Blake finds calm while fending off Middleton rally
With his chain in his mouth, Zechariah Ayers (10) hustles to score on teammate Anthony Mathews’ third-inning double.
By Chuck Frye, Senior Staff Writer
TAMPA – The potential was there for Blake High to come unglued.
Holding a three-run lead against host Middleton Saturday morning, one out away from their first victory of the season, the Yellow Jackets’ emotions were shredded.
Click here for more photos from this game.
In the middle of celebrating seemingly the final out of the game, the umpires conferred and reversed the call – where Blake starting pitcher Justin Jackson was ruled to have touched, then not to have touched, first base on pinch hitter Marco Pursley’s grounder – scoring Tigers leadoff man Suhaan Vusirikala and sending Blake head coach Herbert Ayers out to argue, while his puzzled squad tried to process it all. Then a balk brought Darrion Marchman home, Tate Hancock drew an intentional walk followed by a wild pitch, and the Tigers suddenly had the potential tying and winning runs in scoring position.
In a controversial reversal, Blake pitcher Justin Jackson (22) was ruled not to have touched first base on this play that would have ended its game against Middleton.
However, with his 100th pitch of the day, the senior Jackson dialed up a tidy infield grounder that second baseman London Hale easily flipped over to first, and Blake finally could celebrate in earnest with a much closer 7-6 district victory.
“What I liked was the discipline that surfaced (after the call reversal),” Yellow Jackets head coach Herbert Ayers said. “They calmed down and made the routine out. Undisciplined play got us there and discipline saved us.”
The base umpire explains his ruling reversal to Blake head coach Herbert Ayers that extended the seventh inning.
Such has been Blake’s lot in life in 2025, dropping its first seven games where “almost anything that can go wrong seems to go wrong” according to Ayers. But playing a kindred spirit in the now 1-6 Tigers, the Jackets shook off an early deficit, made Middleton miscues hurt with timely hitting, then held on just enough to triumph.
“The kids are just thinking about getting hits where good baseball is about getting on base, getting on an error, using the bunt,” Ayers said. “We talked about it after (last week’s East Bay game) and it’s starting to come around.”
Middleton third baseman Dayvin Fisher delivers a perfect throw to first base to retire a Blake batter and end the fourth inning.
As he has been all year, senior clean-up hitter Zechariah Ayers was a catalyst for the Yellow Jackets’ offense. His opposite-field double down the rightfield line in the third inning, after Brett Valerio’s textbook sacrifice bunt, scored Victor Mendez (single) and tied the game. He was hit by the second pitch of the fifth inning and later scored, then drilled another two-bagger to right-centerfield that brought Jackson, who reached on the last of four Middleton errors, home.
“Last year, I was hitting a lot of stuff on the ground,” said Zechariah Ayers, who is now hitting .348 with five extra-base hits after batting .269 with one double last season. “This year, I’m trying to use my power and lift balls up, making sure I’m staying through the ball, making sure I’m aggressive at the plate.”
Blake senior Justin Jackson shook off a challenging seventh inning to record a complete-game victory over Middleton, striking out eight. Jackson fanned Middleton’s third and fourth batters six times in the win.
Ayers’ contributions were infectious. In the third, senior Anthony Mathews followed Ayers with his own RBI double while being hit by a pair of pitches. Marcus Smith turned the lineup over from the seven hole, going 3-for-4 with RBI in the third and fifth innings. Mendez had two base hits and dropped down a beautiful sacrifice bunt that scored No. 9 batter Wade Wilson (his second hit by pitch) in the sixth.
“I told Marcus that just because you’re seventh in the lineup doesn’t mean you can’t hit,” Coach Ayers said. “We can’t front-load our offense and he made a big difference from the seven-hole.”
Middleton’s Suhaan Vusirikala and Blake’s Marcus Smith have a friendly conversation during a fifth-inning break in play.
For Middleton, an offense that came in batting .312 could only get three hits off of Jackson through six innings. Marchman singled in the first then came around on a pair of Blake miscues. In the fifth, Ahiam Olmeda walked, stole second, and scored on a Vusirikala double.
Middleton sophomore Suhaan Vusirikala battled through four innings on the mound, striking out seven Blake batters and allowing three runs.
Vusirikala, who started on the hill and went four innings with seven strikeouts, then joined Marchman with back-to-back singles that scored Demetrious Tolbert (walk) and Olmeda (single) to start the unusual seventh-inning uprising.
Middleton’s Sunny Jain puts on the breaks behind Blake’s London Hale (13) for a leadoff double.
“Yeah, it was a little too late but we’re getting there,” Tigers head coach Ozzie Galvan said of the backs-to-the-wall rally. “The resiliency of this team started building last year. With 11 returnees, they managed to take that mentality and spread it through the whole team.
“We’ve had some rough ones already to start the year, but these kids are happy to be out here and they’re going to battle to the very last second until it stops.”
Middleton returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts Wharton, while Blake is off until Thursday when it welcomes Jefferson.
After the Tigers got within a run and put the potential tying and winning tallies into scoring position, Blake infielders London Hale (right) and Zechariah Ayers teamed up for the game’s final out and the Yellow Jackets’ first win of the season.
Blake 7
Middleton 6
B 003|022|0 – |7|8|2
M 100|010|4 – |6|7|4
W – Jackson (1-0); L – Vusirikala (0-0)
2B – Mathews, Ayers (b); Jain, Vasirikala (M). Records – B (1-7); M (1-6).
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Blake shortstop Brett Valerio delivers an off-balance throw to retire Middleton’s first batter of the game.
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Middleton junior Derrion Marchman (6) gets a fist bump for reaching second on a first-inning single and throwing error. Marchman later scored the game’s first run as part of a two-hit day with a pair of runs scored.
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Middleton first baseman Tyler Holland tracks a popup into his mitt to end the second inning.
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After taking a flip from teammate Brett Valerio (right), Blake second baseman London Hale shows the umpire the ball for a second-inning force-out that retired Middleton’s Demetrious Tolbert (13).
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Victor Mendez makes solid contact for his second single of the day leading off the third inning.
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Middleton second baseman Demetrious Tolbert looks in the throw to catch Blake’s Wade Wilson trying to steal in the fourth inning.
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Middleton freshman Demetrious Tolbert moved from second base to the mound, throwing two innings of relief.
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Yellow Jackets third baseman Marcus Smith shakes off a tough Saturday morning sun to corral a second-inning popup.
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A jubilant Ahaim Olmeda (8) celebrates scoring a fifth-inning run with teammate Sunny Jain (1).
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Blake head coach Herbert Ayers delivers a message to his squad at the end of the second inning.
