The Herald
Saturday, May 7, 2011
BRADENTON — Senior rightfielder Erik Lindberg homered and scored three times as Bradenton Manatee ended Gaither's season, 13-3 in a six-inning Class 5A region semifinal Saturday at G.T. Bray Park.
It was the second straight postseason game in which Manatee (21-8) triggered the 10-run rule, and now the Hurricanes head to Pinellas Park on Friday to play for the region title and a spot in the Class 5A final four.
Gaither, which beat second-ranked Venice 1-0 to reach the region semifinals, finishes its season 16-9.
The Hurricanes are in the hunt to win their first state title since 1963 thanks to an offense that has been in synch the entire postseason. On Saturday, they put together a nine-run, two-out rally that included Mitchell Shreves' two-run single.
Cord Sandberg, Chase Sandberg, Bryan Voelkl and Correlle Prime all followed with run-scoring hits before Lindberg capped the inning with a towering three-run blast to left-center.
"I couldn't see the ball real easily, and I was a little late on it, and everything was going to rightfield," Lindberg said. "I choked up about half an inch and that made the difference, I guess."
The Hurricanes have scored at least 12 runs in three of their four playoff games.
"We work at this," coach Dwayne Strong said. "You look up and you see all the success, but these guys work at it. … When you work as hard as we do, it's bound to happen."
Nearly overshadowed by all the offense was sophomore left-hander Scott Kelly, who allowed two earned runs and four hits over six innings while striking out 10. He improved to 6-2.
Class 2A: Spencer Heath homered, Jason Kiracofe hit a three-run triple and host Shorecrest (20-9) pounded Community School of Naples 11-1 in a region semifinal shortened to six innings by the 10-run rule.
Shorecrest advances to the region finals and hosts Brooks-DeBartolo on Friday.
"We've worked really hard over the past two seasons, and it's translated into a better performance on the field," said Heath, a first baseman who went 2-for-3 with an RBI. "We're more confident about our ability, and we've been able to produce different type of hits like deep gappers and home runs."
Times correspondent Chris Girandola contributed to this report.
