Seminole advances to state final

By BRANDON WRIGHT, Times Staff Writer
Published July 30, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Jittery Seminole parents and friends sat in the stands with tense nerves and unsettled stomachs. The team they were cheering, however, displayed little of either.

The home run barrage continued, and starter Mike Mann was lights out as Seminole advanced to the championship game of the Major Baseball Little League Tournament with a 9-1 pounding of North Springs at Tallahassee's Canopy Oaks Community Park.

Seminole hit five homers, including a pair of solo shots from Corey Baptist. Anthony Lamoureux hit his second home run in as many days while Will Oberst and Mann also went deep. Five of Seminole's 11 hits were home runs and all their runs scored were courtesy of the long ball.

Mann took care of the rest, fanning 10 while giving up five hits. The only blemish on his day was a solo home run in the fifth, but Mann bounced back to strike out the next two in the inning.

Will Oberst got things going early, taking a letter-high fastball over the right centerfield fence to lead off the second. One inning later, Brett Phillips and Scott Withrow singled, setting up Mann's gargantuan three-run blast that landed about 100 feet over the left field fence.

Baptist went back-to-back with Mann to put Seminole ahead 5-0. Then, with runners on first and second, Lamoureux connected for a three-run shot. Seminole's first four batters went a combined 7-for-15.

Seminole now plays North Palm Beach, a 5-0 semifinal winner against Defuniak Springs. The winner of that will advance to the Southeast Regionals at Gulfport later this week.

[Last modified July 30, 2007, 16:32:23]