Seabreeze baseball wins District Quarterfinal against Mainland

The Seabreeze Sandcrabs’ baseball team won 5-2 against the Mainland Buccaneers on Monday, April 26, in the District 4-5A Tournament at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex.

“I’m just going to congratulate you guys,” head coach Jeff Lemon said.  “This is the first Districts the team’s made it into in seven years.”

The Sandcrabs wrapped up the regular season with a 15-10 record heading into the playoffs.

Seabreeze pitcher Colt Brown led the charge facing 28 batters, forcing 8 strikeouts, and hitting a single that resulted in 2 RBIs. After three innings of back-to-back outs by both teams, the bottom of the fourth brought action at the plate for Seabreeze. Ethan Cleary singled on a line drive  and was batted in by Mason Owen, scoring the first run of the game. Owen and fellow Sandcrabs Trevor Presswood, Mason Boice and Zach Sager, would add the additional four runs bringing the score to 5-0.

Mainland battled back at the top of the fifth. Matthew Daley got the team started with a fly ball to left field, giving him a triple followed by a run on an error. Matthew Deakin singled on a ground ball and remained on base as Gabriel Bridges hit a sacrifice bunt, advancing him to third. Pitcher Jonathan Campbell then hit a single, driving Deakin in for a final score of 5-2.

Mainland High School’s assistant athletic director, Terrence Anthony, spoke to the Buccaneers following the game.

“You guys have come a long way,” Anthony said. “Some of you are football players that haven’t played since, well, I don’t know. Some of you have never played but now’s the time to do it. This is a game. It is not life or death.”

The Sandcrabs advanced to the District Semifinals but lost to the Pine Ridge Panthers 5-3 Tuesday, April 27, ending their season with a 16-11 record.