Harmony third baseman Angel Medina, shown here in the Longhorns' win at Osceola Feb. 25, scored two runs and drove in another Friday against the Kowboys. PHOTO/TAYLOR MCFEE
Through the first four weeks of the 2025 season, very little has gone wrong for the Longhorns on the diamond. That trend continued on Friday night as four Harmony pitchers combined on a two-hit shutout in an 8-0 win over rival Osceola.
Since losing its opening game to Rockledge, 5-3, back on Feb. 7, Harmony has now won 11 straight games – including a 4-0 mark against county opponents. But, although extremely happy with his team’s efforts, coach Heath Williams says his squad is not even close to reaching its potential.
“I am not downplaying 11 wins in a row, because that is tough to do at any level of baseball, but I don’t always feel like our focus is at the level where it should be,” Williams said. “Through no fault of the process, our early schedule is not as tough as it has been in the past. We scheduled some teams early that are traditionally pretty good but some of those teams have been having down seasons. We have a tough week coming up and I think that will tell us a lot more about where we stand.”
Harmony is slated to host 7A Top 25 team Lake Nona (10-5) on Tuesday and will play at arch-rival St. Cloud (6-4) on Thursday and at Eau Gallie (6-3) Friday. Harmony defeated St. Cloud, 3-2, in a close game earlier this season.
Williams called Friday night’s win over Osceola his team’s most “complete game” of the season.
“We got some outstanding pitching, we played solid defense and got the key hits when we needed them,” the veteran coach said.
The pitching set the tone early. Sophomore Trevin Bean fired four innings of one-hit ball and struck out five batters. Alexavier Lebron, Samuel Castillo and Ismael Rivera each followed with one scoreless inning as the Longhorns combined for 11 strikeouts and just two walks.
“Although he is young, we have been pitching Trevin in a lot of big games early and he has responded well,” Williams said. “Lebron and Rivera are obviously two of our mainstays, but I am also excited about being able to use Castillo on the mound this season.”
An Osceola News Gazette Co-Player of the Year last season, Castillo has been a four-year starter in center field but did not pitch last season. He has not given up an earned run in two pitching outings, striking out four and allowing two hits.
“We could have used him on the mound last year but he was just too valuable to take out of center,” Williams said. “But with the emergence of freshman Jayden Perez, we are going to be able to use Castillo on the mound when we need to.”
Perez, who did not play Friday, is hitting .400 in nine games and has played solid defense for the Longhorns.
Friday, Harmony managed just one run in the first two innings but could have scored several more if not for two outstanding plays by the Osceola defense. Kowboys left fielder Ethan Grant combined with shortstop Alejandro Martinez on a perfect 7-6-2 relay play to throw out Jadiel Perez at home plate after a Castillo double in the first; and with two runners on and two outs in the second, Martinez made an outstanding stop and throw to first on a rocket off the bat of Jose Scrofani to end that threat.
Harmony put the game away in the middle innings, scoring three runs in both the third and fourth frames. A two-run double by Sebastian Tabares keyed the third inning rally; while the Longhorns sent seven to the plate in the fourth – taking advantage of an error and a walk to score three unearned runs. An RBI single by Westin Thompson and a sacrifice fly by Angel Medina were the key plays in the inning.
Castillo reached base three times and scored three runs Friday. Tabares collected three hits with a pair of doubles and Medina scored two runs.
Osceola’s lone hits came on a second inning double by Yamil Santiago and a seventh inning single by Grant. `Jacob Ramos pitched three innings in the loss. The Kowboys (2-6) play at Boone on Monday, before hosting national power Owosso, Okla. on Thursday.
