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Calvary Christian routs Pensacola Catholic to win state baseball title

 
Matheu Nelson celebrates after scoring on a wild pitch during the first inning, when Calvary Christian took a 6-0 lead.
Matheu Nelson celebrates after scoring on a wild pitch during the first inning, when Calvary Christian took a 6-0 lead.
Published May 28, 2017

FORT MYERS — Calvary Christian left no doubt as to which baseball team in Class 4A was the best in Florida this season. The Warriors defeated Pensacola Catholic 11-1 in six innings Saturday night at Hammond Stadium to claim the school's first state championship in any team sport. It also solidified a 30-0 season.

"We just 10-run ruled a team in the state championship game, are you kidding me?,'' senior shortstop Graham Hoffman said. "Seriously, this is the best group of guys I've ever been around.''

Calvary Christian is the first Pinellas County team to win a baseball state championship since Dunedin in 2008. The Warriors are also the first team in the state to go undefeated in a season since Pensacola Catholic went 30-0 in 2013.

The last Pinellas team to have a perfect season was Seminole, which was 31-0 on the field in 2001. However, the Warhawks had to forfeit their first 10 games due to an ineligible player.

"They're national champions in my opinion,'' sixth-year Calvary Christian coach Greg Olsen said.

The tone was set early.

Pensacola Catholic loaded the bases in the first inning with just one out. But starter Jonathan Fisher got two straight strikeouts to get out of the jam. And then the hits just kept on coming for Calvary Christian.

Eric Kennedy led off with a single and stole second. Justin Bench followed with a single to score Kennedy. Hoffman looped a single to center to put runners on the corners. A throwing error to second allowed Bench to score the second run. Then Matheu Nelson ripped a double to left to score the third run. Four batters, four hits.

Nelson got to third on a sacrifice bunt, then scored on a wild pitch. With the bases loaded, Richie Mize doubled to leftfield and it was 6-0. The Warriors sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning and pounded out seven hits.

"We have a whole bunch of guys who just battle,'' Nelson said. "Tonight, we just busted right out of the box. That helped so much. We battled pitch after pitch, play after play.''

Calvary Christian got three more runs in the third to make it 9-0. Nolan Hudi doubled to lead off the inning and Cairo drove him in with a single. Richie Mize then singled and Kennedy drove him home with a single. The final run in the inning came when Hoffman was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Pensacola Catholic got its lone run in the fourth inning off Fisher when third baseman Cairo tried to nail a runner at home, but his throw was low.

Calvary Christian tacked on another run in the fifth inning, then ended it in the sixth when Kennedy hit a grounder up the middle with the bases loaded that allowed pinch-runner Ryan Michaels to score.

Hoffman relieved Fisher in the sixth inning. He walked two, but his defense turned a double play, the third of the game, and Kennedy made a diving catch in centerfield.

Fisher pitched five innings and allowed four hits and one run. He ends the season 11-0.

"Honestly, it's surreal,'' Fisher said. "It's going to take a while to sink in. It's all too much to think about right now.''

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Calvary Christian had 13 hits, which was one more than it had in Friday's semifinal win. Bench, Hudi, Cairo and Mize had two hits apiece. Kennedy had three hits.

"It was so much fun being on this team,'' Hoffman said. "Today was one of those days where everybody was hitting. Things went our way.''