By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Gateway stayed in the thick of the 7A-5 district baseball race Tuesday with a 4-1 win over East Ridge at the Ridenour Athletic Complex.

Panther pitcher Aaron Rosso walked seven, but calmly pitched out of trouble, stranding eight. He gave up only three hits.

“That’s not normal for him. Usually he’s right on the plate,” Gateway Coach Rob Hammond said. “He did a good job of making good pitches when he had to.”

The Knights led 1-0 in the second after Rosso walked three batters. It could have been worse. East Ridge had runners on second and third with one out in the first, but Rosso got out of the inning with a strikeout and a pop fly.

Rosso, who struck out two in seven innings, said he wasn’t concerned about being in trouble early in the game.

“No, it wasn’t a big thing,” he said.

He also got some help defensively in the fourth inning when left fielder James Griffin made a shoestring catch with a runner on third to end another East Ridge threat.

Gateway tied it in the third on Randal Toribio’s RBI single, knocking in Bryan Nunez, who walked.

The Panthers went up, 3-1, in the fifth when Toribio, who was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, reached on an error and scored from first on Randy Batista’s (2-for-4, 1 RBI) triple to right center. Bautista came home on Luis Alvarez’s two-out single.

“We did a good job. We got some timely hits, and we had some good at-bats,” Hammond said.

The Panthers improved to 6-2 and 3-1 in the district after losing to Liberty in a district game, 5-2, Friday.

“We laid an egg in that one. We played a lot better this time, for sure,” he said.

East Ridge slipped to 7-2 and 3-1 in the district.

Liberty, 3-2, improved to 3-1 in the district after a 3-2 win at Lake Minneola Tuesday.

Osceola, 5-5, lost at East Ridge Friday after Edwin Rios hit a two-run homer in the first inning. J.R. Charles had two hits. The Kowboys, 2-2 in the district, rebounded to beat Poinciana 13-0 Tuesday. Poinciana slipped to 0-9 and 0-4 in the district.

Liberty visits Osceola Friday at 7 p.m. for a 7A-5 game.

St. Cloud, 5-5, and Harmony, 6-1, square off Friday in a 7A-6 showdown at St. Cloud at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs ripped Lake Okeechobee, 13-3, Tuesday after losing to Ocoee, 5-3, Monday. Both were non-district contests.

Harmony lost at First Academy, 8-0, Monday after beating Celebration, 9-1, Friday to boost its district record to 2-0.

Celebration, 0-2 in 7A-6, slipped to 4-4 after a 5-0 loss at South Lake Saturday. The Storm played Liberty Wednesday and visit Oak Ridge for a district game Friday at 7 p.m.