Baseball: Jefferson takes advantage of McKeel's errors to end Wildcats' season
LAKELAND — McKeel had won its past six straight games and its last 12 of 13 games by playing solid pitching and defense and by scoring at least five runs in every game, including double digit runs in its past four games.
None of that brand of baseball was on display on Friday afternoon.
A two-out walk in the top of the fourth followed by poor defense opened the door for Tampa Jefferson's five-run inning and the Dragons went on to defeat McKeel, 11-2, in the Class 4A, Region 2 semifinals in the final game to be played on Mike Long Field.
When the season opens next year, the Wildcats (19-8) will being playing on a new field as McKeel is revamping its baseball and softball facilities and nearly all the key players will be back. McKeel loses just two seniors who saw significant action, but they were big contributors. Ryan Walker batted .409 and was third with 29 RBIs, and Josh Quezada batted .365 and led with 36 runs scored.
"It's been a fantastic season, especially after the way it started," McKeel coach Ron Nipper said. "We had two freshman and three sophomores in the lineup every day so we feel really good about the guys we have coming back and to win 19 games with only two seniors on the field. We return every inning of pitching. We wanted to go a little bit longer, but we're happy with where the program is."
The lesson the returning players wil take into next season is how quickly a game can slip away when they can't play fundamental baseball.
McKeel starter Kaden Howell was cruising through three innings with a 1-0 lead and quickly retired the first two batters in the top of the fourth inning. He then walked H Sekanick on four straight pitches, which opened the door to what became a big inning.
After Sekanick stole second, Alliuq Troupe drove him in with a double. I Fernandez then reached on an error with Troupe advancing to third. Troupe scored on an overthrow on a pickoff attempt that gave Jefferson a 2-1 lead. Fernandez scored when Joseph Fritz scored on McKeel's third error of the inning.
JaMarques Benton followed with an RBI single and Cameron Mallo greated new pitcher Caleb Clanton with an RBI double and Jefferson led 5-1.
"In single elimination, that's the difference maker —- walks and errors," Nipper said. "They didn't do that, and we did and it got away. If we just make one of those early plays, its a 1-1, 2-1 game, and we're right in it. But somebody has to make a play."
That basically was the ballgame, especially after McKeel left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Wildcats finished with four errors.
"You can't do that against good teams, they'll bury you," Nipper said. "We've done that to teams during the year."
McKeel , which scored 55 runs in its last four games, managed just three hits. KJ Scobey led off the game with a single and later scored on an error to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
Austin Garrison singled home Walker in the sixth inning but that just made it a 7-2 ballgame. Jefferson piled on four more runs in the top of the seventh.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Baseball: Jefferson takes advantage of McKeel's errors in region semis
