Highlands Christian claims regional title

Pitching depth had been a concern for many baseball coaches entering this weekend's regional finals best-of-3 championship series.

But not for Highlands Christian coach Bruce Charlebois.

After a five-run second inning, the Knights' combination of freshman Nick Baker and junior Peter Graffio contained Miami Christian just enough out of the bullpen to score an 8-4 victory Saturday in the decisive game of the Region 4-2A championship series at Miami Christian.

Highlands Christian rallied to win the final two games of the series to clinch its first berth in the state final four.

The Knights will face Tallahassee North Florida Christian at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota.

The Victors (20-12) made their first regional final appearance in four seasons.

Highlands Christian (18-12) has seven players that have each pitched at least one inning this season. Over the course of the two-day series, the team used five pitchers and did not give up more than four runs in any of the three games.

''We hadn't used a couple of those guys in the playoffs, but we kept them prepared for just this type of a situation,'' Charlebois said. ``Baker threw four great innings in this game. He's been our bulldog.''

The Knights fell behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning when starter Shawn Zabrisky gave up a run-scoring single to Victors' catcher Christian Torres and then hit Stefan Singh with a pitch with the bases loaded.

Charlebois pulled Zabrisky for Baker, who came on and forced first baseman Lazaro Marrero to fly out to right field.

Baker kept Miami Christian off the scoreboard for the next two innings while the Knights took a lead they would not relinquish.

With two runners on base to lead off the second inning, Ethan Perla reached base when Victors' second baseman Derek Peña missed a sharp ground ball up the middle. Jordan Chapman scored on the error. Senior Jon Ruiz followed with a single to center that drove in two more runs and gave the Knights a 3-2 lead.

Senior J.R. Pryor added another run with a double to the left-center-field gap, and Jason Hepple drove in a run with a groundout.

Perla extended the lead to 6-2 in the third with a single to center that scored Chapman after Chapman had advanced two bases on balks.

Peña started a two-out rally for Miami Christian in the top of the fourth with a double to right field. With the bases loaded two batters later, Leo Parrondo drew a walk from Baker to cut the lead to 6-3.

Graffio relieved Baker and got Torres to fly out to center to end the inning.

Miami Christian's Noel Garcia and Miguel Leon reached base to lead off the top of the fifth. But Graffio retired the next three batters, giving up only a run on an RBI groundout by Marrero.

Ruiz gave Highlands some insurance in the bottom half of the inning on a double down the right-field line that scored two runs. He finished 3 for 4 with four RBI.

''These guys have had zero tolerance for mistakes or letdowns since the end of the regular season,'' Charlebois said.

'We've been in a zone. We like calling it `the feel,' and we haven't left it since the playoffs began.''

Miami 200 110 0 --4 6 4 Highlands 051 020 x --8 10 0

WP: Nick Baker (2-0). LP: Jairo Acevedo.