By Jeff Odom
The Land O’ Lakes baseball team was rendered silent after its 6-3 loss to host Mitchell in the Class 6A-District 10 final April 25.
Not a word was spoken as the top-seeded Gators (21-6) walked off the field in a state of disbelief as the No. 2 Mustangs (23-5) doused each other with ice water buckets while celebrating.
“You know, we had our chances,” said Land O’ Lakes coach Calvin Baisley. “We had just as many scoring opportunities as they did. We just didn’t cash in, and we left too many guys on base.”
The Gators, who defeated Mitchell both times in the regular season, were playing catch-up from the top of the first inning.
Chris McCormick singled to center field of Land O’ Lakes pitcher Jake Rawls and moved to second base on a passed ball. Rawls struck out Cobi Johnson, but Steinbrenner transfer Marcus Begg lined an RBI base hit up the middle.
The Mustangs made it 2-0 when PJ DeJesus singled to right, which scored Begg from third.
The Gators dug themselves into a bigger hole in the second when Mitchell plated two more runs to take a 4-0 lead, forcing Baisley to make an early pitching change by bringing in right-hander Brett Renner.
Land O’ Lakes cut into the Mustangs’ lead in the bottom of the second when it scored on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Connor Stephens with one out, but a pop up by Dylan Harris and a line-out by Josh Nissen squandered away any more opportunities to score.
Mitchell coach Scott Wilcox said his team capitalized when it mattered.
“We came out and had one thing in mind, and that was taking care of Land O’ Lakes,” Wilcox said. “They’re a scrappy, tough team, and they’ll do whatever they need to do to make a game close.”
Alex Reynolds gave the Gators a boost with a leadoff home run in the third over the right field wall to trim the Mustangs lead to two. They cut the deficit to 4-3 when Stephens smacked a bases-loaded, two-out RBI single to center field, but Harris grounded out to end the threat.
“We left them loaded with our best hitters up too many times,” Baisley said. “We battled back, made it a game, and we had our chance.”
Begg completed the job for Mitchell in the fourth with a mammoth home run, his seventh of the year, to make it 6-3.
“It felt good to be able to blow the game open there,” said Begg, who finished 3-of-4 with three RBI. “It feels great to be able to come here with great teammates.”
McCormick finished off the Gators on the mound. He allowed nine hits, three in the final four innings, to seven strikeouts in a complete game victory.
Land O’ Lakes travels to Winter Haven for the regional quarterfinals May 1 at 7 p.m.
