On Friday morning at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, the Buchholz baseball team will play Martin County (Stuart) in the FHSAA Class 6A state semifinals.

The Bobcats advanced with a sweep of top-ranked Pace on the road (10-2 and 10-6) in the 6A-Region 1 Final and earned the No. 1 seed for the final four.

The Tigers, the No. 4 seed, were the No. 5 seed in 6A-Region 2 and defeated the No. 2 seed, Lake Minneola, in three games (L 6-5, W 10-4, W 16-10). In Game 3, the Tigers were down 9-1 and scored eight runs in the sixth inning and seven runs in the seventh to win it.

“Martin County is a team that plays hard, is disciplined and well coached,” said first-year Buchholz coach Chris Malphurs. “At this point in the year, no one is here by accident. They will be a challenge for us. But you’ve heard me say it down this run we’re on that it’s more about how we play than who we play. We’re focused on how we play and with great effort/energy. Our kids are prepared and ready.”

The two teams are similar in a lot of ways.

Both have identical records, similar pitching numbers, and several players who will be playing college baseball.

Buchholz has nine seniors and Martin County has eight.

They also hit 15 home runs each.

Martin County (24-7) has a team earned run average (ERA) of 2.01 and a combined 231 strikeouts in 209.1 innings pitched. They’ve given up a total of 60 earned runs.

Buchholz (24-7) has a team ERA of 2.03 and a combined 273 Ks in 206.2 innings pitched. They have also given up 60 earned runs.

Six players who were on the 2021 Little League World Series team representing Florida (Southeast Region) are on the Tigers’ roster.

Martin County has five players who will be playing at the next level: Grady Messner (Senior OF/INF) – Eastern Florida State College; Zane Moody (Senior C/P/INF) – Pasco Hernando State College; Hunter Wilson (Senior P) – Brevard College (NC); Brycen Payne (Junior P/1B) – University of Central Florida (UCF); and, Preston Sullivan (Junior OF/1B/P) – Air Force.

Messner (.314) leads the Tigers with 25 stolen bases and 29 runs scored, Moody has a team-best 0.53 ERA, Wilson has a 1.62 ERA, Payne, who is second with five doubles, has a 1.24 ERA, and Sullivan is second with 20 RBI.

Plus, junior Wyatt Parks, who hit two home runs and drove in five runs in Game 3 of their region final, leads the team with a .342 average and a .684 slugging percentage.

Buchholz has seven players who have signed to play at the next level: Aidan Kastensmidt and Dion Wilburn (Jacksonville University), Reed Thomas (Florida Gulf Coast University), Cohen Lafler (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University), Drew Almond (Northwest Florida State College), Blake Brewer (Gulf Coast State College) and Zac Brown (Lake-Sumter State College).

Kastensmidt (two-way player) has 199 career Ks and is batting .333 with 16 extra base hits, Wilburn, an FACA All-Star, has a 2.3 ERA with 73 Ks, Thomas, an FACA Senior All-Star, is 9-0 with a 0.82 ERA and 79 Ks, Lafler (1.75 ERA, 50 Ks) has over 100 strikeouts in his career, Almond (.310, 5 HRs) leads team in stolen bases (14), Brewer (.380, team-leading 30 RBI), an FACA senior All-Star, has 100+ career hits and Brown is batting .383 with nine extra-base hits.

Plus, junior Roen Kresak, the 2026 FACA District 7 Class 6A Player of the Year, leads the Bobcats with a .423 average and 41 hits.

But that’s where the comparisons end.

Martin County’s 24 wins this season are a school record, eclipsing the previous high of 22 set in 2018. Last year, Buchholz won a state-best 33 games.

The Bobcats are making their third straight final four appearance, but this is the first final four for the Tigers since 1968, when there were only two classifications.

Buchholz, which won a fourth straight district title in April, is hoping that experience pays off this weekend.

“This senior class is statistically the best in Buchholz’s 55-year history,” Malphurs said. “We’re going to give it everything we have to end their careers on top and get Buchholz High School its first baseball state championship.”

Friday’s first pitch is at 10 a.m.

You can listen to the game online at Mainstreet Daily News (free audio) beginning at 9:45 a.m. with Marty Pallman (Play-by-play) and Mike Ridaught (Color) calling the action.

The winner advances to the state championship game at 2 p.m. against either defending state champion St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale) or No. 3 seed Land O’ Lakes.

STA (26-6) defeated Buchholz in last year’s state title game.