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Four hours, 13 innings, one Land O'Lakes win

By the time the game ended at 11:27 p.m., the Gators and Rams had experienced several highs and lows.

By STEVE LEE

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 4, 2001

NEW PORT RICHEY -- For anyone who has ever uttered the phrase, "Baseball is boring," we submit as evidence Friday night's 13-inning thriller at Ridgewood.

Like two worn-out boxers standing toe-to-toe, Ridgewood and Land O'Lakes waged a battle for four hours and 27 minutes. They scored crushing blows at key moments and paid dearly for miscues.

Finally, 33 minutes before midnight, the Gators escaped with a 9-7 win. "It's just a shame somebody had to lose because this is the kind of game you remember," Land O'Lakes coach Calvin Baisley said. "This was a classic."

Added Ridgewood coach Larry Beets, "The only thing you remember about a game like this, from a players' standpoint, is it's a gut-check. The biggest thing is whether they'll recover. If you don't, you bury yourself."

That's exactly what Rich Neste felt like doing at one point. The Land O'Lakes first baseman made two errors and lost the ball on a swipe tag of Rick Brensinger. But Neste atoned with a two-run single during the Gators' three-run 13th. "I went from the top of the world to wanting to be by myself," said Neste, comparing Friday's game with Thursday's, in which he limited nationally ranked Dunedin to one run. "We wouldn't have been in that (extra inning) situation if I hadn't made all those errors. I guess I owed it to the team."

Chip Whelan hit a one-out single in the top of the 13th and scored when Aaron McLamar bounced a throw home on Victor Roldan's grounder to third. Neste followed with a two-run single up the middle that scored Greg Rosenthal and Jeff Baisley.

Trailing 9-6 in the bottom of the 13th, Ridgewood got a run and made the final out on the same play.

Dave Hancox scored on Richie Hittel's two-out grounder to third. But Mike Sentner got hung up between second and third and was tagged out. Both Hittel and Land O'Lakes' Bobby O'Dell pitched seven innings and allowed two runs in the 10th.

"I was going on adrenaline," said O'Dell, a sophomore who has bounced back and forth between the varsity and junior varsity. "To come out and pitch like this is just amazing."

"He's pitched his last JV inning," Baisley said. "He earned his stripes tonight."

In the 10th, Land O'Lakes scored twice to snap a 4-4 tie. Roldan scored when McLamar's throw on Robbie Alvarez's grounder pulled Matt Laliberte off of first base, and Jose Santa hit an RBI single.

Ridgewood pulled off a double steal in the bottom of the 10th and tied it when Brensinger and Hittel scored on errors by Neste and Baisley.

Land O'Lakes led 3-0 before Derek Kuryliw closed the gap with a two-run home run, his third, in the third. Kuryliw tripled in the sixth and scored the tying run on Brensinger's single.

Brensinger gave the Rams a 4-3 lead by scoring on McLamar's squeeze.

The Gators tied it at 4 in the seventh on Baisley's second RBI double of the game.

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