Harmony broke open a scoreless tie in the fourth inning with six unearned runs to beat St. Cloud, 8-2, in the District 7A-9 championship baseball game Friday at the Mike Fields Complex.
Then, when the FHSAA released the Region 3 brackets on Monday, guess who’s playing again, at the same place in Friday’s win-or-clearout- the-locker-room regional quarterfinal.
The Longhorns (15-10) will host the Bulldogs (18-6) at 7 p.m. at the Mike Fields Complex.
The winner will face either Fort Pierce Central (10-8) or top regional seed Vero Beach (19-4) in a best-of-3 series on May 1-2.
The win also gave Harmony a 2-1 season edge over rival St. Cloud, and the rankings fell just right to give the Bulldogs a chance to even the season series in the most meaningful game of the four.
“We’re happy to win the district title and get the home playoff game next Friday,” Williams said. “It doesn’t matter who it is against.”
Additionally, Tohopekaliga (12-8) earned an at-large bid and is the No. 7 regional seed. The Tigers will play at Lake Worth Park Vista (17-5) on Friday at 7.
“(Friday) was a prime example of how this team has come together this year. No one is worried about individual playing time or stats, they only care about winning,” Williams said of the district championship game.
The game started as a pitching duel, with St. Cloud’s Rafael Martinez and Harmony’s Trevin Bean each throwing three innings of scoreless ball. But in the fourth, pinch hitter Ashton Fayne delivered a two-run double. Jose Scrofani scored on a wild pitch and after a walk and single, Angel Medina slammed a two-run double to the gap and Harmony led, 6-0. All six runs were scored with two outs.
“No excuses, you have to make the routine plays and we didn’t do that,” St. Cloud Coach David Blackmore said. “Give Harmony credit, they came up with the big hits after the inning should have been over, but I can’t help but feel we gave this game away.”
St. Cloud cut the gap to 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth on a leadoff double by Sam Quijada and Jose Alvarado’s line drive home run over the right center field fence. The Bulldogs had a chance to add on in the fifth when they put two on with one out but relief pitcher Jaxson Kraubetz struck out Jayden Luciano and Quijada to end the inning. St. Cloud loaded the bases in the sixth with two walks and a hit batsmen, but relief pitcher Raul Romay struck out Gage Rutledge and Genaro Santana to put out that fire.
“Despite the bad fourth inning, we had ample opportunities to get back into the game,” Blackmore said. “But we kept the bats on our shoulders and you simply can’t do that.”
In a season where the Longhorns returned just two senior starters, they were able to win their third consecutive district championship— an accomplishment not lost on Williams.
“We had five sophomores, a freshman and three juniors play significant roles for us,” he said. “Obviously, we hope to have a lot more baseball to play this year, but the future certainly looks bright.”
Blackmore added, “We will regroup and get ready for next week.”
