Tiger Sharks' Season Ends in Region Semis
The finesse of sophomore lefty Will West or the power of senior right-hander Tyson Workman; Port St. Joe had no answers for either last Friday night at Shark Field.
In a game with scant scoring opportunities defending state Class 2A champ Tallahassee North Florida Christian succeeded where the Tiger Sharks could not and the result was a 4-0 Eagle win in the Region 1-2A semifinals.
North Florida Christian (22-7) will host Jay this weekend in a best-of-three series for the region title.
The season ends for Port St. Joe (17-12), which saw a four-game winning streak snapped.
"That is a great baseball team, you can see why they are the defending champions," said Port St. Joe coach Mike Bullock. "They have great pitching, great hitting.
"Against a team like that you have to play mistake free and you have to cash in when you have the chance. We didn't cash in."
The primary reason was the combination of West and Workman.
West started, his off-the-table curveball giving the Tiger Sharks fits before he tired in the fourth inning. When the fifth arrived, on came Workman, who dominated the final three innings with his fastball and slider combination.
Their statistics were nearly identical. Each allowed two hits, walked one and struck out seven. They also each hit a batter and tossed in a balk and wild pitch to open a couple of doors they subsequently shut.
"Will got his 80 pitches and he got a little tired," said NFC coach Mike Posey. "Tyson we use to either start or in relief. He threw a two-hitter in the championship game last year. He's a gamer."
The difference, though, was that when the Eagles pushed runners into scoring position, they became runs. When the Tiger Sharks got runners in similar position, they couldn't pull the trigger.
"That was the key," Posey said. "You get into championship baseball and you can't make too many mistakes. We made some base-running mistakes, but they didn't hurt.
"(Port St. Joe) made some mistakes and we took advantage."
The Eagles scored their first two runs with two out in third inning off Tiger Shark starter Matt Gannon.
A high hopper off the bat of Darrius McQueen ate up Tiger Shark shortstop Levi Richter and Dayne Read walked.
John Nagowski followed with a single to left to score McQueen and Read aggressively tried to reach third on the throw home.
Port St. Joe catcher Corbin Vickery was wide of the bag with his attempt to snag Read and the senior came around to score on the error.
The Eagles followed that with two more runs in the next frame.
Workman singled, only to be picked off first by Gannon, but it was the beginning of four-straight hits by the Eagles, the third of the series an RBI double from Melvin Ray.
Jamie Bird came on in relief of Gannon and Brandon Neel put down a squeeze bunt that brought home Ray, who had moved to third on single by Bo Walker.
As West tired in the fourth, he produced an exciting a strike-out-the-side inning that proved one of Port St. Joe's best scoring chances.
Vickery singled with one out and one out later Jacob Gentry walked. They advanced on a balk and the bases were loaded when West hit Robbie Martin.
West struck out Matt Wright to end the threat and his night.
In the sixth, the Tiger Sharks moved men to second and third with one out on a walk, an infield single and a throwing error.
Workman struck out Martin and Wright to end Port St. Joe's hopes.
"Our kids came in with the attitude that this was not going to be the end of their season," Bullock said. "I'm proud of them for the courage they showed.
"Seeing what it takes to be the last team standing will motivate them coming back and we have a good group coming back."
