and that is what wins ball games," St. Petersburg coach Stefan Futch said.
The Green Devils stranded seven batters in the first four innings; the Warhawks only left three runners on base through five innings.
"This is the lineup we have played with for the last six or seven games and we have won all those games," Miller said. "Everybody does a little bit of something to contribute every game that makes a difference."
Seminole produced two runs on three hits in the bottom of the first. Shawn Keill led off with a triple and scored on Nick Stanley's groundout. Ricky Nolan followed with a double and scored on a fielding error after Phillip Weylie's single.
The Warhawks did not get another scoring opportunity until the sixth inning.
St. Petersburg squandered their early scoring opportunities, but used aggressive baserunning to create offense. Fortunato drew his second walk in the fourth, then stole second. Luker singled him in to make the score 2-1. Luker stole second and tied the score on senior Dale Brannon's single.
Seminole senior Ricky Nolan scored the winning run in the sixth. He singled a 3-2 pitch to rightfield and advanced to second on Weylie's bunt single. Kyle Albright followed with a double that proved to be the difference.
"It was a good battle right there," Nolan said. "I was just reacting to the pitch. He threw it away and I stayed back and hit it to rightfield."
