OCALA — Fernandina Beach’s Jamieson Keith and Sean Benjamin strike solo household runs, and righthander Todd Rushing authorized no operates in five innings to guide the Pirates to a 5-2 victory at Trinity Catholic in Saturday night’s Class 3A, Region 1 baseball semifinals.
The victory improved eighth-seed Fernandina Beach front to 16-9 in general and moves the Pirates into the regional finals.
Trinity Catholic, the fourth seed, which had 7 hits and remaining eight males on foundation, finished the time at 19-9. The Celtics, who were being district champions, missing for the second consecutive year in the regional semifinals.
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“You have to give credit history to the Dashing kid mainly because he did a truly superior career of holding us off-equilibrium,” Trinity Catholic mentor Tommy Bond said. “We had some alternatives that we failed to capitalize on. It was a superior yr, but a small disappointing tonight.”
Listed here are takeaways from the video game.
Early scoring likelihood
Fernandina Beach loaded the bases in the leading of the initial inning on a pair of walks and a base hit. But Trinity Catholic sophomore righthander Mekai Griffin struck out the upcoming two batters and induced a ground ball to escape the jam.
The Celtics laced back-to-again two-out singles in the base of the frame, but Dashing bought a floor ball to shortstop to conclusion the menace.
Pirates go deep
Fernandina Seaside got on the scoreboard in the major of the 3rd inning as Keith led off with a solo household run about the left-field fence. One particular out later on, Benjamin drilled a house operate around the remaining-centerfield fence to give the Pirates a 2- direct.
Trinity Catholic, which had runners on base in each inning, couldn’t get the crucial strike towards Rushing, who wasn’t overpowering, but was equipped to pitch his way out of issues every single time to preserve the Celtics scoreless.
Fernandina Seashore utilized its pace to score a pair of runs in the fourth inning with Harrison Blalock and Benjamin driving in operates with foundation hits just after stolen bases place runners in scoring placement.
Drew Meyer arrived on in relief for Griffin with one particular out in the leading of the fourth inning and retired the next two batters, but the Pirates led 4-.
Breakthrough in the sixth inning
Trinity Catholic had its finest prospect to get back again in the recreation in the bottom of the fifth inning when the Celtics loaded the bases with two outs. But Speeding received a fly ball to ideal field to conclusion the threat. Rushing struck out two and walked a person to get paid the acquire.
Fernandina Beach front tacked on a run in the major of the sixth inning on a wander, an mistake, a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch to go up, 5-.
Trinity Catholic broke via in the bottom of the inning as Cole Gonzales was strike by a pitch by reliever Ernest Dye, Griffin roped a double down the remaining-industry line, and Gonzales raced dwelling on a wild pitch to pull the Celtics inside of 5-1.
Very last swings
Trinity Catholic refused to go quietly in the bottom of the seventh inning as Anthony Cordero smashed a two-out solo house run around the left-middle area fence to make it 5-2. Dye obtained the up coming batter to floor out to end the game.
In spite of the reduction, it was a incredibly effective period on the diamond for Trinity Catholic.
“This is a terrific team of kids,” Bond said. “I’ve bought a real great senior course that I’m very very pleased of which is performed a lot for the application and I appreciate individuals fellas.”
This write-up originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Large school baseball: Regional reduction ends period for Trinity Catholic
