Hurricanes come up short

By NEIL FISHER
Published March 23, 2006

ORLANDO - Citrus' drive to win the consolation bracket came to a grinding halt when American Heritage took advantage of a tiring pitching staff for a 10-5 victory in the National Baseball Classic on Wednesday.

The Hurricanes drew first blood with a run in the fourth but it was short-lived as the Stallions answered with two in their half of the inning.

Sellin Neptune failed to give up a hit through the first three innings, but entering the fourth, lost control of his pitches. And in what became the Hurricane pitcher's longest outing of the year, the Stallions began to take more pitches as Neptune consistently fell behind in the count.

Losing velocity on his pitches and forced to throw more over the plate, American Heritage hammered out three consecutive hits, including a double by Sean Albury that put the two eventual runners who crossed the plate in scoring position. Sharad Johnson followed with a single, scoring the two and jump-starting the Stallions offense.

ORLANDO - In a near carbon copy of Lecanto's previous performances in the tournament, the Panthers suffered their third consecutive loss.

Defensive errors by Lecanto along with the opposition's timely hitting and strong pitching were the culprits.

Panther starter Eric Mylin pitched a scoreless first inning, but the wheels came off in the second. Ocoee's Terrance Coakley singled, then stole second. He came home when third baseman Jon Barr committed a throwing error after fielding a groundball.

The Knights followed with a second run in the third to take control of the game. The combination of three errors, three singles, and a hit batter in the fifth strangled any opportunity the Panthers had of answering the Knights as the stanza ended with an 8-0 score.

Only one of the seven runs Milan gave up were earned. Ocoee pitcher Corey Burnstein matched his team's offensive output in terms of performance. He gave up three hits through the first five frames and a total of five base hits.

[Last modified March 23, 2006, 02:30:12]