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Late Inning Heroics Lift Sebring

Matt Flowers/Highlands Today

Sebring’s Jesse Baker is all smiles after hitting a two-run homer against Okeechobee in Wednesday’s District 8 game.

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Matt Flowers

Published: July 6, 2007

OKEECHOBEE — On a day when Americans celebrated their independence, players, coaches, parents and officials filled the first part of their day off with the most American sport of them all.

Baseball.

By the end of the day, the Sebring Dixie Boys (age 14) All-Stars had a little something extra to celebrate as they took down the Okeechobee All-Stars by a score of 7-4 in a battle of the unbeatens in the District 8 tournament Wednesday at Okeechobee Sports Complex.

Sebring built a 4-0 lead over the first three innings, but Okeechobee had things knotted at four in the top of the seventh before Jesse Baker gave Sebring some afternoon fireworks with a two-run homer that ultimately led to the victory.

The contest was originally scheduled to be played on Tuesday, but the repetitive Florida thundershowers interrupted play and moved it back a day with Sebring carrying a 1-0 lead through just an inning and a half.

After a scoreless second inning, Sebring opened its bag of big sticks in the top of the third.

Matt Randall and Matthew Grubb landed consecutive singles to set up an Evan Lewis two-run double that gave Sebring a 3-0 lead.

A single by Toby Solebello advanced Lewis to third, where he would eventually score via error to push the lead to four.

Okeechobee battled back in the bottom of the third with Brant Harden reaching after being hit by a pitch.

A sacrifice bunt from Brent Durrance and a single from William Ellis moved Harden into scoring position, but it was a sacrifice grounder from leadoff man Ryan Meigs that plated Harden and put Okeechobee on the board and within three.

The Okeechobee defense tightened the reigns for the next three innings to give the offense time to make up lost ground. Singles from Billy Conroy and Durrance helped load the bases in the bottom of the fifth inning and Meigs took advantage and drove in Conroy with a RBI single into left field.

Harden came across via a Sebring error and Okeechobee had crawled its way to just a one-run deficit. Ethan McWherter reached on a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth inning and was plated by a second Sebring defensive error to tie the game at 4.

Having suffered a brutal Okeechobee comeback in last year's tournament, the Sebring All-Stars found themselves in an all too familiar spot of having to take back the lead.
Cody Hoffner put himself on base as the go ahead run with a single into left field, but he wouldn't have to work to score.
With two outs and Hoffner waiting impatiently, Baker placed all of the games tension on a frozen rope and sent a line drive screaming over the left field fence to put Sebring back on top 6-4.

An Okeechobee error allowed Solobello to score before the at-bat was over, and Sebring relief pitcher Matt Randall's right arm prevented a second comeback.

The win left Sebring as the lone undefeated team in the double-elimination tournament.

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