Osting deals 12 K’s, drives in two as Bulls beat Indians
Bloomingdale senior righty Vaughn Osting struck out 12 in a one-hit pitching performance leading the Bulls to a 10-0 win against visiting East Bay.
By Jarrett Guthrie, Editor
VALRICO – Bloomingdale senior Vaughn Osting spun a 12-strikeout one-hitter to open his season on the mound at home against East Bay. The Bulls righty went six innings, allowing one single and one more runner reaching on a dropped strike-three, as his offense padded an early lead and walked the win off an-inning early, 10-0 thanks to a sixth-inning, two-run JJ Santiago single dropped into left.
“Vaughn pitched a hell of a game,” Bulls junior Mason Johnson said. “He always does that, so we had to have his back with some clutch hitting. Our job is to put great AB’s together, hitting balls hard and doing our job well.”
Support us: Support our work at 813Preps!
Johnson did his part immediately sending the first pitch he saw from the leadoff spot in the first inning in-between infielders on the right side of the East Bay defense. Osting would do his part to cash in that hit two batters later with an RBI groundball into centerfield.
Vaughn Osting delivers the first of his two, RBI singles in the Bulls win in the first inning.
Bloomingdale (2-0) would add some early insurance on an RBI sac fly from Isaiah Perez to go up a pair in the first.
“Our lineup is complete this year, we had a lot of really good at-bats,” Osting said. “Maybe a few too many K’s tonight, but some really good at-bats especially with runners in scoring position.”
Click here to view our photos from this game, and check out our lower photo prices for the 2026 season!
Osting would cruise through the first 10 batters he faced before East Bay (1-1) senior Rowland Ruiz Jr. lined a single into center in the fourth. That would be all the offensive success the Bulls hurler would allow.
East Bay senior Rowland Ruiz Jr. lined a single into centerfield in the fourth inning for the Indians’ only hit of the game.
Johnson would help stretch out his team’s lead in the second, singling up the middle to plate Payton Jennings (2-for-3, double and two runs scored); Osting would drive in another with his second single; and a two-out, dropped fly ball to the shortstop allowed two more to cross.
Bloomingdale senior Payton Jennings had two hits (including this fifth-inning double) and scored twice in the win.
The Bulls chased East Bay starting pitcher Cameron Cook after two innings and three earned runs, and junior Connor Gavigan worked a 1-2-3 third inning with a pair of strikeouts.
Indians junior Connor Gavigan pitched three innings of relief, striking out four, while giving up three hits and two unearned runs.
But despite Ruiz’s single in the fourth, the Indians couldn’t find any breathing room against Osting.
And, errors started to stack up, as one each in the next three innings allowed the Bulls to push the game far out of reach and end it via the mercy rule in the sixth.
JJ Santiago connects on a two-run single to left field to finish off the game in the sixth inning.
Cesar Campos went 2-for-3, with an RBI single and scored two runs in the win, while Johnson scored three times, and Saul Aponte was 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Bulls junior Cesar Campos motors around third base on JJ Santiago’s two-run single to end the game early via mercy rule.
Osting struck out the side again in the fifth, and had a runner reach on a strike-three passed ball in the sixth, but finished off his night with 12 strikeouts and no walks. The East Tennessee State University signee relied heavily on his fastball and slider to get swing and miss stuff, and didn’t mix in a changeup until late in the game.
“I think it was just about getting ahead (early),” he said. “Whatever it was, slider and fastball were kind of on, just doing a little better job than I did in the preseason with getting ahead.”
Bloomingdale travels to Spoto on Tuesday, while the Indians have a challenging, three-game Week 2 starting Tuesday with a visit from Newsome.
⚾
#2 Bloomingdale 10
East Bay 0 – 6 innings
E 000|000|x – |0|1|4
B 000|000|x – |10|10|0
W – Osting (1-0); L – Cook (0-1)
2B – Jennings (B). Records – E (1-1); B (2-0).
