Baseball holds off West Orange 3-2, advances to Sweet 16
photo by Hayden Turner
Pitcher Garrett Baumann gets ready to deal to the West Orange offense. He threw a complete game in the 3-2 win.
The West Orange Warriors traveled to Oviedo on May 7 to take on Hagerty in the 7A FHSAA regional quarterfinals. While both teams made it to this point, they had very different journeys to the state tournament.
West Orange was 18-8 heading into the game after a 13-3 loss in the district final from the second-ranked team in class, Lake Brantley.
Hagerty, on the other hand, with a 16-11 record was coming off a big upset win over Winter Park and a district championship win over Oviedo.
Hagerty started quickly, scoring all three of the team’s runs in the second inning, after taking advantage of a walk from right fielder Talan Bell.
Following the walk, second baseman Dylan Strickland got on base after being hit by a pitch and designated hitter Luis Rivero got on base via an error on a bunt, scoring Bell and Strickland. First baseman Dylan Post got on base via bunt as well, scoring Rivero.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game so we knew that there would only be a few opportunities to pull some things,” Post said.
In the sixth inning, an error at first base by Post led to a missed double play, and two men were on base with one out. West Orange got a base hit to score the runner on second, and after a disputed call at home plate debating if a batter crossed the plane with a swing on two strikes, the continued inning led to a walk and another base hit. This brought the margin to only one run in the top of the sixth.
Baumann was able to hold them off in the top of the seventh, getting the last out from a pop fly to left fielder Bryce Fitzgerald. He held West Orange to two runs on three hits and three walks with eight strikeouts. This improves his record to 8-1 on the season with a 0.79 earned run average.
Hagerty will face Lake Brantley at Lake Brantley High School on May 12 at 7 p.m. in the FHSAA 7A regional semifinal. Tickets will be sold via GoFan for $7.
2021 FHSAA Baseball State Championships 7A FHSAA Baseball
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