Streaks Walk The Pirates' Plank

BRADENTON - The Sebring baseball team has had its share of frustrating losses this season, but, faced with adversity, the Blue Streaks have shown a knack for bouncing back.

After stranding 14 runners on base and striking out 12 times in a 5-1 loss to Braden River in the Class 4A-District 10 championship game on Friday, Sebring will need to do just that if they hope to keep their season afloat.

"Most of the times we've had a bad loss or a hurting loss, we've come back and had a good practice and played well," said Sebring coach Hoppy Rewis. "I just don't know what the pressure of being eliminated will do to them."

The Streaks will face District 9 champion Lake Wales in the regional quarterfinals at 7 p.m. on Tuesday on the Highlanders' home turf, while Braden River - which claimed its first-ever district baseball championship in front of their home fans - will host Bartow.

Cody Higgins, who was 3 for 4 with a double but was stranded on third twice in the game, said his team needs to change its approach with runners on base if they hope to extend the season.

"We have good at-bats to get runners on, but when we come up with runners in scoring position, it's like we change our mindset instead of going up there like we have all season," said Higgins, who also struck out five in 6 1/3 innings of work. "We need to swing the bat like we can - with confidence."

After stranding two runners on base each of the first two innings, the Streaks jumped ahead in the third inning when Kyle Long scored on a passed ball over the Pirate catcher's head to give Sebring a 1-0 lead.

But the advantage was short-lived after the Pirates loaded the bases with no outs and tied the game on a sharp single through the right side by Nathan Pittman. After Higgins picked off a runner at third and got a pop-out, Sebring appeared to be out of the inning until a routine grounder was booted and two more runs scored, giving Braden River a 3-1 lead.

The atmosphere in the Sebring dugout, which was loud and raucous for the first two innings, was suddenly hushed, and Pittman worked the corners to hold the Streaks' bats at bay. Long was 2 for 3 with two singles, and Adam Simmons and Izzy Gomez each had hits, but key hits were few and far between for Sebring.

"You can't load the bases with two outs, because you limit your opportunities," Rewis said. "But we still have to step up and battle."

The Pirates added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Kyle Phillips and a passed ball that scored Tyler King. That was enough for Pittman, who fanned 12 Streaks and kept his cool with runners aboard.

"This is a hard pill to swallow," Higgins said. "But we didn't play horrible, we just made small mistakes and Braden River always takes advantage of those.

"We'll bounce back - we have a good team, we just need to execute better and it will come around. We'll try to make a long run and try to follow up last year."