BROOKSVILLE – With ace J.P. Gates unavailable, having tossed a no-hitter in Wednesday’s 2-0 semifinal win over Central, Nature Coast’s baseball team had to turn to someone else while attempting to make history.
That turned out to be junior southpaw Brandon Santiago, the Sharks’ No. 2 starter, who ended up earning the win while also driving in four runs at the plate Friday at Emerson Field, as top-seeded Nature Coast defeated host Hernando in the Class 5A, District 7 final, 13-8.
“I feel great. I feel great,” Santiago said. “I just want to thank God for helping the team and helping every player get through this game, and for helping us get through all our games this season. I thank God that he helped us win this district tournament.
“Before this game I told J.P., I said, ‘Hey, I’m going to try to get a no-hitter just like you.’ I tried my best. In warmups I was trying to hit my spots, the whole game trying to hit my spots. I did my best. I’ll take a win how it is.”
For the Sharks (20-4), this ranked as one of the most meaningful victories in program history. Though they advanced to regionals four straight seasons from 2007-10, they never managed to pull out a district crown.
It’s also a dramatic turnaround for a squad that went 6-15 in 2015, the first season under head coach Frank Vitale, and hadn’t posted a winning record since 2009.
“They’ve had some good teams in the past, back when Danny Garofano coached, and Bob Shepard had a real good team,” Vitale said. “We talked about it earlier. We had goals, that was one of our goals, to be the number one seed and to win the district tournament. So we’ve achieved that. Now we’ve got the next goal, to go deep into the playoffs.
“This team has come together. We’ve got a lot of young talent. We’ve got four starters that are sophomores, and each one of them is very good. So we’re going to be here for a while. Good for these guys. They work hard. It’s good for the program.”
Hernando (17-11) actually struck first, scoring two in the top of the first inning on a single off the bat of Andres Cabrera. But Nature Coast sent 14 batters to the plate in the second, plating nine runs.
Hunter Rhineberger worked a bases-loaded walk before Santiago, hitting out of the ninth spot, produced a two-run double down the left-field line. Brandon Riera added a three-run homer run to left-center later in the inning, and the Sharks took advantage of four errors in the frame by the Leopards, who had seven in the game.
That lead held until the fifth, when Hernando batted around and tallied five runs, even bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. Cabrera and Tyler Skipper each had a run batted in on a single, while Tyson Libengood drove in one on a groundout.
Gabe Bonilla and Trevor Vendrone walked with the sacks full before Ryan Lotito came on and registered a huge strikeout to end the threat. Lotito ended up pitching the final 2 1/3 innings to notch the save, striking out five.
Nature Coast tacked on four important insurance runs in the sixth, with Santiago bringing two more across with a base hit, and he later scored himself on a wild pitch.
Skipper’s RBI double in the seventh closed the gap by one, but the Sharks finished things off and celebrated with a dogpile on the mound.
“It means a lot. I’m speechless,” Santiago said. “The difference is we don’t play selfish. Last year we had a couple selfish players. We didn’t play as a team. This year we play as a team, we practice like a team, we do everything as a team. We love each other. We’re a family.”
Santiago, 3-1 with a 3.46 earned run average coming in, pitched 4 1/3 innings, giving up five runs, four earned, on three hits and four walks, striking out three. His final line was skewed by three runs that scored after he was lifted in the fifth, and he could have escaped unscathed in the first if not for a misplace in right field.
“I knew going into this game it was going to be a wild game, because they were using their third pitcher. I was using my second pitcher. He ran out of gas, and then we couldn’t throw strikes in that one inning,” Vitale said. “Santiago threw well. He threw a good game. He was up to about 91 pitches, that’s why I took him out. He hadn’t thrown 91 pitches all year long.”
Both Nature Coast and Hernando will move on to regional quarterfinals on Wednesday. Their opponents will be determined by the 5A-8 final between Orlando’s Bishop Moore Catholic and Lake Highland Prep. That game was delayed until Saturday by weather.
By that point Gates will be rested and ready to pitch. But on a night when he couldn’t go, and went 0-for-1 with three walks at the plate, the Sharks showed they could still come through when it counts most.
“The guys behind him have hit all year long. Look at Santiago, four RBIs in the number nine spot,” Vitale said. “Very proud of these guys. They’ve worked hard all year long and it’s nice. For the first time in school history, it’s great.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.