A little rain couldn’t stop the reigning state champions on Tuesday night.
Plant City and Strawberry Crest met at 1 Raider Place for a rematch of the 2019 Class 8A state championship game and Tyler Dowdy’s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning gave the Raiders a 3-2 win over the Chargers.
Crest wasted no time making a statement as Alex Mussenden hit a leadoff double to start the game and Colby Fanning drove him in with an RBI single, giving the Chargers a very early 1-0 lead. Mario Williams scored from third base on a fielding error at first base to bring the game to a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the first inning.
The Chargers took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth when Arjun Nimmala, Anthony Grasso and Tyson Hardin loaded up the bases with one out, then Ruben Saucedo singled to score Nimmala. Jarod Wingo struck out Christian Bolt and J.T. Hancovsky to end the inning and get out of that jam.
Wingo had a productive outing, striking out 14 batters through seven innings before he was relieved by Ryan Robinson. Robinson was also crucial to Plant City’s success: not only did he keep the Chargers off the scoreboard in the top of the eighth with an induced groundout and two strikeouts, but he was also the one who tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Shortly after Wingo and Chris Rodriguez drew walks to start the inning, Hardin came in to pitch and relieve starter Bryan Boully. Boully finished the game with five strikeouts, two hits allowed and one unearned run. Cole Cothren hit a single to move Wingo to third base, which also led to Rodriguez getting out at second on an attempted double play. Robinson then ripped a single to left field to score Wingo and bring Plant City right back into the game.
After Robinson kept a free-swinging Crest team from getting on base in the top of the eighth, Cothren hit a one-out double and Dowdy later stepped up to the plate with two outs. Crest fielded the hit well enough and nearly threw Cothren out at home, but the catcher lost control of the ball as Cothren slid in and was called safe.