In the final game of the 2022 Plant City High School Baseball Preseason Classic, Durant toppled Plant City 6-0 in the last exhibition game before both teams kicked off their regular season this week.
“The defense came out tonight and the bats were still there, which was nice,” Durant head coach Butch Valdes said. “The boys are swinging the bat well.”
Heading into the season, Plant City potentially boasts one of the deepest pitching staffs in the area and a wealth of returning production while Durant is looking to bounce back strong after a State Final Four appearance in 2021, despite the loss of 14 graduating seniors and their top arm in Sean Hermann, a 13th-round selection in last year’s MLB Draft.
If one thing worked well for Durant’s largely inexperienced lineup throughout the preseason classic, it was their bats as they scored four runs off of Bloomingdale and starting pitcher Jack Owens — a senior committed to Stetson University — and six runs in a 6-0 shutout victory over Plant City.
“It’s good seeing the better arms when you play the Bloomingdale’s and the Plant City’s, you get to see those live arms,” Valdes said about playing two strong teams in the preseason. “And that’s what we want to see by playing these better schools. It’s just a good opportunity to get started on the season next week.”
In the contest, junior Dylan LaPointe — committed to Florida Atlantic University — came up with the first run batted in of the night early on a double in the top of the first, giving the Cougars’ a 1-0 lead, and a second run came across in the inning on a dropped third strike.
In the second, Durant tacked on one more as sophomore Nick April-Gath punched a single to right before Devin Suero came all the way around from first on a wild throw to third, giving the Cougars a 3-0 lead.
Both teams were held scoreless in the third when April-Gath came up big for the Cougars’ again, driving home junior Aidan Welsh who had reached earlier on a hit by pitch before advancing on a sacrifice bunt from Suero. But April-Gath’s big night wasn’t over.
In the top of the sixth, with Welsh on second after another hit by pitch and Suero on first via a walk, April-Gath launched a double into the left field gap, falling just between two streaking Plant City fielders and scoring both runs to give Durant a 6-0 lead that they would cling to for the remainder of the big win.
On the mound, the Cougars got a scoreless, four-inning outing from senior Weston Sanchez before Gavin Florio ate up two scoreless innings of his own and April-Gath shut the door in the seventh to cap his strong preseason run.
In addition to his three-RBI game against Plant City, April-Gath also notched an RBI single against Bloomingdale.
“He swung the bat great tonight,” Valdes said. “But again, everybody kind of contributed tonight which was nice. It’s coming together.”