Baseball tournaments on tap at 3 county high schools

LAKELAND — One year ago as spring break was approaching, COVID-19 forced schools to close and spring break baseball tournaments suddenly were canceled.

One year later with spring break beginning on Monday, the tournaments are back on.

Three Polk County schools are preparing to host spring baseball events, highlighted by the Dan Giannini Baseball Classic at Santa Fe Catholic, the only eight-team traditional tournament.

Winter Haven's Blue Devils Classic, which had been a tournament, is now a five-team, round robin, and the annual Thunder Spring Classic is an eight-team, round-robin event.

The Santa Fe Catholic tournament features six Polk teams, Auburndale, McKeel, Lakeland, Lake Wales, Lake Gibson and host Santa Fe, and two out-of-county schools, IMG and Sunshine State Elite. The latter school replaces Owasso, which is unable to leave Oklahoma because of COVID-19 restrictions. 

Owasso has been an annual participant in David Saliba's tournaments both at Santa Fe and going back years to when he coached at Winter Haven.

Host Santa Fe Catholic (7-3-1) and Auburndale (7-4) bring the best records among Polk County teams into the tournament. 

For Santa Fe Catholic, Jose Burey is batting .444 with 10 RBIs, and Trent Henly is batting .433. Gabe Gilmore is batting .393 with a team-high 13 RBIs. Henley also is 3-1 with a 1.31 ERA, and Peter Walsh is 2-1 with a 1.62 ERA.

The Bloodhounds are led by Zaylen Perry, who hit a walk-off, two-run homer to lift Auburndale over Winter Haven on Tuesday. Perry is one of the top prospects in the county and is batting .382 with two home runs and nine RBIs.

McKeel is expected to end up as one of the top teams in the county and is 5-5 after 10 games. The Wildcats have lost three games by just one run and have played a strong schedule. The teams that have defeated McKeel have a combined record of 37-12.

Sophomores Wyatt Jenkins (.393) and Branson Ashley (.375) are leading McKeel in hitting. Sawyer Hawks, an Air Force-commit, has been a tough-luck pitcher. He is 0-3, but boasts a strong 2.28 ERA. Breton Cusik is 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA.

Lakeland (4-4) also is at .500. Lane Perdue is anchoring the pitching staff at 3-0 with a 1.47 ERA. 

Sammy Hernandez (.435) and Nolan Shamoun (.320) are the only two hitters batting over .300. Hernandez is batting .435.

Of the other two Polk County teams, Lake Wales is 4-7, and Lake Gibson is 1-7.

Lakeland Christian, the county's top team at 9-0, is the top team at Winter Haven. The Vikings are batting .359 as a team and are led by Parker Galberaith (.478), Ty Evans (.429, 13 RBI), Ryan Jenkins (.414, 11 RBI) and Jake Fox (.409).

Joey Willis is 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA, Sawyer Toney is 2-0 with a 0.39 ERA and Nathan Shane is 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA.

The Vikings will open against George Jenkins. The Eagles are 6-4 and are led offensively by Corban Little (.600) and Brandon Middleton. Little also is 3-1 with a 0.82 ERA, and Tyler Williams is 3-0 with a 0.57 ERA.

The seven teams joining the host school at Lake Region are All Saints, Haines City, Discovery, Ridge Community, Kathleen, Tenoroc and Fort Meade.

All Saints boasts the best record at 9-2. The Saints are led offensively by Riley Kelton (.545) and Steele Polin (.500, 13 RBI).

Ridge Community is 7-2. Marcelo DeJesus (.438), Justin Martinez (.421), Kenneth Rivera (.400) and AJ Gabriel (.400) are all batting .400 or better. Gabriel also is 2-0 with a 0.91 ERA.