By PATRICK YASINSKAS
BROOKSVILLE — As mid-April turns to the later part of the month, the Nature Coast bats that were so cold early in the season are heating up at just the right time.
The Sharks pounded out 10 hits on the way to a 9-4 home victory against Hernando in the semi-final round of the Class 3-District 7 playoffs on Tuesday night. Nature Coast took advantage of a two-run home run by senior catcher Brady McMurdo in the sixth inning and two doubles apiece by junior left fielder Beckett Monroe and junior second baseman Bryce Hewell to advance to the district championship game on Thursday night at South Sumter. Nature Coast (18-7) also got strong performances from starting pitcher Jackson Hoyt and reliever Raymond Groetsch on the way to its fourth straight win.
“We played a great all-around game,” Nature Coast coach Dan Garofano said. “We did a very good job of moving the runners and executing.”
While strong pitching from Hoyt and Groetsch has been the norm all season, a Nature Coast offense that struggled early in the season is enjoying a renaissance in recent games. The Sharks now have a .289 team batting average after failing to crack the .200 mark early in the season. McMurdo’s home run was the fifth of the season for a Nature Coast team that had only one before the latest winning streak. The victory puts the Sharks one win away from their third district title in the last four years.
With Hoyt, a senior left-hander who has signed with the University of Florida and is a potential early pick in this summer’s Major League Baseball Draft dominating Hernando batters early on, the Sharks jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first three innings. Monroe got the Nature Coast offense started with a leadoff double in the second inning. He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by junior third baseman Garrick Waggoner and scored on a fielder’s choice by senior first baseman Joe Rozsa.
Nature Coast broke the game open with a four-run third inning. Freshman center fielder Aiden O’Nolan led of the inning with an infield single and stole second. Hewell followed with the first of his two doubles to drive in O’Nolan and put the Sharks ahead 2-0. After McMurdo drew a walk, Monroe doubled down the third-base line to give Nature Coast a 4-0 lead. Waggoner capped off the inning with an RBI single that gave the Sharks a 5-0 lead.
Hoyt, who finished with 11 strikeouts while only allowing two hits in five and two-third innings, held the Leopards (14-12) scoreless through the first three innings. But Hernando, which now has lost all three games against Nature Coast this season, rallied for three runs in the fourth inning. The Leopards took advantage of a Nature Coast error to score their first two runs and sophomore Rhett Williams made it 5-3 with an RBI single.
“We hung around for a bit against a very good team,” Hernando coach Tim Sims said. “In all three games against them, we put the ball in play to where we were close enough to see the finish line, but we couldn’t quite get over it.”
Nature Coast put the game away in its half of the sixth inning. The Sharks took a 7-4 lead on McMurdo’s two-run home run. Hoyt and Monroe each followed with singles and Waggoner drove in Hoyt with a sacrifice fly to center field and Monroe scored Nature Coast’s final run after an errant pickoff throw.
Groetsch retired the Leopards in order while recording two strikeouts in the seventh inning to end the game.
“Jackson got us off to a good start and Raymond came in and did a great job finishing it off,” Garofano said.
While pitching only a short relief stint against Hernando, Groetsch is eligible to start and is expected to get the ball against South Sumter, which defeated Nature Coast, 3-2, in their previous meeting.
Hernando’s night — and, potentially, its season — ended with uncertainty. The Leopards, who advanced to last season’s Regional Championship Game, still could land an at-large spot in the Regional Playoffs, but that’s now out of their control. Hernando remains very much on the cusp and state officials will determine Friday if the Leopards get a berth in the regional round.
“It’s a tough situation,” Sims said. “We have a great group of seniors who now have to wait around for three days before we know if their careers or over or if they get another game.”
