- Buchholz baseball has won six consecutive games and features several players signed to college baseball programs for next season.
- Top-seed Trenton will host No. 5 seed Chiefland in the Rural-District 7 semifinals Thursday at 7 p.m., with live audio coverage starting at 6:45 p.m.
It’s always tough to beat a team three times in a season.
Just ask the Newberry girls basketball team, which defeated Bradford (Starke) twice during the regular season by an average margin of victory of 31 points, but the Panthers lost to the Tornadoes in the district championship game.
At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, the No. 1 seed Buchholz baseball team will host No. 5 seed Forest (Ocala) in the Class 6A-District 2 semifinals. The visiting Wildcats (9-16) defeated No. 4 Oakleaf in Orange Park, 4-3, in Tuesday night’s quarterfinals.
The Bobcats (17-7), who have been to back-to-back state championship games in Class 6A, defeated Forest during the regular season by scores of 16-1 and 12-0.
That means nothing heading into Wednesday’s district semifinal.
“Our team is laser-focused on playing our best baseball each game we have an opportunity until the end of the season,” said first-year Buchholz baseball coach Chris Malphurs. “Our concern is on how we play, rather than who we play. We have respect for our opponents, but we know when we’re clicking on all cylinders, we are hard to beat.”
Buchholz is peaking at the right time.
The Bobcats have won six in a row, including an 8-7 win in eight innings against Class 5A No. 8 Lincoln (Tallahassee). They trailed 6-0 but walked it off on a single by senior Roen Kresak.
Kresak leads the team with a .440 average, followed by senior Blake Brewer (.408), a Gulf Coast State College signee, and Zac Brown (.375), who signed with Lake-Sumter State College.
Brewer leads the team in runs batted in (25), runs scored (23) and stolen bases (12).
Drew Almond, a Stetson University commit, is tied for the team lead in home runs (4) and is second with 21 runs scored and tied with Kresak for second in RBI (20).
The pitching staff is led by Florida Gulf Coast University signee Reed Thomas (5-0, 0.68 ERA, 41 IP, 7 BB, 56 K), Jacksonville University signees Aidan Kastensmidt (3-1, 2.74 ERA, 30.2 IP, 13 BB, 46 K) and Dion Wilburn (4-3, 2.74 ERA, 30.1 IP, 9 BB, 58K), and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University signee Cohen Lafler (3-1, 1.78 ERA), who has only six walks and 41 strikeouts in 35.1 innings of work.
Wednesday’s game will be broadcast ‘live’ on Mainstreet Daily News (audio only) with Marty Pallman (Play-by-play) and former Buchholz baseball coach Ron Brooks (Color) calling the action, beginning with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m.
On Thursday at 7 p.m., top-seed Trenton will host rival Chiefland, the No. 5 seed, in the Rural-District 7 semifinals.
The visiting Indians (10-12) defeated No. 4 seed Bell, 19-11, on the road in Tuesday’s district quarterfinals.
Trenton defeated Chiefland at home, 10-2, on March 30, in the only regular-season meeting between the Tigers and the Indians.
Last April, the top-seed Tigers overcame an early 2-1 deficit and rallied for an 11-4 win against No. 4 seed Chiefland to advance to the region final. They also rallied past the Indians to win the district title.
Mainstreet will have audio coverage of the game on Mainstreet (audio only) with Pallman (Play-by-play) and Jack Jankowski (Color) calling the action beginning at 6:45 p.m.
The first pitch is at 7 p.m.
Buchholz and Trenton, which have made consecutive final four appearances, are aiming for another run.
If Buchholz wins on Wednesday, Mainstreet will also broadcast Friday’s Class 6A-District 2 championship game against either No. 2 seed Bartram Trail (St. Johns) or No. 3 Tocoi Creek (St. Augustine).
It could be a top-five Region 1 game as Buchholz is No. 2, followed by No. 3 Bartram Trail and No. 5 seed Tocoi Creek.
Pallman (Play-by-play) and Alex Washburn (Color) will broadcast Friday’s game (audio only) beginning at 6:45 p.m.
The first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.