'New' Leopards face old nemesis

The last time Hernando played Eustis, it lost 10-0.

By BRANT JAMES

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 5, 2000

BROOKSVILLE -- Hernando High baseball coach Tim Sims is convinced the Leopards who were slaughter-ruled 10-0 by Eustis on Feb. 22 little resemble the ones who will attempt to beat the 25-8 Panthers tonight in the Class 3A, Region II semifinals.

Eustis coach David Lee is sold on the same notion, which is partly why he will send staff ace Travis Rios to the mound instead of the pitcher who shut out Hernando nearly 10 weeks ago.

"From our standpoint, we're playing much more of a sound mental game, more of a complete game," Sims said. "We're not ever too high or too low now, and we stay steady whether we're up or down. I think we'll be in it."

Hernando (20-12) has trailed by three or more runs as late as the seventh inning in two of three playoff games this year. Lee expects that character to arrive via big yellow school bus tonight.

"I don't know if that first game (between the teams) will be a factor," Lee said. "I know we faced them at a time when we did not see their top pitcher, and we had a good day. At that point I think they were a team that had not quite found itself."

That respect means Hernando will face Rios (not Bryan Haines), a senior right-hander who enters the game with a 7-5 record and 1.56 earned-run average. Rios, who signed a national letter of intent to play at North Carolina-Greensboro, has struck out 85 batters in 651/3 innings with his power repertoire. His fastball is consistently in the upper-80s and has been clocked as fast as 92 miles per hour.

Hernando, which pitched Nick Westbrook in the first meeting, will counter with Jason Dunn. The junior has both of the Leopards' playoff wins, most recently in a three-inning relief effort in a 10-8 win over Citrus on Tuesday. John Neal started against Citrus so Dunn would be ready to start tonight.

Dunn has a 3.50 ERA and 16 strikeouts in eight playoff innings.

"We wanted to make sure if we were going to get on the bus and go all the way up there again we were going to have our horse ready to go," Sims said. "He's going to keep us in the game."

Because Lee said he refuses to rely on the first meeting for scouting purposes, he has made numerous phone calls to glean information about Hernando. He has the basics down.

"I know that lead-off hitter (Denis Hernandez) can get on and run," Lee said. "Everyone knows about (Chris) Cole and (Dee) Brown. (Stephen) Blanton hits the ball well.

"They're a lot like us. Throughout the lineup, they can hurt you, and that makes them a scary team to face."

Eustis' home park, Stuart Cotrell Field, would seemingly play to the Leopards' strength with a 300-foot leftfield power porch. The Leopards have hit 49 home runs this season, paced by Brown's single-season school-record 15.

Pitching, Sims said, negates that factor.

"It's a smaller field, but they have quality pitching," he said. "They go about four-deep and I think you'd have to say they are a little deeper than us.

"I know it's a cliche, but our guys have been a lot better lately of going pitch-by-pitch and not being too affected by those kinds of things."

Lee concurred, carefully, without discounting a Leopards lineup that hits .330 as a team.

"We played in lots of small parks, we played half our games here, and our team ERA was still right around 2.00," he said. "The park, for us, is not a factor. It is for other teams only if they come in here and try to lift it."

Lee said he expects a close, low-scoring game. Eustis is used to winning those kind.

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