THE 8-1-3List Week 5
presented by The Hitting Academy
1. Jesuit (14-0)
The Tigers added two more dominating wins last week defeating Missouri’s St. Louis University 8-0, and taking a 12-3 road win at Hollins, as senior Josh Hines had three RBI, and is up to 20 hits on the season – tying him for the team lead with Wes Mendes (.455, 17 runs, 12 RBI). Jesuit will travel to Dunedin on Thursday, and hosts Plant this Friday.
Last Week: #1
2. Sickles (11-2)
Senior Hayden Yost has been carrying the Gryphons lineup through the first half of the season, now hitting .526 with 14 runs and 10 RBI, but Sickles hitters have started to heat up a bit in a trio of wins last week. Caden McDonald added homers two and three in wins against Steinbrenner and Freedom and moves into a team tie at 10 RBI on the year. This week sees a Thursday visit to Bloomingdale, and a Saturday morning game at home against Chamberlain for the Gryphons.
Last Week: #2
3. Durant (10-2)
Durant’s Gavin Florio.
The Cougars claimed three wins last week with lopsided victories over Leto and Robinson sandwiched around a battle with visiting Lennard on Friday. Against the Longhorns, Noah Morales drove in a pair of late runs in support of an excellent relief outing from Gavin Florio (click here to read about it). The Cougars will travel to Newsome for its only game this week.
Last Week: #3
4. Alonso (9-4)
Alonso’s Christopher Morgan.
The Ravens return to the rankings and jump all the way up to the 4-Hole behind wins against Jefferson, TBT, and East Bay last week. Senior Christopher Morgan continues to set the table for Alonso, scoring five of his team-leading 15 runs on the year in the wins last week. On the mound BJ Rivera and Landon Nunez have combined for six wins, and both have sub-2.00 ERAs. The Ravens go on the road for a pair this week, facing Chamberlain on Thursday and Riverview on Saturday.
Last Week: NR
5. Plant (7-3)
The Panthers won 14-1 at Palm Harbor last week as Robert Satin struck out seven in a five-inning win, with Rocco DeMarinis leading the offense going 2-for-2 with a double, a walk, three runs scored and four RBI. The junior third baseman now has 14 runs driven in on the year. Plant has a three-game week at home against Leto (Tues) and Riverview (Thurs), before a big showdown at Jesuit on Friday.
Last Week: NR
6. Tampa Catholic (9-4)
The Crusaders pitching staff has been on fire all season, but has hit another level during the current four-game win stretch, allowing just three earned runs and striking out 41 batters, including wins last week against Seffner Christian, Brooks DeBartolo and Tampa Prep – the last of which featured 11 punchouts from Roman Corinti. TC plays the next three days, visiting Tampa Prep tonight, and hosting Northside Christian and Carrollwood Day the next two days.
Last Week: #8
7. Jefferson (8-4)
The Dragons split last week’s games winning against East Bay, but dropping an 8-3 game to Alonso, despite 10 K’s from starting pitcher Mikey Marroquin. Jefferson has been hitting well with five of its regular starting nine hitting over .300, and have competed in all four losses. The Dragons are in good shape in its 4A-District 10 grouping, but probably wish they could have flipped the outcome in some very close games the other way thus far.
Last Week: #3
8. Bloomingdale (8-3)
Bloomingdale’s Pierce Collins.
The Bulls stopped a three-game skid from the Saladino Tournament with a 4-3 win over Plant City last week as Jacob Magadan put in his fourth quality start in as many chances, going seven innings against the Raiders with eight strikeouts. Junior Pierce Collins is riding a seven-game hitting streak, including a triple and a run scored in the win last week. Bloomy travels to Lennard for a HUGE district game on Tuesday, then welcomes Sickles for a visit on Thursday.
Last Week: NR
Dropping out this week: #5 Strawberry Crest (8-5); #6 Berkeley Prep (8-5); #7 Armwood (7-4)
“1” Team to Watch
Sports Leadership & Management [SLAM] (7-5)
In its first season as an FHSAA Class 2A team the Spartans have played some darn good baseball under second-year head coach Nick Russo. Sophomore Andrew Bunner has been red-hot for SLAM, hitting .447, with 10 RBI, six doubles and a pair of homers, who Russo said is an “outstanding leader on and off the field.” Not far behind in the stat sheet is fellow sophomore Trent Prevatt, who has a hit in all but one game, and is tied for the team lead with 10 RBI. All but two outs this season have been delivered by either freshman or sophomores on the mound, so the future looks very bright for this program. The Spartans travel to Rome & Sligh Park to face Brooks DeBartolo on Tuesday, and face Carrollwood Day on Saturday morning.
“3” Top Performances
Ian Bast, RHP, Seffner Christian
The Crusaders senior struck out 11 in five innings of work as SCA defeated Cambridge Christian on Friday. Bast is 3-1 on the year, with 34 K’s in 21 1/3 innings of work and a 2.30 ERA.
Josh Hines, C, Jesuit
Let’s forget for a second that Hines is one of the best backstops in the county, he also hits leadoff for the Tigers and is riding an 11-game hitting streak, including going 6-for-9 last week with three RBI. And when you add in that the speed-up runner Jesuit uses allow Hines to get back into his gear – Jackson Thomas – has 12 runs scored Hines impact on the game increases further.
Austin Liss, RHP, Steinbrenner
The sophomore held Riverview to just four hits and struck out nine in a shutout, complete-game win last week, issuing no walks. In fact, on the season he has 41 K’s to just seven base-on-balls and a 1.15 ERA. He has at least nine strikeouts in 4-of-5 starts this season.
