After finishing Steinbrenner Tournament play with a 2-1 win over Lennard, Plant City made their way to Bloomingdale last Thursday looking to notch their second consecutive win. But despite building an early 3-0 lead, the Raiders were unable to withstand the Bulls’ late rally as they lost 4-3 and fell to 4-7 on the season.
Hitting in the top of the first, the Raiders were sat down in order before they took the field for the bottom of the frame. Coming off of a stellar start against Gaither in which he allowed five hits and two earned runs while striking out six batters across six innings of work in a 4-3 win over the Cowboys, Adan Longoria took the mound for Plant City. After working through the first two hitters he faced with ease, Bloomingdale put a runner on with two outs via a hit by pitch. But as quickly as their first baserunner reached, he was quickly retired as junior catcher Aiden Bean threw the runner out as he attempted to steal second.
In the top of the second, senior Anthony Palestrini led off the inning for the Raiders with a base hit to left and junior Chase Mobley reached on a hard hit single to the left side of the infield, beating the throw after a diving play from the Bloomingdale shortstop proved too much to overcome for the out. Senior Wyatt Fordham reached on a hit by pitch to load the bases with no outs but a strikeout marked the first out of the inning for Plant City. Senior Landen Robert pushed the first run of the game across with a sacrifice fly to center and runners advanced to second and third on the throw, but a clutch strikeout limited the damage for Bloomingdale as they came in to hit in the bottom of the second.
Longoria struck out the side in the bottom of the second and the Raiders were able to tack on to their lead in the top of the third. Following a leadoff base hit from junior Colin Pellicer, he proceeded to move into scoring position by stealing second. A strikeout marked the first out of the inning but Longoria helped out his own cause in the next at bat, ripping a single to left that allowed Pellicer to score from second and push the Plant City lead to 2-0. A high chopper from Palestrini found its way into left field as he reached first safely — putting runners on first and second with one out — but a pickoff move to first from Bloomingdale allowed the Bulls to ultimately nab Longoria between second and third for the second out of the inning, moving Palestrini to second. Mobley drew a walk to put runners back on first and second and Fordham then ripped a double to straightaway center, scoring Palestrini and giving the Raiders a 3-0 lead.
Longoria worked through the bottom of the frame with ease and the Raiders were sat down in order again in the top of the fourth before Bloomingdale made their way onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning. After a strikeout started the bottom of the fourth, a routine grounder looked like the second out but the throw to first was low and couldn’t be fielded cleanly, allowing the Bloomingdale runner to reach safely. A walk put runners on second and third and a fly out gave the Raiders their second out. Now just one out away from escaping the jam unscathed, Bloomingdale cashed in as a passed ball allowed both runners to advance to second and third and a base hit drove home both runs, seeing the Bulls cut the Plant City lead to 3-2.
And in the bottom of the fifth, Bloomingdale finally knotted the contest at 3-3. After an extremely long at bat, with foul ball after foul ball keeping the Bulls’ leadoff hitter alive, he ultimately drew a walk. Bloomingdale’s ensuing hitter drew a five-pitch walk and a bunt base hit loaded the bases with no outs. A sac fly drove home the game-tying run and the Longoria was able to work out of the inning without any further damage done.
The next inning and a half was scoreless as Bloomingdale came in to hit in the bottom of the seventh. With a deadlocked game hanging in the balance, Plant City opted to make the move to Mobley in relief.
Longoria’s night ended with six innings pitched, three hits, three walks, one earned run and nine strikeouts.
With Mobley on the bump, Bloomingdale’s leadoff hitter in the seventh lifted a deep fly ball into the right center gap. The long running play was nearly made by Plant City’s corner outfielder but the ball careened off of his outstretched glove and to the wall, allowing the game-winning run to move all the way to third. With the winning run just 90 feet away, Plant City’s fielders crept in to keep a play at the plate alive, but a high chopper up the middle floated over the head of the Raiders’ infield to drive home the winning run and move Plant City to 4-7 on the year. Plant City returned to action on Tuesday where they got themselves back in the win column with a dominating 12-0 win over East Bay and will return to action on Thursday as they head to Jefferson to face the 8-5 Dragons.
Across town, Durant currently sits at 11-3 following a 5-3 win over Lennard on Friday, a 10-0 win over Robinson on Saturday and a 9-4 loss to Newsome on Tuesday. The Cougars will return to action next Tuesday as they head to Valrico for a matchup of their own against Bloomingdale. And Strawberry Crest found their way back into the win column after two consecutive losses with a 10-0 win over Chamberlain last Thursday. Now at 8-5, the Chargers will host 9-5 Gaither on Thursday.