After losing 4-0 to Sickles to open Saladino Tournament play on March 11, Durant baseball rattled off a six-game win streak in which they outscored their opponents 40-10 and toppled strong opponents in Jefferson, Lennard and cross-town rival Strawberry Crest along the way. The win streak came to an end last Tuesday as the Cougars fell in a 9-4 contest to Newsome, but they bounced right back with a 3-2 win over Bloomingdale on Tuesday night and moved to 12-3 on the season.
After a long at bat from Durant leadoff hitter Nick April-Gath opened the contest, resulting in a fly out to second base for the first out of the inning, the Cougars jumped out to an early lead as senior catcher Dylan LaPointe crushed the second pitch he saw deep to right center and into the trees beyond the Bloomingdale fence, giving Durant a 1-0 lead in the first. Despite the big fly, the Cougars were unable to get anything else rolling in the top of the first but headed into the bottom of the frame on top.
As Durant took the field, it was Gavin Florio on the mound for the Cougars. With just one earned run allowed over his last 15.2 innings entering the night, Florio kept right on rolling with a one-two-three inning in the bottom of the first.
Blaine Rowland led off for Durant in the top of the second, reaching on an infield single to open the inning. After a fly out to center marked the first out, Rowland then advanced to second on a pickoff move that skipped past the Bloomgindale first baseman and to third on a deep fly out to right, but wouldn’t come around to score as a ground out ended the threat. And in the bottom of the second, Bloomingdale punched back. After Florio fell behind 2-0 to the Bloomingdale cleanup hitter, the next pitch was taken deep for a home run to left that tied the contest at 1-1. But despite the leadoff trouble, Florio would get a pair of flyouts from the next two hitters he faced, concede a walk and end the inning by inducing a ground out to short.
LaPointe would reach scoring position in the top of the third with a two-out double down the right field line — his second extra base hit in two at bats — but didn’t move any further.
Florio allowed two runners in the bottom of the third but was able to work through the inning without any damage done. Durant was held down without trouble in the top of the fourth and Florio worked through the bottom half with ease, sitting down all three Bloomingdale hitters he faced with a pair of strikeouts.
Durant then retook the lead in the top of the fifth. After senior third baseman Aidan Welsh led off the frame with a single to right, he moved into scoring position on a wild pitch one pitch later. Junior Devin Suero then rolled over a slow ground ball to third base, beating the throw to first and setting up runners at first and third with no outs. April-Gath then grounded out to short and Suero’s speed allowed him to advance safely to second as Welsh scored from third, giving the Cougars a 2-1 lead. LaPoint reached on a hit by pitch and junior Noah Morales put another run on the board with an RBI base hit to left, driving home Suero and extending the Durant lead to 3-1.
Florio worked through the fifth and sixth without trouble and looked to finish the complete game effort as he took the mound for the bottom of the seventh — Bloomingdale’s last chance to close the 3-1 gap — but despite the stellar outing, a leadoff walk and a double to left center spelled the end of his night as Rowland entered the contest in relief, facing runners on second and third with no outs. A sacrifice fly from the first hitter Rowland face allowed the runner to score from third and the trail runner to advance to third, narrowing the gap to 3-2 and putting the game-tying run just 90 feet away with one out in the inning. After taking the next hitter to a full count, Rowland was able to get the second out of the seventh on a check swing strikeout before slamming the door with a deep fly ball to straightaway center field — tracked down by Suero for the final out.
Florio’s final line featured six innings pitched, three hits allowed, three walks, two earned runs and five strikeouts — now sporting an earned run average of just 2.04, an opposing batting average of .198 and notching 25 strikeouts over 24 innings. With strong nights at the plate, LaPointe now sits with a 10 runs batted in while leading the Cougars in batting average at .467, home runs with four, doubles with four and hits with 21. Morales’ RBI single brought his total to a team-high 15 runs batted in. Behind LaPointe, Rowland’s batting average also sits above the .400 mark at .425 with 17 hits on the year.
Durant will return home on Thursday as they host 2-11 East Bay.
Across town, Plant City notched their fourth win over their past seven contests with a 9-2 win over Riverview on Monday but fell to 6-9 on the season with a 3-1 loss against Lakeland Christian on Tuesday. And Strawberry Crest improved to 9-6 on the year with a 4-2 win over Wharton on Tuesday.