FORT MYERS — Clouds hovered upon Hammond Stadium as thunder and lightning had been about to brush the realm with inclement climate, giving the officers of the Class 2A 2023 FHSAA Baseball State Championships a purpose to delay the ballgame till additional discover.
However that didn’t matter.
Lakeland Christian gamers mobbed one another on the mound, careening uncontrolled. Viking baseball head coach Matt Diaz had water poured on him as a result of the Vikings all season portended future.
It was the proper time for No. 2 seed Lakeland Christian to win its second state championship at school historical past because of a 5-2 win over No. 1 seed St. Johns Nation Day ― the No. 1 workforce within the state. Lakeland Christian received the state title in 2019, which was the primary yr a state title was received by a Polk baseball workforce since 1995 when Santa Fe Catholic received. Lakeland Christian head coach Matt Diaz as a sophomore was the beginning catcher on that workforce.
Since Diaz, who would go on to play ball at Florida State and the Main League for 10 years, didn’t begin head teaching Lakeland Christian till the COVID-19 yr, 2020, lacking the primary state title by a yr as a head coach, it was a sense of pure euphoria to see these student-athletes he has been in wars with to lastly hoist the 2A state title.
“I’m ecstatic for our gamers. They earned this one,” Diaz mentioned. “That they had a tough begin to the season. We had been (two) wins and (three) losses, however they purchased into the method. We as a training workers thought they had been able to doing this from the very starting. After which once they began to purchase in, issues actually began to click on. So, our gamers, I’m actually pleased for them, particularly our seniors. They led not solely on the sphere, however a few of them didn’t have the best seasons they needed, however they had been nonetheless leaders within the dugout. Pleased with them, excited for them as they head into the following chapter of life, and simply so pleased for our gamers.”
The method of starting to be on cloud 9 transpired within the very first inning because of a four-run inning for the Vikings: Junior outfielder Zachary Lester walked in a run and introduced in proper fielder Trey Bentley, infielder Daniel Hartley scored on a wild pitch thrown by St. John’s beginning pitcher Hunter Rodgers and infielder Wyatt Jenkins singled on a tough groundball to middle area, which scored outfielder Jaxson Peacock and Lester to make the rating 4-0 Lakeland Christian.
Lakeland Christian put its stamp on the sport within the prime of the fifth when utility participant Colby Brewington tripled on a shot to proper area, bringing dwelling Lester as soon as once more.
St. Johns was capable of rating two runs later within the recreation because of the dealing of beginning pitcher Carson Martin, who struck out two, walked only one and gave up only one earned run in 5 innings. Reliever Anthony Schatz walked simply two, gave up an earned run and one hit in 1 1/3 innings of labor and Jenkins got here within the final inning and allowed no earned runs and no walks in 2/3 innings of motion.
“We gave the ball to our sophomore, Carson Martin, who is aware of how you can pitch with a lead. He was simply throwing strikes (and) we had been making some performs behind him,” Diaz mentioned. “And that’s why we needed to pitch him. We needed them to beat us with their bats and never quit any free bases, and Carson definitely did that. We ended up closing the sport with Wyatt Jenkins. It got here right down to the final two outs. That they had the tying run on the recreation a pair completely different occasions, and we had been capable of make a pair performs behind Wyatt and get out of there with a state championship.”
Hitting-wise, the Vikings posted 4 hits, which was all they wanted because of the strong pitching. Hartley was for 1-for-3 with a stroll.
Senior Mack Estrada, who final pitched within the district championship clincher and might be attending USF sooner or later, mentioned he’s thrilled to be part of this championship workforce.
“I now know what profitable on the finish of a season appears like so I might need to do the identical in Omaha and additional within the World Sequence. No higher feeling,” Estrada mentioned.
Nonetheless, it’s all in regards to the course of. Sure, it’s true the workforce isn’t devoid of particular person expertise. But it surely took the performs of among the finest gamers within the nation making sacrifices: Within the very first inning, Florida State commit Mitchell Rodriguez laid down a sacrifice bunt, which led to 4 runs for this system.
Going via the proverbial fireplace early on ready the workforce, because the Vikings went via a gauntlet of expertise, which culminated in Lakeland Christian beginning out 2-3 because of enjoying the likes of IMG Academy, Calvary Christian (Clearwater) and Jesuit. And in the long run, the Vikings had been 25-5 ― the fourth season in 5 campaigns of 20 wins or extra.
“We ended our season pondering we will play with anyone. And St. Johns is definitely an unbelievable workforce, however with out being battle-tested early on, I don’t know if we step on the sphere with the boldness that we had (and) clearly it paid off,” Diaz mentioned.
Lakeland Christian gamers had the boldness to sing “We’re the Champions” because the championship bus rolled two hours again to Lakeland the place they’d finally be greeted by pals, mother and father and alumni. With the season ending in excellent style, subsequent on the agenda is to have a workforce championship dinner.
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