Plant, Brandon to tangle again

By MIKE READLING

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 27, 2000

TAMPA -- Brandon has two losses this season. They both came at the hands of Plant.

Plant feels it has something to prove to everyone in the county. It can do that by winning the district title.

Those two factors provide an underlying theme for tonight's Class 5A, District 9 final at Plant.

The Panthers (18-6) advanced to the championship game with a 3-1 victory over King in Wednesday's first semifinal. They will face Brandon, which defeated Chamberlain 13-1 in game shortened to five innings by the 10-run rule.

Tonight's game will mean more than just who gets to stay home for the first round of regional play and who travels. It is a match-up fans and players from both teams have been looking forward to since Plant beat the Eagles in the Saladino Tournament semifinals last week.

"They are playing great ball right now," Brandon coach Greg Parris said of the Panthers. "They're going to be tough to beat on their own field."

They certainly were against King. The Panthers played blue-collar baseball, turning doubles by Edwin Kain in the first and Tony Cancio in the fourth into runs, then tacking on an insurance run in the sixth when Stephen Anderson singled and later scored.

Plant almost found itself in deep trouble in the bottom of the first when King, which owned a win over the Panthers this season, loaded the bases with no outs. But starter Ryan Devars dug down and retired the next three batters to end the inning. Devars finished with 12 strikeouts.

"We played tremendous defense," Plant coach Pat Russo said.

While Plant was manufacturing runs, Brandon was bashing Chamberlain -- at least in the fourth inning.

The Eagles went into the bottom of the fourth with a 3-1 lead and just three hits. They finished that inning with every batter scoring, 10 more runs, six more hits and a lead big enough to end the game in the fifth.

Designated hitter Mark Connett led the way for Brandon with a double, a grand slam, two runs scored and four RBI in the fourth. Julian Davis also hit a double, scored a run and drove in three in the frame.

But Parris isn't counting on any of that carrying over into today's final.

"In 1995 we 10-run-ruled Wellington and turned around the next day and got beat 2-1 in the state final," Parris said.

4A-11: East Bay falls to Sarasota Riverview 7-3

East Bay jumped to an early lead and looked to be on top of its game, facing a pitcher it had already beaten once this season. But then the roof came crashing down in the form of five runs in the second and third innings as host Sarasota Riverview cruised to a 7-3 win at Ed Smith Stadium.

"I thought at 2-2 we were going to be there until the end of the game," East Bay coach Billy Leiby said. "But we kicked the ball around some and I don't think we came out all that focused."

The Sharks (15-11) added two insurance runs in the sixth.

"We had more hits than them, out-hit them eight to seven," Leiby said, "but we also out-errored them four to two. It was just a combination of errors and no hits."

As a consolation, Leiby can look forward to next season. "This was a success story for us this year," he said. "I only graduate two seniors and no pitchers. I'm looking forward to next year." -- SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

3A-9: Dragons' Weintraub shuts down Robinson 4-1

TAMPA -- It takes one swing to shatter a pitchers' duel.

Jefferson senior Kosta Papademetriou stroked a fourth-inning home run that broke a 1-1 tie, and proved to be the game-winner in the Dragons' 4-1 semifinal victory over Robinson.

"We needed that to pick up the game," Jefferson shortstop Adriel Fiallo said.

Through three innings, Knights' freshman starting pitcher A.J. Salhanick (5-6) struck out four, and the only run he gave up was on Andre Caldwell's infield single.

But with one out in the fourth, Papademetriou reached down and hammered a Salhanick curveball 380 feet to left centerfield for a 2-1 Dragon lead.

"He hit a really good pitch," Salhanick said. "I thought I had enough left over to finish the game and keep us close, but stuff happens."

Dragons' starting pitcher Jason Weintraub (6-3) took it from there, needing only 91 pitches to throw a four-hit complete game.

Jefferson padded the lead in the sixth.

Fiallo led off with a shot to the rightfield warning track for a triple and came home when rightfielder Dreux Jackson bobbled the ball.

"Coming around third, he (Fiallo) looked like he was going to fall down," Papademetriou joked. "Like he was running out of gas."

Fiallo responded, "I got some wheels, I try to hide 'em."

Chase Manuel's run-scoring single four batters later gave Weintraub all the insurance needed.

The junior righthander held the Knights (9-15) to four singles, giving up only one hit after the fourth inning.

"I hit my spots better as the game went on," Weintraub said.

Jefferson (12-12) will host Clearwater Central Catholic, which is 2-0 against the Dragons this season, in the district final tonight at 7.

"We'll show up to play, and they'll show up to play; and we'll see what happens," Jefferson coach Pop Cuesta said. -- SCOTT MASSEY

2A-11: Berkeley, Northside Christian move into final

TAMPA -- The plan for Berkeley Prep and Northside Christian is expected to be the same for tonight's Class 2A, District 11 title game at 7 at Tampa Prep: Give the ball to the freshman.

Berkeley Prep's Justin Morris and Northside Christian's Todd Redmond are scheduled to start in a contest involving 1999 district champions. The fourth-seeded Buccaneers (17-11) advanced Wednesday with an 11-4 upset victory over No. 1 Shorecrest while No. 2 Northside Christian (21-7) held off third-seeded St. Petersburg Catholic 14-12.

Berkeley Prep and Northside Christian are guaranteed spots in next week's regional playoffs.

While the spotlight will be on the ninth-grade pitchers, another freshman won't be in uniform. Northside Christian's Lastings Milledge, the Florida Athletic Coaches Association's Pinellas County district player of the year, will miss the game after being ejected in the third inning for a non-sliding incident at third base.

Milledge, whose batting average is .620, attempted to stretch an RBI double into a triple but failed to slide and collided with third baseman Peter Guastella. The incident carries an automatic suspension by the Florida High School Activities Association for tonight's game.

"It's a shame because Lastings is such a good person," Northside Christian coach Darrell Don said. "He just got caught in a rule violation. We'll miss him, but I'm confident in the rest of the team."

Ironically, Milledge's ejection also led to the departure of St. Petersburg Catholic starting pitcher Brad Suetholz on the same play. After Milledge was called out, Suetholz was ejected for taunting with his Barons (16-12) leading 5-3. Two innings later, North Christian scored eight runs to go in front for good.

The Mustangs couldn't relax until the final out, however, as Redmond came in to strike out Copley Gerdes with the bases loaded to save the victory for Rob McNeal.

Northside Christian had seven extra-base hits, but committed eight errors, leading to 10 unearned runs. Andy Park had three doubles for the Mustangs.

Berkeley Prep got a 125-pitch complete game from Matt Winn and used a six-run sixth to pull away from Shorecrest (19-8). The Buccaneers had six extra-base hits, including a Kris Courier home run and three-run triple by Steve Gendron that sparked the sixth-inning rally.

"We've been having teams on the ropes and we haven't really had that one big innning where we just put teams away," Berkeley Prep coach Fred Pisano said. "We finally did that (Wednesday)."

Alex Blagojevick, Pat Biladeau, Steven Weissman and Gendron had two hits apiece for the Buccaneers. -- DON JENSEN

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