Sports

Times super seven

By Times staff writers
Published March 10, 2006

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1. NORTHEAST (7-1): A no-hitter. Gaudy offensive numbers. A drubbing of Seminole. A decisive victory over East Lake (without the use of Nos. 1-2 pitchers Josh Bowman or Jacob Wilder). That's a good enough start to debut atop the Super Seven.

2. DUNEDIN (7-1): The Falcons lost every starter, but this year's group is putting up some impressive numbers, regularly scoring 10 runs a game and showing some of the power that's been missing in recent years.

3. CLEARWATER (6-1): Dan McCormick's power-hitting exploits and some strong pitching by Tim Younger have the Tornadoes poised to again rule the north county, though today's game against No. 2 Dunedin will tell us more.

4. EAST LAKE (7-3): Mike Papa has homered in the past two games as the Eagles have now won three straight, including wins over Seminole and Palm Harbor University.

5. CCC (6-2): Pendleton Academy has handed No. 3 Clearwater and No. 4 East Lake losses, but couldn't even muster a hit off CCC this week. The Marauders did drop a game against Jesuit, but got revenge Thursday night.

6. SEMINOLE (7-3): The once-streaking Warhawks are showing their age in recent losses to East Lake and Northeast.

7. ST. PETERSBURG CATHOLIC (8-3): The Barons knocked off the county's last undefeated team, Canterbury, on Tuesday behind a Pete Woodworth homer, and it was Woodworth getting the win over Tampa Prep in their other win.

NOTABLES

East Lake catcher/outfielder Mike Papa has homered in his past two games, victories over Palm Harbor University and Sarasota Riverview. He is now batting .484 (15-for-31) and leads the Eagles in RBIs and total bases.

CCC pitcher Drew Eddinger threw 61/3 innings of hitless ball against Pendleton Academy on Monday night, with Dante Roberts and Joe McLemore each getting an out to complete the no-hitter. Eddinger struck out eight in the game.

Dunedin's Jake Rogers leads the county in extra-base hits with nine - four doubles, three triples and two home runs. The sophomore had two doubles in the Falcons' 10-1 win Wednesday night.

Clearwater's power-hitting Dan McCormick is off to a blazing start. He homered in four straight games and leads the county in that category, and he added doubles in two other games, giving him at least one extra-base hit in six of the Tornadoes' seven games.

Know someone who had a notable performance? Send it along to cotey@sptimes.com

MEMORIES

These aren't your older brother's Falcons, or your father's, or your estranged uncle's, but they certainly make contact like they are.

Back in 2002 when Brian Dopirak crushed 11 home runs and Dunedin was chasing the state record - they eventually fell a dozen short with 32 as a team - today's Falcons were in Little League stirrups swinging for the fences at Fisher Field.

Still relatively young, Dunedin (8-1) has sent nine balls out of the yard this season, with a bucket full of doubles and triples to boot. They surpassed all of last season's home run total by Game 7 this year, but hold off on the comparisons to Dopirak and Ryan Harvey.

"No, no, no" said Dunedin coach Tom Hilbert, laughing. "We're not going to try and be the guys from '02. You can't ask anyone to do that again."

Jacob Rogers, a sophomore, has three triples, four doubles and two homers. Junior Ryan Faison and catcher Ryan Schneider each have two homers as well. Cody Lehasky, Billy Perillo and Tyler Schmidt, who hit his first career blast Wednesday, have the other long balls.

Combined, the Falcons are slugging above .700 and have had double-digit hits in seven of their eight wins. Some have just been longer than others.

ANYTHING YOU CAN DO

With the softball team at Canterbury tearing it up this season, the baseball team decided to get in on the act, too.

The Crusaders got off to an 8-0 start while crushing the opposition before becoming the last county private school team to lose this season.

Though questions always will be there about Canterbury's level of competition, it fared well against St. Petersburg Catholic. The Barons need two runs in the sixth and seventh innings to pull out a 4-2 over Canterbury.

Canterbury has been led by Kurt Lancaster (.571, 13 runs, 11 RBIs), Joe Cuda (.520, 16 RBIs) and Brandon Hamilton (.454, 16 runs, 10 RBIs).

Lancaster and Cuda each have two homers.

On the mound, Hamilton and Cuda have combined with John Lancaster on all all of Canterbury's wins and in 51 innings have 87 strikeouts.

FREAKY FRIDAY

Thursday nights can't be fun for batters knowing they have to face Northeast's Josh Bowman the next day.

On Fridays this season, Bowman has given up just two hits - a home run by Clearwater's Dan McCormick and a double by Shawn Livernios. The past two Fridays he has no-hit Osceola, then threw six innings of hitless ball against Dixie Hollins.

Good news (we think) for next week's opponents - Bowman will pitch on Tuesday, when the Vikings meet Boca Ciega.

- JOHN C. COTEY, Times staff writer, ERIC MUSKATEVC, Times correspondent

[Last modified March 10, 2006, 01:59:17]

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