Sidelines: Palatka avenges eight-inning baseball loss to Matanzas

Pirates get squeezed

After Matanzas' 5-4 extra-inning loss to Palatka on March 14, Pirates baseball coach Jim Perry thought about what his team could have done differently to prevent the go-ahead run from scoring in the top of the eighth inning.

He decided they did everything right on the decisive play of the spring-break home game. Tanner Ortiz's sacrifice bunt scored Brock Foshee from third base with one out in the eighth, and sidearmer Cayden Annis left a man on second in the bottom of the eighth to secure the win for the Panthers (4-3).

Perry said on the squeeze play, Matanzas sophomore pitcher Ben Apfelbach might have been able to fake a throw to first base and then wheel around and throw home, hoping to get Foshee in a rundown. But there was no guarantee that Foshee would have bitten on the fake. He waited for the throw to first before bolting to the plate and beating the throw home.

It was the second time the Pirates and Panthers went to eight innings this season. Matanzas beat Palatka 7-4 in eight innings on Feb. 25 in Palatka. But since then, the Pirates have lost three in a row. The problem has been free bases. Matanzas pitchers have walked 21 batters in the three losses.

“We had 11 three-ball counts out of 34 batters we faced (in the Palatka loss),” Perry said. “Our philosophy is to throw two of your first three pitches for strikes to get on top. Pitching from behind is very difficult.”

Bailey Russell went 2 for 3 with two RBIs for the hosts. Braden Russell went 2 for 3 with one RBI.

Four-star recruit

FPC linebacker Rodney Hill continues to move up on national recruiting lists. Rivals.com lists the sophomore as a coveted four-star recruit and ranks him sixth in the nation among inside linebackers in the 2024 graduating class.

Rivals ranks Hill third in the state among 2024 inside linebackers, 42nd in the state overall and 167th in the country in the 2024 class. The website lists seven schools that have offered a scholarship to Hill, including Tennessee, UCF, USF and Iowa State.

FPC track standouts

FPC's track and field team competed in the North Florida/South Florida Challenge at Miami Northwestern on March 11. D.J. Murray finished second in the 400 (50.27 seconds) and helped the Bulldogs' 4x400 team also finish second.  Krish Sager finished second in the pole vault (12 feet). Daniel DeFalco was third in the javelin (157 feet).

Among girls, Taylor Spann was second in the 200 (26.21), Summer Barnes was third in the 100 (12.86).