Weird Cats: Wharton dreams of first baseball state title

Senior Justis Meadows set the Wharton career hits mark (126 and counting) while helping lead a “weird” group of Wildcats to a first-ever FHSAA Final Four appearance. 

By Jarrett Guthrie, Editor

NEW TAMPA – First impressions are very important. But for a head coach, being able to see beyond that first impression and letting a player build and earn your respect is way more significant.

First year Wharton head coach Anthony Markle.

When Anthony Markle was named head coach at Wharton last summer – his first head coaching job at the high school level – he didn’t know what to expect from a team that, though talented, had underperformed in back-to-back losing seasons prior to his arrival.

Heading into the fall Markle said he met with the returning Wildcats players individually – a kind of get-to-know-you meeting – that he admitted left him scratching his head a bit. Markle said he started to get the feeling from the players of a me-first over team-first attitude.

Justis Meadows has a county-leading 47 hits and is tied for the Hillsborough lead with 42 RBI.

So, when senior Justis Meadows came in, and they began to talk about his goals the coach admitted he initially categorized the senior into that group. Markle said the conversation with the reserved Meadows wasn’t what he expected, as his player talked more about personal goals for the year – like approaching Wharton’s career hits mark and surpassing his successful junior season’s numbers.

“Honestly, at the time I was looking at more team aspect stuff,” Markle said. “This was a me-me-oriented group … and I thought to myself, ‘is this a selfish thing?’ That truly was my first thought – is this guy only gonna care about himself?

“But the reality is he cares about everything else way more first, and then himself second. He did truly have real goals, made not to be selfish, but his belief in himself is based on a want to achieve those goals. He knew it was what the team needed to be successful.”

Wharton senior 1B Alex Johnstone has driven in 16 runs and scored 23 times this season.

Meadows admits that meeting perhaps didn’t go exactly how he wishes it had, but recognized very quickly that his priorities, though important, were a small part of a bigger picture his new coach had planned.

“Honestly, he’s on the ball with that one,” Meadows said of his coach’s initial read. “I remember I went home and talked to my dad and he went, ‘ why did you say that?’

“But I’ve learned and definitely changed a lot because of (Markle) and he was right. But now, the team, me, everyone – it’s team-first. We’ve all changed.”

Changed in attitude, but one thing that stayed the same for the four-year varsity standout: his production.

Wharton junior 3B Jairius Morris is batting .311, with 22 runs, 16 RBI and nine doubles this season.

Entering the year with a career .369 average and 79 hits, Meadows has put up crazy numbers in his senior campaign. He leads Hillsborough County with 47 hits, is tied for the county lead in RBI (42), has scored 37 times, with 13 doubles, two triples and six home runs. Two weeks ago, he met his goal in breaking the Wharton career hits mark at 117 and now has the new mark at 126 and counting.

But the team change didn’t happen right away and the Wildcats coach knew he had to find a spark. That spark game in the oddest of ways, or maybe more accurately, the weirdest.

“There wasn’t talk, there wasn’t conversation, there wasn’t support – they just didn’t say anything to each other … it took a while, and one day I just didn’t know what to do, so I lost myself a little bit and told them, ‘let’s get weird,’” Markle said. “I’m a weird dude, a weird cat, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be around of lot of different people at different levels, and you have to let yourself be loose, and get weird.

“Tell your teammate you love him, and your proud of him. It took a little while, but once I said that, they laughed at me a little bit, then the energy ramped up and ever since we’re getting weird out there.”

And the Wildcats players jumped in.

“I can’t remember exactly what game we were (preparing) for, but I remember that practice where he yelled at us, ‘Let’s get weird, let’s be unique,’” he said. “And we’ve all stuck to that and made it our motto. It was a weird thing, that has made us loose and made us relaxed in all situations.”

Wharton (27-7) went 9-2 to close the regular season, took down Parrish Community in two games in the region quarterfinal, than answered Game 1 losses to both Plant and Sickles with straight-wins to reach the program’s first-ever final four as the Wildcats travel to Fort Myers and the FHSAA state final four at Hammond Stadium for Friday’s 10 am game against Gainesville Buccholz.

According to Markle, after an early-season move and lock in at second base, Justis Meadows took off in all aspects of the game.

A far cry from two seasons of disappointing sub-.500 runs.

“Getting a taste of playoff ball my freshman year, and then my last two seasons being kind of duds this year is something I couldn’t even imagine telling my past self (about),” Meadows said. “Coach Markle preparing us and making us treat each game like it’s our last, everyone has bought in.”

For Markle, who previously served as an assistant at Dunedin and Calvary Christian, where he helped coach the Warriors to two state titles, having a player like Meadows that the rest of the team can follow is crucial to success.

“He set the tone for this group, and once he put this team on his back and said, ‘I’m going to show you why I am who I am,’ and ‘why I am one of the best players in this state,’” Markle said. “Once he became that person for us, it never went away. It’s just who he is.”

But Meadows is far from alone in the Wildcats’ success. Senior Antonio Fawcett (.330, 35 runs, 25 RBI and eight doubles) who transferred to Wharton after being a part of last year’s state champion Jesuit team, has had a huge impact setting a new Wildcats single-season home run mark with eight heading into the state semifinals; junior catcher Chase Anello has 34 RBI, nine doubles and six homers – five of those coming in the postseason; and senior Drew Cobb (another four-year varsity contributor) has 31 hits, 34 runs scored 22 RBI and four homers.

Junior Daniel Duno has been outstanding at the top of the rotation, striking out 59 in 61 innings and posting a 2.74 ERA, senior Luke Sauer has 42 K’s in 13 appearances, and junior Chase Andress has been a two-way machine with five homers and 22 RBI to go with a 2.44 and 45 strikeouts on the hill.

The chance at bringing home a state title for Meadows is something he said he couldn’t imagine after the two previous Wharton seasons. But now the weird ‘Cats are united behind their “weird dude” of a coach.

“At this point looking back on the last couple of years, you scratch your head at why this team was 11-14 or 11-15,” Meadows said. “We’ve had the core to be a competitive team, and only with the addition of Antonio, our team is pretty much the same team, so we’ve always had this in us. This is a dream, it’s what you’ve put into every practice, every game, and seeing the results and where were are now, it truly has been an absolute dream.”

For Meadows, Markle and the Wildcats, they’ll need to stay “team-first” for the next few days with a first-ever final four appearance and two chances left – to achieve the dream, the very weird dream.

Related Wharton 2025 News

2025 Class 6A State Semifinal
Wharton Wildcats (27-7) vs Gainesville Buccholz Bobcats (32-2)

Where: Hammond Stadium, Lee County Sports Complex
14100 6-Mile Cypress Parkway, Fort Myers, FL 33912
When: Friday, May 16 at 10 am

Wharton Summary: After back-to-back 11-win, sub-.500 seasons in 2023-24, Anthony Markle took over as head coach last spring and entered the 2025 season unranked in our preseason 813Preps Top 15. The Wildcats started the season going 8-2, including an early-season upset win (2-1) over then- No. 4-ranked Sickles. Wharton ended the regular season 19-5 before claiming district and region titles. An explosive offense, which featured five batters with at least 25 hits, nine with double-digit RBI totals, and 10 with double-digit run scored. The Wildcats led Hillsborough County in team doubles (60) and home runs (30) for the season, with Justis Meadows (Florida Tech signee) setting the pace with a .416 average, 42 RBI (tied for the County lead with Sickles’ Jaden Nazar, and tied fifth in the state), and 37 runs. Senior Antonio Fawcett (Miami Dade CC signee) transferred in from Jesuit for his senior season and set the school single-season home run record with eight, while scoring 35 times, driving in 28 and hitting eight doubles; junior catcher Chase Anello had an impressive regular season, but exploded in region play, belting five of his six home runs on the season, while batting .343 with 34 RBI; and senior Drew Cobb (Jacksonville signee) has 31 hits, 34 runs and 22 RBI on the year. On the mound, Wharton pitchers have 235 strikeouts this season, with junior Daniel Duno posting a 2.74 ERA over 61-plus innings, 59 strikeouts – including wins in the region tournament over Parrish Community, Plant and Sickles; two-way junior standout Chase Andress (22 RBI, 5 HR) has a 2.44 ERA over 13 appearances, with 45 strikeouts; senior Luke Sauer (Greensboro signee) has also made 13 appearances with 42 strikeouts and a 3.41 ERA; Connor Evans has pitched 45 innings, with a 1.09 ERA and including a complete-game shutout win over Wiregrass Ranch in the district semifinal; and Aaron Wonderley has been very affective out of the bullpen with 24 strikeouts in 22-plus innings.

How the Wildcats got here: Wharton won the Class 6A-District 9 tournament by defeating Wiregrass Ranch 6-0 in the semifinals, and Sunlake 8-4 in the championship game. The Wildcats entered the Region 3 tournament as the No. 6 seed and defeated No. 3 Parrish Community in two games (7-3, 11-3); advancing to a semifinal round against No. 2-seed Plant, Wharton dropped the first game to the Panthers 11-6, but won the next game on the road 10-6 in nine innings, forcing a deciding third game at home – winning 7-4; and the Wildcats dropped the first game of the region final series to No. 1 Sickles 18-8, before winning the next two 3-1 and 12-1.

Buccholz’s Aidan Kastensmidt (here scoring a run in last year’s 6A state semifinal game) has 26 RBI, while leading the Bobcats on the mound with a 12-1 record.

Buccholz Summary: Two-way junior standout RHP/OF Aidan Kastensmidt is 12-1 on the mound this season with a 2.22 ERA and 67 strikeouts, while batting .318 with 25 runs and 26 RBI among a lineup that features eight Bobcats batters with at least 20 hits this year. Junior MIF Blake Brewer is hitting .387, with 36 RBI and 32 runs; senior OF Cedaris Smith has scored 36 times and driven in 29 runs. The pitching staff has a combined 2.22 ERA with senior RHP JJ Gardner (won defeated Bloomingdale in last season’s state semifinal) has 55 strikeouts in 41 innings while posting a 6-0 record, and fellow senior Wyatt Clarke is 7-1 with four saves, a 1.42 ERA and56 strikeouts in 24 appearances.

Senior JJ Gardner is 6-0 this year with a 2.39 ERA and 55 strikeouts.

How the Bobcats got here: The Bobcats won the 6A-2 district title defeating Ocala Forest 3-2 in the semifinals, then defeated St. Augustine Tocoi Creek 12-2. Earning the No. 1 seed in Region 1, the Bobcats defeated Jacksonville First Coast and Cantonment Tate in the region quarterfinal and semifinal – both series wins came in two games; then Buccholz earning its third-straight region final appearance, dropped the first game of the series to Pace 11-4, then won Game 2 by a score of 11-2, and won an eight-inning thriller 5-4 to earn its second-straight trip to the final four – which includes a 6A state runner-up finish in 2024 in the program’s only previous appearance in the final four.

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