Big-leaguers blast way to state title

By JOHN C. COTEY, PETE YOUNG and STEVE LEE

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 27, 2001

Give District 12 big league all-star coach Dave Eggers some points for honesty.

In the wake of his team's 11-3 rout of Niceville on Wednesday, which earned the team the state title and a berth in the Southeast Regional in Biloxi, Miss., Eggers could have boasted about his team's awesome display of power.

After all, District 12 did hit seven home runs in the game.

Instead, he spoke the truth.

"We hit seven home runs last night, and two of them would have been home runs at Englebert (Complex), our home field," Eggers said. "The fences were 300 feet to all fields. It was a joke."

The fences were a joke, but that doesn't mean Eggers wasn't ecstatic about the outcome.

"Obviously, this team knows how to win and how to play, and they play aggressively," Eggers said.

Though the team is dominated by Dunedin and North Pinellas players, two local products have seen considerable playing time -- River Ridge's Billy Phillips and Gulf's Johnny Wirick.

Phillips, who caught the championship game, hit one of the seven home runs Wednesday night to help District 12 finish 3-0.

Phillips also hit a grand slam in the first game and went 6-for-9 in the series.

Wirick, an outfielder, was 0-for-1 Wednesday but 5-for-9 in the tournament. Sporting a roster of local high school stars and recent graduates, District 12 was paced by Shawn Williams (Clearwater Central Catholic), who was 2-for-2 with two home runs and four RBI, and Dunedin grads Kenny Holmberg and Bryan Banks, who also homered.

Josh Whittle, who graduated from Dunedin but pitched for Pasco-Hernando Community College this past season, also plays for the team.

NO FLUKE: As it turns out, Paradise Post 79's 6-0 first-inning lead against Bradenton Post 24 in Saturday's rainout was no aberration.

Wednesday's makeup game against Bradenton counted and Paradise started out strong again.

Post 79 led 8-0 by the second inning en route to a 10-1 win in the opening game of the Southwest Area Class A Tournament at the Ray Naimoli complex in St. Petersburg.

"We cleaned their clock," Paradise manager Jim Gariepy said.

Paradise (22-8) played St. Petersburg Post 14 on Thursday afternoon in the second game of the double-elimination series.

Starter Dave Hancox earned the win Wednesday with a four-hit, one-run effort in seven innings. Joe Dan Fagan held Bradenton to two hits and no runs in two innings of relief.

Joe Savino's two-run triple highlighted Post 79's four-run first. Paradise scored four more in the second on RBI singles by Paul Krisanda, Savino and Thomas Dillon, who drove in three runs. Krisanda, who finished with three hits and two RBI, hit a solo home run in the fourth. Ron Lowe (6-1) was scheduled to start Thursday against St. Petersburg, a team Paradise beat twice this season with Lowe earning one of those victories.

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