VALRICO — Wharton, still alive in the Class 8A-7 district tournament after an upset win against Plant on Monday, wasn't able to stop Riverview's Anthony Gonnella in Tuesday's semifinal. The junior first baseman, who came in with three home runs, hit two more, solo shots in the first and seventh innings.
But with the exception of Gonnella, the Sharks were blanked, as four Wharton pitchers combined to give up just those two hits. The No. 6-seeded Wildcats staged their second straight upset, beating No. 2 Riverview 7-6. The win earned Wharton a spot in next week's region quarterfinals and in Thursday's district championship game against Alonso.
Coming into the district tournament, Wharton (8-16) had won just one district game.
"We had to put something together. We don't have the horses like everybody else does, so we had to use what we have," Wharton coach Scott Hoffman said. "I said, we're going to see how long we can keep fooling them and see how long we can bend and not break."
The Wildcats certainly did bend. Wharton walked six, hit two with pitches and gave up three bases because of errors. Still, they never trailed.
Wharton helped itself by taking the lead early, when Zach Ware hit a two-run double to centerfield. Ware, who came into the tournament hitting just .125, had one more RBI on a single in the fourth inning.
"I just saw two outs, runners in scoring position," Ware said of his first hit of the game. "I just wanted to somehow get them in, I didn't care how I did it."
Riverview (18-7) tied it up in the second, scoring runs on a sacrifice fly and Gonnella's first home run. But the Wildcats, who combined for 13 total hits, scored a run in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings to stay in front the whole way. Five Wildcats recorded at least two hits apiece, and starter Tyler Hathcoat earned the win on the mound, giving up one hit and two runs in 2 1/3 innings pitched.
"We always felt like if we ever put some games together we could play, but we couldn't get out of our own way a lot of times," Hoffman said. "These past two days, for some reason, we've bent but we haven't just fallen apart."
The second semifinal was much less suspenseful, as Ravens (20-6) starter Nick Kennedy struck out eight in 4 1/3 innings, and first baseman Jordan Butler had three RBIs to help lift Alonso 10-2 over Newsome.
Robinson staves off Spoto's upset bid
TAMPA — Down to what might have been the last at-bat of his high school career, Robinson senior Jacob Jackson stepped to the plate in the ninth inning Tuesday, just trying to stay patient.
Tied 3-all against Spoto with a runner on second base and one out in the Class 5A, District 9 semifinal, Jackson worked the count to three-and-one, determined to get on base any way imaginable to keep the Knights' rally going.
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Explore all your optionsInstead, with one swing, he ended it.
Waiting on a fastball, Jackson got the pitch he was looking for as he connected off Spartans lefty David Baxter for a single to left-center to score a hustling Kris Terry and give Robinson a 4-3 walk-off victory.
The Knights (14-9) face tournament host Jesuit for the fourth consecutive year in Thursday's final at 7 p.m. The Tigers (18-8) run-ruled Middleton 10-0 in five innings in the nightcap.
"I'm not a big guy, so I was just thinking that he was throwing me all fast balls away," the 5-foot-8 Jackson said. "I got him and just squared it up. …It was just incredible."
While the finish was one to remember for Jackson and the Knights, it looked like Robinson was headed toward an upset early on.
Spoto (8-17), which has never made the playoffs in the school's nine-year history, jumped to a 3-0 lead in the third on a walk, a pair of errors and an RBI single by Kelvin George.
But the Knights answered back in bottom of the frame as Shawn Herron belted a two-run double over leftfielder Elijah Anderson's head to draw the Knights within one. Then in the sixth, Shawn McGory drove home Darius Autry on a single to left to tie it.
"That's what this time of the season is all about," Robinson coach Kevin McCray said. "It's win or go home, man. We found a way. It wasn't pretty, trust me. … But they stayed up, they kept fighting. We finally got a big hit and they got it done for us."
Jesuit lefty Michael Sandborn tossed five hitless innings, walked three and struck out 10. Senior Jacob Mocny tripled, scored twice and drove in a run.
Jeff Odom, Times correspondent