Trips Aces: Bulls righties lead return trip to final four

By Jarrett Guthrie, Editor

VALRICO – Pick a card, any card – that’s easy to do when the deck is stacked. And for longtime Bloomingdale head coach Kris Wilken (who won his 300th game last week), it’s been dealer’s choice on the mound all season.

There is the senior veteran Hayden Porter – a 2024 All-813Preps First Team selection who hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 30 innings; there’s the dynamic stuff of junior Javier Navas-Hoyer – who has taken on some of the Bulls biggest challenges, including a 12-strikeout performance in the Saladino tournament championship earning co-MVP honors; then there is the fiery competitiveness of junior Vaughn Osting – winner of his last five starts and averaging eight strikeouts a game over the stretch.

Senior Hayden Porter was a All-813Preps First Team selection in 2024. He heads to the FHSAA Final Four with an 8-1 record and a 0.55 ERA.

So, Coach Wilken, who is the No. 1?

“They’ve all been really good and there have been moments where we as coaches have been like, well maybe Porter is our No. 1, no maybe Javy is, or maybe Vaughn is,” Wilken said, “which is a cool problem to have. Going into the final four with all three of them throwing as well as they are is pretty exciting. It’s made my decisions tough, but it’s a good problem to have.”

Bloomingdale head coach Kris Wilken, now in his 18th season, picked up win No. 300 of his career in Game 2 of last week’s region final against Viera. 

Bloomingdale entered the season ranked No. 2 in 813Preps preseason poll, and spent the final four weeks of the regular season atop our weekly list.

Though the offense has been steady all year, that success has been built behind the trio of right-handed arms, which have the Bulls headed back to the FHSAA Class 6A state semifinals for the second-straight season.

In mid-March, Bloomingdale opened the Saladino Tournament’s pool-play with a double-digit win over Gaither, only to drop the next game to Jefferson and having diminished hope to advance out of the bracket. The Bulls were given new life as the Cowboys took down Jefferson in decisive fashion to close the pool, and earned a spot in the semifinals against CDS (a 10-1 win), and then won a 3-0 decision over Strawberry Crest in the championship, led by Navas-Hoyer’s 6 2/3 shutout innings, and a big save from Osting.

One trophy down, and Wilken said at that point, a chance at four trophies came into view.

“I think we started talking about things around the Saladino Tournament, and when we got that second life in the tournament where we didn’t think we’d get out of our pool, then a game we didn’t have a part of went our way and got us in (the semifinal), we just started playing better and better,” Wilken said. “… At that point we started to talk about how we had the chance at four trophies, we won the Saladino and got that first one.

“Now we have three so far (with the district and region championships), we’re gonna give everything we’ve got to bring home the fourth.”

Last year the Bulls rode a hot streak in the final weeks of the season to reach the final four, before taking a thrashing from Gainesville Buccholz in the state semifinal.

This year, though a decidedly young squad (just three seniors), Bloomingdale (28-6) enters Friday’s semifinal against Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas with complete confidence.

“Last year happened so fast, we didn’t play incredibly well (during the year), and we just got hot for 10 days there, so it had a different feeling,” Wilken said. “This team has been very consistent, with the most (program) wins all-time, the Saladino, the district and battling through the region in every way and every chance we could.

“Even though this is a little bit younger group, they’ve earned this the whole way and we’re very confident going in to this (final four).”

Porter (8-1, 0.55 ERA, and 86 K’s in 63-plus innings) echoed Wilken’s sentiment.

“Last year I think we went in with a mentality of not knowing if we were supposed to be there, Porter said. “This year we’re going in more developed. We know we’re supposed to be there, we’re meant to be there, and I think we are going to seize the moment.”

Junior RHP Javy Navas-Hoyer

Navas-Hoyer (7-3, 1.46 ERA, 87 K’s in 67 innings), said the Bulls used last year’s 12-0 loss to Buccholz in the semifinals as fuel for this year’s team.

“We took last year – how bad that felt – and this year it just made us want it even more,” he` said. “We are a completely different team. The mindset is different. We know we belong here this year.”

Osting (8-1, 1.28 ERA, 65 K’s in 49 innings) admits, though close, the trio have at times had some friendly competitive banter.

“It’s constant, like every day. It stays friendly, we are all really good friends, but week-to-week we go at each other, ‘I’m the No. 1, you’re the No. 3,’ there’s constant badgering,” Osting said. “But it’s all out of love.”

He added: “I know propelled by anyone on our pitching staff, we’ll be in every game.”

Bloomingdale junior RHP Vaughn Osting

Porter also owned up to the trio’s good-natured ribbing.

“There is a little friendly banter,” Porter said. “We may make jokes, but there is no, ‘I’m better than you’ mentality, we are in this together.”

And Navas-Porter put it all in perspective.

“We joke around a lot, but throughout the year we’ve been really good about accepting that we’ve got three guys,” Navas-Hoyer said. “And we each know no matter who rolls out onto the bump, it’s going to be a good one.

“We all look at our stats, but I think we all like to look at ourselves as a pitching staff,” he continued. “That’s how we like to think about it, we don’t focus too much on who is the No. 1, it’s more about look(ing) at our combined ERA, our runs allowed – we’re one. We’re a staff.”

Bulls catcher Vinny Dinzeo Jr. 

Smartly senior catcher Vinny Dinzeo Jr. said he stays out of the competition between the three, and when asked who he thought the No. 1 was, he was judicious.

“It depends on the situation, if we need longevity it’s probably Vaugh, if we need someone to come and get us that big out it’s Porter, but if we need someone to do their job, locate everything then it’s Javy,” Dinzeo said.

Adding with a smile and wisdom beyond his years, he said: “I’m not picking one. I try and keep my mouth shut so they don’t question what I call and do what I say.”

Friday, against a potent Aquinas lineup, Wilken has already made his decision on who will take the mound to start.

With a quick, three-day turnaround last year between the region final and state semifinal, Porter gave the Bulls five shutout innings in the region championship against Sickles, and was unavailable to pitch in Fort Myers.

“Last year we had to use Porter just to get there, and last year we talked and I told him we were going to do everything we can to get you back down here and put the ball in your hand in that stadium,” Wilken said. “Porter has been pretty dang good lately. He deserves it.”

Bulls senior RHP Hayden Porter

Wilken said he hopes Porter’s steadiness is the key against an STA lineup that has 67 home runs this year.

“(Hayden’s composure) lends itself very well to a team, that on paper, their offense looks really, really good,” Wilken said, “that’s not even going to faze Hayden – he’s going to go make his pitches.”

The three pitchers have led the Bulls to winning the first three of those four trophies. What started back in the Saladino Tournament is just two days away from its finish.

No individual. No No. 1. No “ace.”

“Back then it looked like this huge mountain and I thought, ‘this is going to take a lot of work,’” Navas-Hoyer said. “And it has. We’ve done the job, playing loose when we’ve needed to, and we’ve played with our backs against the wall (in the region) against Lake Minneola and (Viera) last week.

“Now that we’re here, everybody is together. Everybody is a part of this team.”

Related Bloomingdale 2025 News

2025 Class 6A State Semifinal
Bloomingdale Bulls (28-6) vs St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders (27-6-1)

 

Where: Hammond Stadium, Lee County Sports Complex
14100 6-Mile Cypress Parkway, Fort Myers, FL 33912
When: Friday, May 16 at 1pm

Bloomingdale Summary: The Bulls spent the final four weeks of the regular season as our No. 1 team in THE 8-1-3List weekly rankings, won the Saladino tournament defeating Strawberry Crest 3-0 in the championship, claimed district and region titles, and return to the state semifinal for the second-straight season – in search of the program’s second state championship (previously won in 2021). A trio of righties has led the way from the mound for the Bulls this season, with senior Hayden Porter (Polk State signee; 8-1, 0.55 ERA, 86 K) building on his All-813Preps first team junior season with a zero earned runs in his last six appearances, junior Javier Navas-Hoyer (7-3, 1.46 ERA, 87 K) breaking out early, and steady consistency from junior Vaughn Osting (8-1, 1.28 ERA, 65 K) leading to a 28-win season. Offensively, the Bulls have produced at the plate behind leadoff man and 2024 first team catcher Vinny Dinzeo Jr. (Indian River State College signee; .297, 12 runs, four doubles, three homers) – the team’s lone senior on offense; Junior 3B Isaiah Perez has hit .322, with 19 RBI, four homers and 22 runs; sophomore Mason Johnson (.357, 22 runs, 11 RBI) is riding a nine-game hitting streak into the state semifinal; and junior 2B AJ Cruz is batting .277, with 22 runs scored and 18 RBI. Luke Long has been steady at the plate and has featured heavily in the Bulls late-game pitching mix with a 0.45 ERA in seven appearances this year.

How the Bulls got here: Five of the Bulls’ six losses this year were to region qualifying teams, but Bloomingdale also won 18 games over region teams as well. A Saladino Tournament championship sparked an 11-game win streak, and the Bulls claimed the District 6 title in a 2-1, nine-inning thriller against Durant. Bloomingdale dispatched Winter Garden Horizon in two games in the region quarterfinal, dropped the middle game and won on the road against Lake Minneola in the semis, and after dropping Game 1 of the region final to Viera won a pair of 3-2 games to reach the final four for the second-straight seasons. Last year ended in a tough mercy-rule loss to fellow returning semifinalist Gainesville Buccholz (which plays Wharton at 10 am on Friday in the other state semi). This marks the seventh time in program history Bloomingdale has advanced to the final four – four of those under head coach Kris Wilken – including a runner-up finish in 2014 and 2021’s Class 6A title.

St. Thomas Aquinas Summary: The six Raiders losses were all to region qualifying teams including a pair to four-straight 7A state champions Parkland Stoneman Douglas (again a state finalist, facing Alonso at 1 pm in Fort Myers), and Aquinas is battle-tested winning 14 of its last 16 games. A potent lineup featuring seven players with at least 25 hits this season (four with 40 or more) will test the depth of a talented Bulls pitching staff. Senior OF Zack Malvasio (UCF signee) is second in the nation with 16 home runs, while batting .398, with 16 doubles, 44 RBI and 42 doubles for a Raiders offense that has 152 combined extra-base hits. Junior Brady Buxbaum is hitting .441, with 40 RBI and 33 runs; Nico Sabatino (State College of Florida commit) is batting .437 with 44 runs, 17 stolen bases and 29 RBI; and senior Andrew Alvarez is tied for ninth in the nation (second in the state behind Malvasio) with 13 home runs. Senior RHP Thomas Giltner (7-1, 2.49 ERA, 50 K) and junior righty Julian Diaz (9-2, 3.08 ERA, 60 K) have both given the Raiders 50 innings on the mound this season.

How the Raiders got here: STA won District 15 decisively defeating Cooper City in the semis, and Pembroke Pines Flanagan in the championship; the Raiders won the region quarterfinal against Cape Coral Ida Baker and the region semifinal over West Boca Raton – both in two game series by a combined 41-4, then won the first and third game against Doral Academy to claim its region title. The Raiders are a three-time state champion (1995, 2003 and 2018), a two-time runner-up and are making a 10th trip to the state final four.

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