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Swimming with Sharks gets tougher

By DAVID MURPHY
Published March 22, 2007

Bryan Daniels remembers looking up at the scoreboard in his first varsity baseball game and seeing his team losing 22-0.

Four years ago, he says, such scores were commonplace. Nature Coast was starting a new program at a new school, but none of its opponents seemed to care.

"They took no mercy on us," Daniels said. "They made us feel like crap."

Which is hardly the way Nature Coast was feeling in the wake of a 2-1 loss to Pasco on Tuesday night. In a game many people thought would expose them as a district pretender, the Sharks 11-3 played the Pirates (13-0) even for six and a half innings before surrendering the winning run in the top of the seventh on one-out RBI double by Jacob Schrader.

The loss ended Nature Coast's winning streak at 10 games, and extended the Pirates' win streak to 13. But after the game, players such as Daniels, a senior who gave up nine hits and just two unearned runs in a complete-game performance, spoke with an air of vindication.

This, after all, was a Pasco team that entered the game ranked No. 5 in Class 4A. Seven of the Pirates' 12 wins going into Tuesday night had been shutouts. During one five-game stretch, they outscored their opponents 41-0.

"A lot of people didn't give us a chance," Nature Coach coach Dan Garofano said.

But the Sharks didn't seem fazed. They jumped on Pasco early, getting three hits and a run in the first inning, then rode Daniels' arm the rest of the way.

Pasco starter Dustin Brown lived up to his considerable hype, giving up no hits and striking out nine over the final six innings, but Nature Coast never crumbled. It played fundamental baseball, made few mistakes and forced its favored opponent to win the game.

"We knew we could play with them," Garofano said. "We proved to other people that didn't give us a chance, if you are going to beat us, you better bring your 'A' game."

People are taking notice. Pasco coach Ricky Giles praised the Sharks afterward. "I give them all the credit," Giles said. "They scrapped."

Such a designation was Nature Coast's goal prior to the season. Coming off the first winning season in school history, the Sharks wanted to be known for being a fundamentally sound team that made the most of its opportunities once it reached base. Daniels said the team worked "extremely hard" in the offseason and was determined to prove itself as a legitimate district contender.

Specifically, the Sharks wanted to take aim at some of the teams that had tormented them during those formative years.

"We worked on beating everybody who, in our first couple years, would be up by 10 and still be stealing," Daniels said.

The Sharks aren't quite there yet. With the loss to Pasco and a 6-0 loss to Ridgewood this season, the Sharks still have more work to do before they can truly be considered one of the North Suncoast's top teams.

But as his teammates cleared their belongings from the home dugout 15 minutes after falling just short against Pasco, Daniels summed it up nicely, "Basically, it shows we can play with anybody."

David Murphy can be reached at dmurphy@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1407.

[Last modified March 21, 2007, 20:18:04]