Fort Meade Splits With Northside Christian

ST. PETERSBURG | Some might have thought a best two-out-of-three series might be a crazy idea for the high school regional baseball finals.

But after Fort Meade and St. Petersburg Northside Christian split two extra-inning games Friday that featured three suicide squeezes, two runners caught stealing, two pickoffs, a home run by a pitcher who started both ends of a doubleheader and two odd double plays, the idea was at least entertaining.

The Northside Christian Mustangs scored a run in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat Fort Meade, 2-1, in the first game of the Class 2A Regional final series.

Fort Meade scored the winning run in the bottom of the eighth in the second game to win, 7-6, and force a third and final game to be played today at 1 p.m. to determine who will advance to the state tournament.

"We didn't play our best ball either game today,'' said Fort Meade coach Jeff Tofanelli. "But I do like this format tonight. We've got a young team. It's the first time to go deep in the playoffs. Everyone got their money's worth.''

The Miners, who were starting three eighth-graders, were down 1-0 in the first game after the first inning as Mustang Kyle Turner singled in a run.

The Miners evened it up with a run in the fourth somewhat unconventionally when Bryan Langston singled on the Miners' second and last hit of the game, stole second, went to third on a botched pick-off play and scored on a wild pitch. The Miners did not manage a hit the rest of the way against winner JoJo Hess.

They did get a runner on first when George Senterfitt was hit by a pitch in the top of the eighth, but he went to second on a sacrifice and was thrown out at third on a double play turned on a bunted ball hit by Jalen Brown.

The Mustangs (22-9) scored the winning run when Alex McGathey singled, went to second on a sacrifice, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored when Fort Meade shortstop T.J. Daughtrey dropped the ball while turning to finish a double play for the third out of the inning.

Junior Freddy Cortez suffered the loss despite pitching a three-hitter.

The Mustangs looked like they had the momentum as they hit two, two-run home runs in the first inning of the second game. But Fort Meade scrapped for a run in the first thanks to an error.

The Mustangs scored one in the third to go up 5-1, but Fort Meade tallied four on two hits in the third to tie the contest.

Two of the runs came on a suicide squeeze and one scored on a balk. Another scored on a base hit by Dakota Chestnut.

Marc Escobar scored the winning run in the eight when he reached on an error, went to second on an error, was safe at third when no Mustang was covering on a bunt and scored on a wild pitch.