Tigers hold off Bartow in slugfest

By ERIC MUSKATEVC
Published April 28, 2006

LAKE WALES - Jesuit overcame a seven-run deficit and beat Bartow 19-16 in a marathon offensive battle Thursday night to win the district title.

Bartow (19-8) scored three runs in the first inning and four in the second to take what appeared to be a solid lead. But Jesuit erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the second, highlighted by a grand slam by Sam Dyson and a solo homer by Kyle Wiser.

Jesuit (21-6) then scored three runs in the fourth and five in the fifth. Bartow responded with two runs in the sixth and four in the seventh and had a runner on base when Wiser, the fourth pitcher for Jesuit and the ninth to see action in the game, got the final out.

Jesuit collected 19 hits, four from Ryan Lockwood, and three by Jeff May, who had three doubles total.

There were 35 hits in the game, seven walks and a hit batter, but only one error.

--The Ledger

CLEARWATER - Winning, trailing, then tied, Clearwater Central Catholic got what it needed in the sixth inning and held on to win its first district title since 2003 over Tampa Catholic 10-7 in a game that had 22 hits, a catcher's interference call and a handful of errors.

Tied at 7, Ryan Weber earned his fifth win of the year on the mound when he beat out an errant throw to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning. Brett McKean followed with a single and both came around to score when Sam Mende laced a ball down the first-base line, putting CCC up 9-7. The Crusaders went up one in the top of the fourth inning, scoring four times on singles from Luis Aguila, J.C. Suarez (3-for-4) and Eric Gerken. CCC took the lead right back in the bottom half when Joe McLemore sent his first homer of the season, a two-run bomb over the elevated centerfield fence about 400 feet away.

[Last modified April 28, 2006, 02:20:54]