BROOKSVILLE – For the fifth time in seven years, the Mitchell Mustangs are Farm Bureau Classic Champions. On Friday, the Mustangs (12-4) dominated the Land O’ Lakes Gators (8-8) in an 11-6 victory in the final round of the local baseball tournament.
After drawing first blood in the initial frame, Mitchell exploded for seven runs in the second inning to take an insurmountable advantage. After a valiant response by the Gators, the Mustangs mustered more scores to officially put the match out of reach.
The win gave Mitchell Head Coach Howard Chittum his fifth championship in the competition since taking the reins of the Mustangs in 2018. “This tournament has been really good to us,” he noted.
A double by Sophomore Matthew Maggio in the top of the first inning got the scoring started before the fireworks truly began in the second.
After a single and back-to-back walks to open the frame, Mitchell had loaded the bases with no outs. Fantastic kindling for a point-scoring fire. Now, all the Mustangs needed was a spark.
An error by the Gators on a bouncing Hunter Erickson single would do the trick. Including Erickson’s hit, five out the next six at-bats would result in scores for the Mustangs. Trailing by a precarious 5-0 deficit midway through Mitchell’s scoring bonanza, Land O’ Lakes were forced to make an early pitching change to Junior Ryan Mabry.
While his presence would pay dividends by slowing Mitchell’s scoring in later frames, it would not allow him to get out of the second without surrendering another trio of runs. Just like that, the Mustangs held a commanding 8-0 lead.
Over the next two innings, the Gators began to do the impossible and were clawing their way back into the ball game. The tournament runners-up put four points on the board over this stretch punctuated by a Yonder Alvarez home run in the bottom of the fourth.
Mitchell suddenly saw their lead halved with three innings remaining, but the Mustangs brought in Gains to quiet the Gators’ bats and 1m had the answer at just the right time. To open the very next frame, Junior Kyle Koslin belted his own home run past the left field fence and the rout was back on. The champions would proceed to tack on two more in the sixth and put the game away.
“That kind of settled everybody down and gave the rest of the guys’ confidence, because we were struggling when they brought in the lefty […] we were having a hard time matching up with him,” Coach Chittum continued. “So yeah, that really helped.”
With the tournament championship being hosted by Hernando, Leopards Head Baseball Coach Tim Sims presented the trophies to the teams at the conclusion of the match. He joked after the game that everyone there that night was “spoiled” because they had the opportunity to watch such talented teams facing off against each other.
“Everybody here tonight, including all these players, are spoiled,” Coach Sims said. “These are outstanding men that represent both of these schools […] I can tell you both programs here, I am proud to compete against them […] congratulations Howard and the Mitchell Mustangs.”
