Wildcats, Eagles knocked out of postseason

When the Winter Park Wildcats walked onto their home diamond April 27, they had just gone undefeated in district play, won the district championship, and seemed to be cruising toward a shot at the state title.

Then it all fell apart in a 7-0 blowout loss to a Kissimmee Gateway team that had entered the postseason with a 14-10-1 record.

The first inning set the tone when the underdog Panthers’ Jose Montoyo stole home for the first run of the game. Trying to answer in the bottom of the first, the Wildcats instead loaded the bases and stranded all three runners. The game would remain a 1-0 battle until the third inning, when the Panthers blew it open with a four-run rally, leaving the Wildcats long behind and unable to plate a runner.

Winter Park had narrowly edged Oviedo to finish off district play undefeated en route to their regional quarterfinal bid.

Thanks to David Bulmer’s complete game, the Wildcats managed a nerve-wracking 3-2 win to give them home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Two of those three runs came courtesy of Nick Noel, who smashed in two RBI, and Freddy Torres, who had a double and a run.

For the Wildcats, their regional appearance was a chance at redemption after missing the playoffs in 2015. In 2014 they made it to the regional championship game before bowing out.

Gateway headed to the second round of the regional tournament Tuesday. For the Wildcats (21-6, 8-0), that door is now closed until 2017.

Edgewater

Despite barely clearing the .500 mark en route to a district championship win, the Edgewater Eagles were looking poised for a postseason run before a 5-3 loss April 27.

Melbourne (21-9) had entered the game as a district runner up. The Eagles left with a record of 15-15 and a dead end to their season.

UCF

The Knights (22-24, 6-9) entered the week looking to turn around a skid that’s seen them lose six of the last eight games, all of them to crucial American Athletic Conference opponents.

That includes losing two of three games to rival USF (21-23, 6-9) on the Bulls’ home diamond. But they tried to erase that pain with a blowout 9-2 win to end the series on a high note Sunday.

Matt Diorio’s bat came alive in that last game, as he blasted in five RBI in wild fashion, hitting his second and third home runs of the season in the same game. He would finish the game 4-for-6, with a single, double, and the two home runs.

Meanwhile Cre Finfrock shut down the Bulls with a 6.2-inning, six-strikeout starting performance from the mound to earn the win and even his record at 4-4.

The Knights played Jacksonville (27-15) Wednesday at press time. This weekend the Knights host Cincinnati (21-22-1, 9-5-1) for a three game series. It starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday, then 4 p.m. Saturday, then 1 p.m. Sunday.

Rollins

The Tars rolled into Miami April 22 having not faced Barry in a year. The Mocs (23-23, 5-11) made sure to tattoo a long-term memory in the Tars’ heads with a 20-9 comeback loss.

Rollins led the game until the bottom of the third inning after scoring two runs to open up the first frame. But when the Mocs’ bats knocked in eight runs in the third, the Tars were knocked for a loop.

All but one of Barry’s starting lineup had at least a hit in the slugfest that featured six doubles, a triple, and four home runs. The Tars (21-20) would only use four pitchers in the game, letting starter Brian Auerbach absorb most of the runs himself, giving up 11 runs in 3.1 innings.

After that eye-opening loss, the Tars then lost 8-5 in game one of a Saturday doubleheader before recovering to edge the Mocs 11-10 in the series finale. Barry’s batters tried to erase an 11-6 deficit in the bottom of the ninth, but came up a run short.

The game featured seven home runs, with Barry’s Julian Abreu hitting his first two home runs of the season in the same game. Rollins’ Peter Nicoletto smashed a leadoff homer in the top of the second inning, then blasted a two-run shot on his next at bat in the next inning. Two more Tars — Matt Hendricks and Teddy Meissner, hit their first home runs of the season.

The Tars enjoyed a long week off before returning to the field in West Palm Beach against Palm Beach Atlantic (19-27) this week, with their first game at 6 p.m. Thursday and then noon Friday.