Baseball: Pasco 5, Ridgewood 4, eight innings

By Bryan Burns, Times Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 1, 2011

DADE CITY — Pasco coach Ricky Giles wasn't sure what kind of team he had this season entering the Pirates' home game against Ridgewood on Tuesday.

Pasco started 2-0, but both wins came against a pair of fledgling programs in Anclote and Fivay.

Making it tougher to get a read on the Pirates was the fact they went 10 days without a game.

For six innings, it appeared the long layoff was detrimental to the Pirates as they fell behind 4-1 and squandered opportunities.

But in the seventh, everything clicked. Cole Stancil laced a one-out, three-RBI double to left-center to tie the score and send it into extra innings, and Adrian Serrato had an RBI single down the third-base line in the eighth to give Pasco a 5-4 win.

"I really didn't know what to expect because we're still young," Giles said. "We haven't really done a whole lot this year. For them to come back, that showed a lot of character."

The key hits that eluded the Pirates (3-0) for six innings fell in the seventh. Serrato started the seventh with a single, and Michael Wilson walked to put two runners aboard. After a sacrifice bunt, Trey Dudley-Giles walked to load the bases.

That's when Stancil drove a changeup deep into the outfield to clear the bases.

"I was thinking just hit the gap somewhere to give our runners a chance to score. We had a lot of speed on the bases," Stancil said. "He left it up there, and I just hit like I was supposed to."

In the eighth, the Pirates' Logan Johnson led off with a double to centerfield and moved to third on a groundout. Serrato then drove in the winning run.

"We just got a hit when we needed it," Giles said.

Pasco's comeback wiped out a solid pitching effort from Ridgewood starter Austin Tolle, who gave up one unearned run through six innings before struggling in the seventh. The Rams (2-4) scored the game's first run in the third when Adam Arrowood singled home Tim Osborne. Ridgewood made it 2-0 on Robby McCabe's RBI single in the fifth, and the Rams added two more in the sixth on Drake Hloska's RBI double and a run-scoring single from Osborne.

Dudley-Giles started for Pasco and struck out 11 before being pulled in the top of the sixth after reaching his 85-pitch limit.

"Trey threw the ball well, once he got that curveball over," Ridgewood coach Larry Beets said. "He's going to dominate some people this year."

Stancil came on in relief and pitched the final three innings to get the win.

"Pasco's always tough here," Beets said. "You get to Pasco and those kids don't want to lose on their homefield. I've been coming over here for 37 years, and you know you're in a battle."

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseballpreps/baseball-pasco-5-ridgewood-4-eight-innings/1154687

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