Dunedin rolls to PCAC title with five-inning rout

Stars are plentiful as the Falcons defeat Northeast 16-4 for their first title since 2003.

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published April 19, 2006

	[Times photo: William Dunkley]
	Billy Perillo, left, Clay Kollenbaum, middle, and Ryan Webb (10) join Dunedin teammates in celebrating Kollenbaum's home run in the fourth.

ST. PETERSBURG - Catcher Ryan Schneider asked assistant coach Dennis Duncan if he could put in a word for him and pitcher Max Kreuter to get them an interview, and hopefully some TV time, with a nearby cameraman.

Duncan just laughed.

"What'd you do, go 3-for-3?" he asked Schneider.

On a night when four of his teammates combined for a team-record six home runs in just five innings, that was not going to cut it.

Schneider and Kreuter, who retired the last 10 batters, will have to settle for a T-shirt, which were awarded to all the Falcons after they blasted Northeast 16-4 in the Pinellas County Athletic Conference title game.

The Falcons (18-7) picked up their first PCAC title since 2003, and did so in impressive fashion by invoking the 10-run mercy rule.

With Northeast unable to start ace Josh Bowman, who was bitten near his eye by a wasp Monday night, the Vikings turned to Austin Smith, who hit Dunedin leadoff man Cody Lehasky twice in the first inning.

In between the plunkings, Clay Kollenbaum hit the first home run of his high school career, a three-run blast, and sprinted all the to second base before he settled into a trot.

"I was just really excited," he said. "I didn't know it was gone for sure, so I was running, and never stopped. That's the fastest I've ever made it to second base."

Three innings later, he hit the second of his career, sending dad Keith on a long journey to a dark parking lot to find the ball (he couldn't).

Kollenbaum wasn't the only Falcon with two homers - Lehasky put balls out of the park in the third and fifth innings.

Jake Rogers hit a solo shot in the second inning, his county-leading seventh of the year. And Billy Perillo added one in the fifth, to give the Falcons a homer in every inning.

As for Schneider? Three hits, three runs scored and two RBI, on any other night a pretty good performance.

[Last modified April 19, 2006, 01:59:13]