Mike Ridaught
The last 16 games in the P.K. Yonge-Oak Hall baseball series have been even, with each team winning eight games.
Last year, Oak Hall won at P.K. Yonge, 18-16, in February, but the Blue Wave returned the favor a month later with a 3-2 win at Oak Hall.
On Monday afternoon the Eagles defended their home field with a 3-0 win at Roger Maris Field.
Senior pitcher Troy Freeman tossed a four-hit shutout over seven innings as the Eagles (6-2) won their second straight game.
“Lights out,” said Oak Hall coach Kevin Maris. “He’s pitched four games and he’s pitched lights out the last three games. He’s pitching the way he’s supposed to pitch, a senior coming out and getting after it right away. He threw a lot of strikes…he just went right after it.”
Freeman kept the Blue Wave off balance with nine ground ball outs.
“I was keeping it short,” Freeman said. “All of the hitters, they weren’t getting many pitches, they were hitting first pitch a few times. Those low pitches man, I was getting them with it every time, the curve ball, the fast ball low, two-seam, I was getting them with all of it. I felt great on the mound today.”
Oak Hall got the only runs it would need in the bottom of the first inning.
With two on and one out, senior third baseman Gavin Jones (2-for-3, 2 RBI, RS) brought home twins Jackson and Harrison Beach with a double to left field off of senior Nick Roach for a 2-0 lead.
“Gavin’s been swinging the bat pretty well all year,” Maris said. “He stayed within himself. He’s been driving the ball really well and the wind was blowing in, but he still hit it a pretty good ways. Without the wind, that might have had a chance to definitely go out.”
Freeman (2-1) rode the momentum by retiring the side in order in the top of the second inning.
“Best feeling,” Freeman said of the early lead. “Man, when you’re up during a game, you don’t worry at all on the mound. You just know you’ve got to throw strikes and get the outs. It feels great.”
Roach (3-2) settled down after the first and allowed just three hits the remainder of the game. He finished with six innings of work and allowed just one earned run on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
“I think he threw well,” said P.K. Yonge coach Rob Brunson. “He was pretty much in command of his pitches. We had a couple of errors there, middle infield…I thought he threw a great game personally.”
Freeman only struck out one batter, but he also only walked one batter.
“He threw a lot of ground balls, ground ball outs, fly ball outs,” Brunson said. “He did a great job.”
P.K. Yonge’s best opportunity to score came in the top of the first inning.
Junior shortstop Micah Gratto (2-for-3) and senior center fielder Luke Sparkman (1-for-3) each had a hit as the Blue Wave (7-2) put runners at second and third with only one out.
However, Freeman worked out of the jam by getting junior designated hitter Josh Davis to pop up to the mound while senior Nico Gomez-Vera grounded out to short to end the inning.
“I thought we were going to get one or two in, and it just didn’t happen,” Brunson said. “You can’t win when you don’t score.”
P.K. Yonge committed three errors in the game and had a couple of baserunning mistakes.
Gratto was caught stealing in the third when he over slid the second base bag, and the Blue Wave had a runner picked off at first to end the game after senior Mack Todd had reached on an error to bring the tying run to the plate.
Jones scored Oak Hall’s third run on an error in the third.
The two teams will play again at P.K. Yonge on Tuesday, April 23.
Up next, P.K. Yonge will travel to Branford on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game. The Blue Wave defeated the Bucs, 10-6, on Feb. 27.
“They gave us a pretty good fight when we played them,” Brunson said. “They’ve got a new coach and they’re a better, scrappy team. We got a piece of humility pie here and go back and start it all over on Wednesday.”
Oak Hall will travel to Eagle’s View (Jacksonville) on Thursday for a rematch of last year’s opening round 2A playoff game which the Eagles won in their final at-bat.
“We had a chance to get them three times last year which doesn’t happen too often in one year,” Maris said. “We look forward to getting up there and getting after it again.”
P.K. Yonge 12, Gainesville 0 (Late from Friday, March 22)
Sophomore starter Charlie Tumminia teamed with senior reliever Cooper Lieffers for a one-hitter over five innings in P.K. Yonge’s 12-0 win against visiting Gainesville.
Seniors Luke Sparkman and Mack Todd combined to drive in seven runs to help P.K. Yonge improved to 7-1. Sparkman drove in four runs on a sacrifice fly, a double and a two-run home run, while Todd drove in three with a double.
The game was originally scheduled for GHS (4-5), but Friday’s rain made the Hurricanes’ field unplayable. The game was moved to P.K. Yonge, where the Blue Wave won the previous meeting 13-2 on Feb. 23.
Next year’s two-game series will be played at GHS.
Tumminia (2-0) worked 3.1 innings, allowed a hit, walked six, hit a batter and struck out five. Lieffers struck out one and walked one in his 1.2 innings.
Gratto and Aidan Long contributed to the Blue Wave’s 10 hits with two each.