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GREG AUMANAfter a victory over an undefeated team, the Pirates gain confidence.
DADE CITY - As if it weren't enough to be opening the playoffs against a Dunnellon team ranked No. 1 in Class 3A, thought to be the last remaining undefeated team in the state, Pasco had another mental obstacle to overcome Tuesday night: the past three years, the Pirates had been sent home in the opening round.
"We just can't get over that," coach Ricky Giles told his players before the game. "When are we going to get it over (with)?"
Wednesday, he said: "We were overdue, and it happened last night."
Pasco stunned Dunnellon with a 3-2 win in eight innings, giving the Pirates their first playoff victory since a final four run in 1997. Pasco will need more upset magic Friday when it travels to face No. 3 Orlando Bishop Moore, but thanks to Tuesday, you won't find a more confident underdog than these Pirates.
"It was a nice feeling to get back on that bus with a smile," said outfielder Sonny Glover, who scored the winning run in the eighth inning.
"I knew we had it in us, but it was just a matter of putting it together."
Glover was scratched from a scheduled start Tuesday, still limited by an injury he suffered last month when he jammed the pinky on his pitching hand sliding back to first base. Sophomore Dominic Brown, a 6-foot-6 left-hander, got the start instead and was masterful, striking out nine batters in 62/3 innings.
Glover relieved Brown in the seventh and was one strike away from clinching a 2-1 victory when Dunnellon came through with a single, sending the game to extra innings. Glover led off the eighth with a single, but the Pirates couldn't advance him, getting a popout and strikeout until Brown came up with two outs. His double to the leftfield wall scored Glover for the go-ahead run, and closer Robbie Shields finished off the Panthers for his seventh save.
Exactly how big is this victory? Giles said it ranks with the biggest from the 1997 playoff run, perhaps meaning more simply because this is a young team, just starting to establish a postseason identity for itself.
"This is probably one of the biggest," said Giles, who will go for his 200th career victory at Pasco on Friday. "When we went to Legends, we had a lot of seniors, and we expected it more then. We did this with only two seniors, so to have that, just look at how those kids will get hungry from this. Whatever they do now, this is something they've been able to experience, and that's great for all of them."
It's the second time in three years a county team has made the playoffs as a district runner-up and pulled off the unthinkable, upsetting a top-ranked and undefeated team in the playoffs. Ridgewood toppled nationally ranked Dunedin in the state semifinals in 2002, and now Pasco can add its name to the list of upset specialists.
Even more encouraging for Giles was the way his young team handled the unlikely celebration. By the time the bus was back in Dade City, the Pirates were back down to earth, talking about their next game, the next day's practice and the way they would have to play a similarly stellar game to expect the same outcome against another tough opponent.
"All they were saying was that this was just part of the way. It's over," Giles said. "We have to work a little bit harder if we want to do anything. Every day from this point on is a learning experience for them."
Several of the Pirates' key players, including Brown, outfielders Mike Onyskin and Kyle Hobbs and catcher Casey Karppe, will continue to miss spring football practice as long as they continue extending the baseball season as they have. It's a schedule conflict they haven't had to worry about much in recent springs, but one they'll welcome this week, and maybe even longer.
"If you can beat No. 1, you can get 2 or 3 or whatever," Giles said of Friday's game in Orlando. "It's going to have to be the same kind of game.
"They know the tone of what they have to play now."