Vikings right their ship against Tornadoes

By BRANDON WRIGHT
Published April 12, 2006

First-year Northeast coach Eric Wagman was a little concerned how his team would rebound against Clearwater Tuesday night after losing for just the second time this season - and seeing an 18-game win streak end - Friday against Clearwater Central Catholic.

"That was the first time we had lost in, I don't know, a couple of months," Wagman said. "So I wanted to see how the team would respond (Tuesday)."

The Vikings' retort was just what Wagman was looking for.

Northeast (20-2) erased a one-run, fifth-inning deficit to rally for a 5-4 win against the visiting Tornadoes, one of two teams to beat the Vikings this year.

"It was just a hard-fought, well-played baseball game," Wagman said. "The kids deserve a lot of credit for bouncing back after Friday."

Clearwater (13-7) pushed across three runs in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead, but Northeast's Austin Gaines lead off the bottom of the inning with a towering homer to left - his third of the season - that bounced off the scoreboard, tying it at 4.

Austin Smith and Jason Cluster walked to open the bottom of the sixth before Dan Catalano advanced both with a sacrifice bunt.

Nick Gaines then lofted a flyball to rightfield, allowing Smith to score standing up for the winner.

Smith (2-0) also picked up the win in relief, tossing two innings of shutout ball and fanning four. Smith relieved starter Josh Bowman, who struck out 11 over five innings but was stymied for the second time by the Tornadoes, who handed him his only loss in the season's second game.

"I don't think Josh had his best stuff tonight, but he pitched well," Wagman said. "His defense betrayed him a little in the middle innings."

Northeast hosts Boca Ciega at 7 tonight while the Tornadoes meet East Lake at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium at 7.

Northeast, which has sewn up the south county spot in the Pinellas County Athletic Conference championship game next week, will keep a close eye on the East Lake game. Should the Eagles win, they will be the Vikings' foe in the PCAC game. A loss by East Lake creates a three-way tie in the north between the Eagles, Clearwater and Dunedin.

SHORECREST 12, AFA 0: Shorecrest exploded for nine runs in the first and cruised to the easy district win, improving to 17-4. Dan Marcet (3-0) picked up the win and Chris Kinter (2-for-2) and Pat Mixa (2-for-3) each drove in a pair runs. The Chargers, ranked No. 5 in 2A, next play IRC on Thursday for a chance to finish the District 11 schedule undefeated.

CAMBRIDGE 10, CALVARY CHR. 0: The Lancers improved to 12-8 with a five-inning shutout of visiting Calvary Christian (4-12). Austin Welti improved to 4-3 and Cambridge's Chris Widell and Garrett Cox each hit a triple and drove in a pair of runs.

CCC, HIALEAH-MIAMI LAKES 3: The host Marauders broke open a 1-all game with a five-run second inning. Drew Eddinger (4-2) got the win while Ryan Acosta and Zack Upton each went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. CCC (13-7) travels to Sarasota to play Cardinal Mooney tonight at 7.

MITCHELL 11, COUNTRYSIDE 2: Patrick Schuster (3-4) struck out three over six innings and Ryan went 3-for-3 with a double and four RBIs for host Mitchell in the district win. Spencer Williams (2-for-2) and Zack Weber (2-for-4, 2B) each scored three runs for the Mustangs.

KESWICK CHR. 8, IRC 7: Alexander Trent hit two home runs for the Golden Eagles, but it wasn't enough as Keswick scored two in the sixth to tie it and two more in the ninth to win. Will Crispell doubled and picked up the victory on the mound.

Times staff writer John C. Cotey contributed to this report.

[Last modified April 12, 2006, 01:08:07]