Winter Haven beats Lakeland Christian in Blue Devil Classic
WINTER HAVEN — Joshua Cruz used his array of pitches to control the game, leading the Blue Devils to a 9-2 win over Lakeland Christian in the Terry Donley Blue Devil Classic on Wednesday at Winter Haven High School.
This year’s Blue Devil Classic wasn’t organized in a championship format, according to Winter Haven head baseball coach David Schafer. So Wednesday's games at Winter Haven will be Winter Haven (7-5) and Lake Gibson (3-7) at 4 p.m., Haines City (6-2) and Auburndale (5-5) at 10 a.m., and Lakeland Christian (7-3) and Inspiration (6-4) at 1 p.m.
Cruz struck out four, walked four, allowed five hits but gave up just two earned runs in 5 and 1/3 innings.
Cruz (3-0), who throws a fastball in the low 80s, a curveball in the low 70s, a slider, a two-seam fastball and a changeup, said his biggest goal was to locate his pitches to the right spot.
“(It’s all about) just hitting my outside corners. I know a lot of hitters … don’t usually hit (the) outside pitch so, my biggest thing coming in was just hitting spots and mixing up pitches (and) working the count,” Cruz said.
Winter Haven racked up just four hits compared to Lakeland Christian’s five.
“We made our runners count. We did a very good job today with moving guys around,” Schafer said. “We’re trying to preach and teach that as much as we can and players are buying in, and they’re really working hard and moving runners, trying to get them to score.”
With the game tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the third, Winter Haven right fielder Taylor Burdon stole second and shortstop Roberto Odor scored from third base. Burdon earlier in the inning reached on a dropped third strike.
Cruz then produced a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fourth.
With defensive momentum shifting to offense, Winter Haven broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth thanks to Cruz hitting a hard groundball and reaching on an error, which allowed catcher Mason Jantomaso, a second-team all-county player last year, to score and make the score 3-1 Winter Haven.
Other scoring plays in the bottom of the fourth for Winter Haven were a Robert Miller RBI sacrifice fly to right field that scored Sean Quilter, an RBI single by Matthew Phieffer that brought in second baseman Alex Sandoval and a run scored by Odor after a Lakeland Christian pitcher Colton Barton balk, which made the score 7-1.
The last two runs for Winter Haven were thanks to a Gage McCrystal (third baseman) single that brought home Jantomaso and Quilter in the bottom of the fifth.
Lakeland Christian’s only runs were a Conor Browne RBI single in the top of the second and a Zachary Lester single in the top of the fifth.
Winter Haven junior pitcher Dylan Deleo will make the start for the Blue Devils versus Lake Gibson.
Auburndale 9, Lake Gibson 3
Auburndale’s Giovanny Mendez doubled on a line drive to right field and scored Gavin Stedman and Pierce Glading to make the score 8-3 in the top of the sixth. Mendez went 2 for 3 with three RBIs to lead the Bloodhounds.
The Bloodhounds’ Gaige Hash singled on a groundball to center and scored Jacob Welch to make the score 5-3 in the top of the fourth.
Auburndale’s Jackson Salata struck out two, walked five and allowed three hits and three earned runs in 5 innings. Lake Gibson’s Caleb Cone singled on a line drive to center and scored Aaron Graham and Chance Wheeler in the bottom of the third; Cone went 1 for 2 with two RBIs.
Haines City 3, Inspiration 2
Haines City’s Jadiel Alicea-Rivera singled on a line drive to centerfield and scored Omarion Nimmens to make the score 2-1 in the top of the fourth. The very next batter Carter Heaton singled on a groundball to right to make the score 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth. Both Heaton and Rivera went 1 for 2 with an RBI.
Hornets starting pitcher Andy Colon struck out two, walked three and allowed one earned run in 5 innings.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Winter Haven beats Lakeland Christian in Blue Devil Classic
