Carlson and Berkeley Prep bulldoze Steinbrenner

By Chuck Frye
Correspondent

TAMPA – Despite a sub-.500 record, Steinbrenner seemed to be well-situated for its game Friday at unbeaten Berkeley Prep.

In the midst of a four-game stretch against teams with double-digit victories, the Warriors were finding themselves. Steinbrenner dropped a narrow decision to Plant City then dealt district foe East Lake only its second defeat of the season. The offense was starting to produce and its pitching staff was well aligned for the challenges the host Buccaneers present. And if Friday became a trap game, Steinbrenner’s chances would only improve.

It didn’t.

Playing humble and hungry, Berkeley Prep proved to be a superior team in every aspect of the game, bulldozing to a 15-2, 4½-inning Senior Night victory.

“Overall as a group – coaching staff and players – we keep that intensity and energy up throughout each pitch, and it’s put us in a pretty good spot,” Bucs head coach Richie Warren said.

The discipline wasted little time in manifesting itself offensively. Berkeley simply ground out at-bats and saddled Steinbrenner arms with high pitch counts. When the Bucs swung its bats, the balls traveled, and traveled far. Over 30 plate appearances resulted in just three batted balls played in the infield while Berkeley (18-0) racked up seven extra-base hits.

Gunnett Carlson helped drive a 15-hit attack with a pair of RBI doubles plus a walk, scoring three times.

“(Carlson) wasn’t where he wanted to be the last couple of games,” Warren said. “He put in a little extra work (Thursday night), kind of honed his swing back down, then had a really good (pre-game) batting practice. It’s funny how things kind of work out when you just concentrate on the little things. He had one heck of a game.”

“I think it was just our selfless at-bats,” Carlson explained. “We don’t get caught up in individual statistics, we love winning and we love seeing each other succeed. When we do that, we can really hit.”

And how.

The evening’s spotlight was the second inning, one where the Buccaneers sent 13 batters to the plate, had seven consecutive hits at one point and scored nine times.

“I thought our offensive approach (Friday) was probably the best that we’ve had all season,” Warren said. “They’ve been working really hard.”

Cleanup hitter Owen McElfatrick ripped a triple and a pair of singles with two RBI, Anthony Castillo added a double and a single, while Troy Reader (two hits, two RBI), Wyatt Ewanowski (RBI) and Julius Pfau delivered two-baggers.

Pitching also stepped up as starter J.T. Quinn and freshman Rivers Kurland combined to allow five hits.

Steinbrenner (7-11) got its offense from Kyle Suda (double), Evan Cuervo and Aiden Coffey (run-scoring singles).

“We have three more weeks of practice games before it matters,” Warren concluded. “I don’t think we’ve reached our peak, we still have a lot of little things that we can get better at, and that might be able to separate us from some teams down the road. We’ve got three weeks to figure it out.”

Carlson put it more simply: “We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing and stay ourselves. I think if we stay ourselves, there’s not a team that can beat us.”

⚾⚾⚾⚾

(1) Berkeley Prep 15
Steinbrenner 2 – five innings

S   011|00x|x – |2|4|2
BP 393|0xx|x – |15|15|2
W – Quinn (6-0); L – Hill
2B – Suda (S); Carlson 2, Ewanowski, Reader, Castillo, Hankerson, Pfau (BP); 3B – McElfatrick (BP). Records – S (7-11); BP (18-0).

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