Baseball state semifinals
All games at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers. Admission is $9 in advance, $12 on the day of the event. Parking is $10 for cars, $50 for buses.
Durant (22-5) vs. Port Orange Spruce Creek (22-8), 10
How they got here: Durant d. Wharton 8-3, d. Sarasota Riverview 7-0, d. Kissimmee Osceola 2-1. Spruce Creek d. St. Johns Bartram Trail 1-0 (eight innings), d. Lake Mary 6-1, d. Lake Brantley 5-1.
Outlook: The Cougars, ranked No. 8 in 7A by MaxPreps, are playing in the state semifinals for the first time since 2016 and are trying to win their first state title since 2013. They did it the hard way as a district runnerup and won their first two playoff games on the road. The pitching of Sean Hermann and Alex Canney has been pivotal in the postseason, but the Cougars’ offense also has found life, scoring seven or more runs in two of the three playoff games. The Hawks, ranked No. 7in 7A, also are a district runnerup. They rebounded from a 2-4 stretch to win three straight in the postseason to advance.
Team leaders
Category | Durant | Spruce Creek |
Batting average | Dylan LaPointe .395 | Evan Mastromauro .394 |
RBIs | Dylan LaPointe 23 | Dalton Hurst, Preston Wetherell 25 |
Home runs | Luke Scolaro 2 | Preston Wetherell 4 |
ERA | Sean Hermann 0.39 | Lucas Mahlstedt 0.21 |
Strikeouts | Sean Hermann 126 | Brandon Neely 72 |