Long goes the distance, Perez goes yard twice in Bulls win

Bloomingdale junior Isaiah Perez hit a grand slam and two-run homer, while scoring three times as the Bulls defeated Carrollwood Day, 10-1 in the Saladino Tournament semifinal (813Preps file photo).

By Jarrett Guthrie, Editor

RUSKIN – Depth is always the key to success in the six-day grind that is the midseason Saladino Tournament. Coaching strategy is put to the test, pitching staffs are taxed, while teams have to weather the highs and lows that come along with the hope of a fifth tournament game.

Sometimes it takes a surprise hero to step up and will his team to the championship final.

Bloomingdale head coach Kris Wilken threw a bit of a curveball when he decided to put the baseball in the right hand of junior Luke Long for Wednesday’s Saladino Gold Division semifinal game against Carrollwood Day.

Wilken said he decided to gamble on starting Long on the mound and save his more experienced pitchers for a possible title game on Thursday, turning to his rightfielder for his first pitching appearance since picking up four outs in relief during a win against Alonso more than a month ago (Feb 13th).

Not knowing if the move would get the Bulls three outs, six outs, more or less, Wilken sent Long out hoping for the best. Long gave him just that, his best in a complete-game win where he allowed one run on six hits and struck out five – including three in the final inning while the Bulls built an early lead and cruised to a 10-1 victory over the Patriots.

“I just had to trusted myself and knew that I’m a good pitcher,” Long said. “It was back to Alonso since I last threw it (in a game), but I’ve been working hard in my ‘pens, working my craft and knew I had the stuff to do this tonight.”

Quite literally lifting the Bloomingdale (12-3) offense was junior Isaiah Perez, who sent the first pitch of his second-inning at bat over the wall at Lennard High for a grand slam, putting the game out of reach. Perez was issued a free pass in his next at bat, but upon getting another fastball in the sixth ,the right-hander déjà vu’d his second bomb of the game to left to cap his six-RBI night.

Perez said his approach with the bases loaded in the second inning was just trying to get on base and continue to pass the baton as the Bulls had just taken a one-run lead.

“I think it comes down to doing anything I can to help out my team,” Perez said. “I’m not trying to do too much there and I wasn’t trying to hit a home run. I was just trying to have a simple mindset and get the guys on the bases on the board.”

But Perez admitted when his opportunity came in the sixth, he was definitely going to take a big hack if he got the pitch he wanted.

“The second one,” Perez said with a smile, “I saw the (new CDS) pitcher warming up and I thought, well, I’ll have some fun here and that’s what happened.”

A total team effort in the win included hits from 8-of-9 Bloomingdale starters, and the only batter without a hit for the Bulls, Peyton Jennings, did his job with an RBI sac fly in the sixth.

The Bulls first got on the board after a two-base error put a runner aboard, then Braxton Wilken’s single up the middle put two on, and Mason Johnson dropped down a bunt for a hit to score the first run and kick off the five-run frame.

Carrollwood Day (10-6) earned its semifinal spot after going 2-1 in pool-play, including an impressive shutout win over Sickles on Tuesday. The Patriots answered in the third inning with a leadoff double by Steven Vargo, followed by an RBI single for Julian Earle.

But aside from three more singles in three separate innings, Long was not feeling generous.

“When they got that run in the third, I felt like I was having a trouble locating my off-speed a little bit, which caused me to only throw my fastball,” he said. “(CDS) was getting some hard-hit balls, but from that point on I felt like I locked in.

“I started locating my curveball, getting it right on the outside, locating my off-speed stuff and from there my arsenal was working and I felt like nothing could stop me at that point.”

Long singled in the home-third, followed by a Vaughn Osting double and the run-scoring sac fly from Jennings.

Then the Bulls tacked on two in the fourth with an RBI single driven to right by AJ Cruz and a suicide squeeze from Long, which scored Perez.

Carrollwood’s Richie Kemner led off the seventh with a pinch-hit single, but Long left him right there striking out the final three batters he faced.

“I think that was pretty cool,” Perez said of Long making the most of his first pitching start of the season. “I talked with (Luke) before the game and told him I had 100% confidence in him. I just knew he would do his thing, he’s a dog on the mound, I knew he had this win for us.”

Tomorrow night’s Saladino championship game will feature two East Hillsborough programs, as the Bulls will square off against Strawberry Crest (winners 8-3 over Plant in the other semifinal) at the University of Tampa at 7 p.m. Bloomingdale is in its fourth Saladino Championship, last winning under Wilken in 2013 (along with back-to-back wins in 1994-95).

⚾

#4 Bloomingdale 10
#13 Carrollwood Day 1

C 001|000|0 – |1|6|2
B 051|202|x – |10|9|1
W – Long (1-0); L – Troya (2-2)
2B – Anderson, Vargo (C); Osting (B); HR – Perez 2 (B). Records – C (10-6); B (12-3).

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