Baseball: Bucks at home for regional semi; 3 teams travel

Four area baseball teams remain alive in their respective regional classifications, but only Bozeman has the luxury of hosting a semifinal game Friday.

The Bucks, 18-11, entertain Freeport, 14-10, at 7 p.m. in Region 1-2A. Also in the region, Port St. Joe, 16-12, travels to North Florida Christian for a 3 p.m. CDT start, the Eagles’ baseball field not lighted.

In Region 1-4A, Rutherford, 22-5, plays at Wakulla, 17-9, in the schools’ fourth meeting this season. Likewise, Marianna will play at Pensacola Catholic in 1-3A in its fourth game this season vs. the Crusaders.

For Bozeman, Friday’s starting pitcher has a familiar ring. Ryan Hardy had a lackluster outing in the quarterfinal win against Jay on Tuesday, but because he pitched only two innings will get the nod against Freeport.

Just as critical could be that Matt Hall, who came on to pitch five innings for the win, threw only 60 pitches in doing so and also is available, according to Bucks coach Jeff Patton.

“He’ll be good to go,” Patton said of Hall. “I like our defense when those two guys pitch.”

Joey Brannen takes Hardy’s spot in center field when he is pitching, and moves to right field when Hardy mans center.

Patton remains confident about his team, despite what he hinted was a workmanlike effort on Tuesday.

“I didn’t think we played as well as we could have played,” he said. “Leading up to it we were swinging the bats, playing defense, the pitching was good.

“We just didn’t execute some of the things we like to do. I felt like some might have felt the Jay pressure, and we were a little tight early. A.J. Van Slyke had a really big at-bat for us that led to three runs.”

Garrett Hall had six hits in the district tournament, and fellow sophomore Logan Strausbaugh also has been adding to Bozeman’s arsenal. Patton pointed out that the team was hitting .238 coming out of Spring Break and currently is near .300.

He called Freeport a scrappy team that is tough and solid.

“Just one of those teams that don’t beat themselves,” Patton said.

In the lower part of the bracket, Port St. Joe continued a season long pattern in its 8-7 win on Tuesday over Hamilton County. The Tiger Sharks average nine runs per game on the season. They surrender seven. NFC eliminated Liberty County 11-5 in its quarterfinal. The teams have not met this season.

Port St. Joe started poorly and finished poorly against Hamilton County. In between, it was in command.

“We really kicked it around in the first inning, then I thought (pitcher Austin) Howze settled down and I was very pleased with how they bounced back,” coach T.C. Brewer said. “We just made too many errors (six) throughout the game. We have to play more sound defensively.”

Brewer indicated that JMason Ray, 4-4, would start on the mound. If he encounters trouble early, Dylan Hester would be the first option. If the Sharks need late relief, Howze probably would enter.

“The past two years we’ve tried to figure out who an ace is and we haven’t had one,” Brewer said. “This year two stand out with Howze and JMason, who has been pitching in a lot more difficult games this year than last.

“I really don’t think it’s the pitching performances. They pitched well enough to have better statistics.”

Pitching could be the key to advancing, however, as Brewer said the scouting report on NFC is that it doesn’t have a hole in its batting lineup this season. The Tiger Sharks eliminated the Eagles last May in the regional.

“I think the difference is they’ve improved quite a bit offensively and we’ve stayed the same,” Brewer said.

Rutherford has 6-0 and 5-4 wins over Wakulla this season, but the reason the Rams are traveling to Crawfordville at 6 p.m. CDT is that the War Eagles beat them 2-1 in the district final.

Coach Jon Hudson said that either Jesse Pace, 6-1, or J Michael Davis, 7-0, would start for the Rams. He expects to see Jake Walker, who stopped the Rams on six hits last week, or possibly ace Ryan Zimba.

Hudson said Zimba pitched four innings and Walker three in Wakulla’s 7-6 quarterfinal win over Pensacola. Zimba is the harder thrower of the two.

“I would assume we’d see Walker,” Hudson said. “The last time he really located on us, mixed it up, came with 2-and-0 curveballs, first-pitch curveballs for strikes.

“We’ve faced some kids who threw 78 (mph) or 79 that we killed, but that’s because they couldn’t locate.”

Hudson’s coaching staff, as well as the players gained some confidence in the 8-1 win over Choctawhatchee. Rutherford played well in all phases on Tuesday.

“I don’t think we were hitting on all cylinders the last couple weeks of the season,” he said. “It was nice to come out in a pressure game and perform well again.

“I feel really good about them. They’ve been tested on the road several times now. I expect us to play our best game.”

Rutherford is led at the plate by Dakota Spikes’ .429 batting average, but six players have between 18-25 RBIs. Pace leads with 25, and also has a team-leading three home runs.

Region baseball

Tuesday’s area region quarterfinal baseball results and Friday matchups. All starts 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. local time:

• Region 1-5A — Pace 11, Fort Walton Beach 1; Crestview 8, Milton 5; Gainesville 7, Lincoln 3; Fleming Island 7, Leon 2. Friday: Pace at Crestview, Gainesville at Fleming Island.
• Region 1-4A  — Rutherford 8, Choctawhatchee 1; Wakulla 7, Pensacola 6; Bishop Kenny 13, St. Augustine 3; Nease 4, Stanton College Prep 3. Friday: Rutherford at Wakulla, Bishop Kenny at Nease.
• Region 1-3A — Pensacola Catholic 10, Madison County 3; Marianna 16, Florida High 2; Jacksonville Episcopal 3, Baldwin 0; Keystone Heights 2, Fernandina Beach 1. Friday: Marianna at Pensacola Catholic, Jacksonville Episcopal at Keystone Heights.
• Region 1-2A — Freeport 6, Vernon 3; Bozeman 7, Jay 3; Port St. Joe 8, Hamilton County 7; North Florida Christian 11, Liberty County 5. Friday: Freeport at Bozeman, Port St. Joe at North Florida Christian.
• Region 1-1A — Aucilla Christian 9, Paxton 2; Quincy Munroe 9, Central 3; Melody Christian Academy 5, Seven Rivers Christian Academy 0; Oak Hall 6, Mandarin Christian 5. Friday: Aucilla Christian at Quincy Munroe, Melody at Oak Hall.