BROOKSVILLE – Just as it did last Thursday, Hernando’s baseball team found itself locked in a pitchers’ duel with a county rival Tuesday night. This time the Leopards had senior right-hander Elijah Ramirez on the mound, and he proved up to the task. A five-run fifth inning provided plenty of support for Ramirez and reliever Travis Ritter, as Hernando defeated Central at Emerson Field, 5-1.
“I just battled through it all,” Ramirez said. “I just tried throwing strikes.” Ramirez tossed five innings, giving up three hits, a walk and a hit batter while striking out eight. He gave up one run in the top of the fifth, on a two-out bloop single to left field by Ryan McCane.
“He did great. It’s early in the season and he’s still building stamina up,” Hernando head coach Tim Sims said. “He looked very, very crisp for the first four innings. And then we had that long inning where we scored and we were in the dugout probably 30 minutes.”
In Ramirez’s previous three appearances, all starts, he tallied two wins while permitting three unearned runs. Over 12 innings, he yielded nine hits and two walks against 11 strikeouts.
Last year, Ramirez went 1-3 with 1.67 earned run average, making 10 appearances and eight starts.
Like teammate Pierce Kimbrough in last week’s 2-1 win over Springstead, Ramirez had to match zeroes against Central (6-2 overall, 4-2 in Class 5A, District 7) and lefty starting pitcher Dylan McMahon. Neither team had much going offensively until Hernando (5-3 overall, 4-2 5A-7) came to bat in the fourth.
Tyson Libengood laced a run-scoring double over the second baseman’s head into right-center field. Gabe Bonilla drove in a run on a sharp grounder to third for an infield single, and another Leopard came around when the throw to first was airmailed into foul territory.
Cameron Price’s bunt back to the pitcher brought in the fourth run, and he was safe when the infielders were late covering first, resulting in a fielder’s choice. A wild pitch made it 5-0.
Hernando ended up sending 10 batters to the plate, totaling four hits and two walks while benefitting from an error.
“Both teams’ starting pitchers are hitting the spot and they were getting it tonight with the umpires. Both kids located very well for the first four innings,” Sims said. “Well-played game, two good teams. That’s a very good team that we just beat.”
Ramirez was satisfied with how he pitched, relying mostly on his fastball with a few curveballs and changeups mixed in before giving way to Ritter over the final two innings.
“I just try to throw as many strikes as possible. I don’t try to overpower anything,” Ramirez said. “We’re trying to go as far as we can, get out of districts, get out of regionals, go state championships really.
“We just got to beat (Central) in districts, that’s all. Hopefully we beat them again in districts.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.