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Bears get boost from victoryBy BRANT JAMES © St. Petersburg Times, published March 6, 2001 BROOKSVILLE -- The importance of Central's 5-4 win over Hernando on Friday varies by the perspective. For Gary Buel, whose Bears won on a bases-loaded walk by John Sirvent in the eighth inning, the benefit was major. "This one gives us some confidence," Buel said. "And we're also 2-0 in the district. "I told (the team), 'If you're not ready to play now, you might as well go home because this is what it's all about,' " the coach said. "I think they were ready to play." For his counterpart, Hernando's Tim Sims, who watched the Leopards blow a 4-0 lead with six errors, the downside was minimal. "It was a typical Hernando-Central game," Sims said. "It doesn't mean one single thing. Districts do the talking. Win a district, you can talk. If you don't, you can't. "We're 0-2 in the districts, and we'll probably see them somewhere down the road." Hernando walloped Central 16-0 in the Class 3A, District 8 championship a season ago -- their last meeting before Friday. That made the Bears' win especially sweet. Central improved its record to 3-5 by sticking to its strategy: putting the ball in play. That worked just fine against a Hernando team (4-4) that raised its season total of errors to 28. "More games are lost than they are won in high school," Buel said. "We beat them on the scoreboard, but they gave us the opportunities." Such as in the seventh, when catcher Trevor Coleman fielded a Rich Lisi bunt and threw the ball into center field while attempting to force Jamie McElfresh at second. Such as when Drew Innes missed a pick-off throw from Westbrook, allowing McElfresh to take third base. McElfresh scored to tie the game at 4 on a Jerad Brotherwood groundout. The winning rally started in the eighth when second baseman Andrew Runge committed an error on a Thomas Lobianco grounder. After consecutive strikeouts, Westbrook issued an intentional walk to McElfresh, then unintentional free passes to Lisi and Sirvent to end the game. Sims said he was pleased with the defensive effort, especially Coleman's, despite the key error. "I thought our catching situation was pretty solid," Sims said. "He's a brand new catcher and did a pretty adequate job, although he had one key play where maybe we get a double play out of it. "That's what you have to work on," the Leopards coach said. "When you're a state-caliber team, you can play defense." One of the more pleasing aspects of the win for Central was that it came in a game started by Hernando ace Jason Dunn. Although the Bears did not beat the senior pitcher, they milked a start out of him. Dunn allowed an earned run on six hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in six innings. "We know Dunn," Buel said of the pitcher who beat Central twice in three meetings last season. "We didn't even sniff him last year. "I said all we have to do is shorten up at the plate, put the ball in play and see what happens."
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From today's Hernando Times |
