Player of the Day: Titan Kamaka, West Orange
Pitcher of the Day: Will Ross, West Orange
West Orange 3
Dunedin 0
Box Score: Coming Soon
Day three kicked off in a tightly contested ballgame between the Warriors and the Falcons. West Orange scored a run on a passed ball in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead, and that is the only run that Trey Beard would give up in his five innings on the mound. After extending the seventh inning via a two-out error, West Orange would tack on two more runs with back-to-back doubles by Titan Kamaka and Blake Jankowski to make it a 3-0 game. Florida-commit RHP Evan Ross would go on to finish a complete game shutout and strike out the side in order in the seventh to win the ballgame. He finished the game with seven strikeouts, only giving up four hits and walked one.
West Orange finished in second place in Pool B, meaning they will play the Christian Academy of Knoxville at 1:45 in Sanford on Thursday to start their bracket play. Dunedin finished in third which set them up to play at the Boombah Sports Complex at 2:00 on Thursday against Winter Springs.
Christian Academy of Knoxville 5
IMG Academy - Black 6
Box Score: Coming Soon
The Ascenders won an instant classic against the Warriors from Tennessee in extra innings. We were all knotted at 0-0 through three innings before CAK struck first in the top of the fourth to take a 1-0 lead. IMG answered back in the bottom of the inning and took the lead with a two run single from Mac Moyer to take a 2-1 lead. CAK immediately reclaimed the lead 3-2 with a two run triple by Luke Harms in the top of the fifth. They would add two more runs in the top of the sixth on a squeeze bunt and an error to make it 5-2.
IMG would not die though and created some trouble on the base paths in the bottom of the 6th. They would proceed to score a wild pitch, and then a one run single to trail by one heading into the final inning. CAK would retire in order in the top of the seventh before Evan Appelwick hit a leadoff double and advanced to third on the throw. The Ascenders were down to their final out after the next two batters retired before Appelwick was able to score on a passed ball to tie it up.
In extra innings, the FHSI implements the international tiebreaker. The Warriors were not able to take advantage of the runner on second base in the top of the eighth. IMG however was able to take advantage with one out when Donovan Hill hit a ball up the middle just under the short stop's glove leading to Jackson Werth coming in to score and finish the game at 6-5.
With that result, IMG won Pool A and will now play against Lake Howell on Thursday at Sanford Memorial Stadium at 4:15. The Christian Academy of Knoxville will take on West Orange on Thursday afternoon at 1:45 in Sanford.
Florida High 6
Timber Creek 7
Box Score: Coming Soon
We got to see another close game in Sanford today when the Wolves held on to beat the Seminoles by one run. Drew Pynes got the first big hit of the day when he gave Timber Creek a two out single to give them a 1-0 lead. Florida High struck right back and scored two runs to take a 2-1 lead. Timber Creek would make fight back immediately and took advantage of some extra outs scoring three times on a couple of errors and taking a 4-2 lead after two.
The drama did not end there as with runners in scoring position, Ethan Miller and Austin Fuller would get back-to-back run scoring singles to even it all up at 4-4. This score would only hold for a little while as Timber Creek would take the lead by scoring two more runs in the bottom of the fourth for a 6-4 lead. In the bottom of the fifth, the Wolves got a little crafty with a squeeze bunt by Cory Gunning to extend their lead 7-4.
The Seminoles would not go away though and in the top of the sixth, Drew Faurot would get an RBI double immediately followed by an RBI single from Ethan Miller, his second RBI of the day. That would be it for Florida High as they would get a walk in the seventh, but hit into a game ending 4-6-3 double play.
With the win, Timber Creek will now play against Orangewood Christian at the Boombah Sports Complex on Thursday night at 7:00pm. Florida High will take on Barron Collier on Thursday morning at 8:45am in Sanford.
Olympia 0
Winter Springs 2
Box Score: Coming Soon
A good old fashioned pitchers duel wrapped up the day in Sanford as Winter Springs edged out a close win over Olympia. Gaven Book kept the Titans in the game throwing five innings, allowing two runs but only one of those was earned. Colby Rice was masterful on the mound for the Bears, pitching six innings, allowing no runs and striking out seven while only giving up two hits in the process. The Titans made it close in the seventh inning when they got two runners on base, but couldn't bring anybody home. Nicholas Davidson recorded the only RBI of the game.
Olympia will kick off the slate of games at Boombah Sports Complex on Thursday when they play Seminole at 11:30am. Winter Springs will follow them at Boombah when they play against Dunedin 2:00pm.