- Trenton and Buchholz baseball teams have reached the final four for the third consecutive year in their respective FHSAA tournaments.
- Union County won the Rural-Region 3 Final and will play Cottondale in the Rural semifinals as the top overall seed.
- Buchholz, led by seven college signees, swept No. 1 seed Pace and will face Martin County in the Class 6A state semifinal on Friday.
For the third consecutive year, the Trenton and Buchholz baseball teams are headed to the final four.
This past weekend, Trenton advanced with a sweep of Williston in the FHSAA Rural-Region 4 Final.
Trenton scored six runs in the first inning on Friday in a 6-1 win against the Red Devils (18-13) and scored two runs in the first inning in Game 2 in an 8-2 victory.
The Tigers (22-5), who are the No. 2 seed, will play No. 3 seed and defending state champion Holmes County (Bonifay) (16-15) at 1 p.m. on Wednesday in the FHSAA Rural State Semifinals at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers.
“It feels good,” said Trenton catcher Zane McArdle. “I’ve went twice…I feel like our pitching has been able to mature and I feel like our bats have been able to get better as the season went on. We didn’t really lose a lot of pitching from last year.”
Trenton will have a 1-2 punch on the mound in juniors Brant Bivens (7-2, 2.65 ERA) and Mason VunCannon (4-1, 2.14 ERA).
Union County (Lake Butler) won a pair of games in the Rural-Region 3 Final against Lafayette (Mayo), which eliminated Trenton in last year’s state semifinals.
The Tigers rallied from a 5-2 deficit for an 8-7 victory in eight innings on Saturday. They defeated the Hornets, 14-3, on Friday.
As the top overall seed, Union County (22-7) will face No. 4 seed Cottondale (18-11) at 10 a.m. on Wednesday in the first Rural semifinal.
If Trenton and Union County win on Wednesday, they will face each other in an All Area state championship game at 4 p.m. on Thursday for the Rural state title.
Wednesday’s Trenton game, and Thursday’s state championship game, will be broadcast ‘live’ (free audio play-by-play) on Mainstreet Daily News.
Buchholz, which is led by seven college signees, is back in Fort Myers after sweeping No. 1 overall seed Pace on the road on Friday night in the FHSAA Class 6A-Region 1 Final.
The Bobcats (24-7), winners of 13 in a row, were the No. 2 seed but moved up to No. 1 following the wins over the Patriots (26-6). They will play at 10 a.m. on Friday against No. 4 seed Martin County (Stuart) (24-7), which took two of three against Lake Minneola (24-7) to win the 6A-Region 2 title.
Region 3 champion Land O’ Lakes (25-7), the No. 3 seed, will face No. 2 seed and defending state champion St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale) at 1 p.m. on Friday in the other state semifinal. STA (26-6) defeated Buchholz in last year’s title game.
“We’re ecstatic to be going back to Fort Myers,” said first-year Buchholz coach Chris Malphurs. “It’s so hard to get there. All the credit goes to our kids. They’re winners, and winners win.”
The Class 6A state championship game is at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Friday’s Buchholz game and Saturday’s championship game, if Buchholz advances, would be broadcast online (free audio play-by-play) at Mainstreet Daily News.