MINNEOLA — Melbourne baseball’s season ended in heartbreaking fashion after a seventh inning lead dissolved.
The Bulldogs returned to Lake Minneola on Sunday, May 3, for the Class 6A, Region 2 baseball semifinals to complete Game 2 after play was suspended Saturday due to inclement weather. Melbourne needed a win to force Game 3.
Melbourne began the day with a 4-2 lead and carried that lead into the seventh. However, Lake Minneola walked it off with three runs in the home half to complete a 5-4 comeback win and the series sweep.
“This is heartbreaking because our kids actually had a great season,” Melbourne head coach Jose Soto said. “Just to have it end the way that it did without pointing fingers, what the circumstances were. Our kids fought tough and nail all year and I am very proud of what they accomplished up until this point.”
Lake Minneola drew back-to-back walks with one out in the bottom of the seventh to put the tying runs on base. An RBI double in the next at-bat trimmed the deficit to 4-3.
Melbourne intentionally walked the next batter to load the bases. In relief, Sean Gates struck out a hitter on three pitches for the second out.
In the ensuing at-bat, Lake Minneola was down to its final strike when Malachi Myers hit a walk-off 2-run double to seal a spot in the regional final.
“Sometimes you roll the dice. Some days it’s going to work and some days it’s not,” Soto said. “It just so happened that (Sunday) it didn’t. You got to give credit to their players. They’re good players too.”
Melbourne loaded the bases in the top of the seventh with nobody out after a walk by Delmis Rosario and back-to-back singles by Bryce Conner and Jayden Santos.
Lake Minneola escaped the jam unscathed after a strikeout and a 4-6-3 double play, keeping the margin at 2 runs.
“Anytime that you get bases loaded with less than two outs, you have an opportunity to at least punch a run in here and there,” Soto said. “We simply just couldn’t do that at no fault of anybody. All these kids are trying their best. Some days you’re going to succeed and some days they’re not.”
On Saturday, Melbourne opened the scoring in the first inning. Gabriel Gonzalez led off the game with walk, swiped second and third base and scored on an RBI sac fly by Maddux Keeley.
After Lake Minneola answered with 2 runs in the home half, Melbourne tied the game in the third on a bases-loaded walk by Michael Rogers.
In the fourth, Gonzalez launched a go-ahead solo home run. Rosario extended the lead to 4-2 on an RBI ground out.
Clay MacConnell started the game Saturday. He finished with 2 runs allowed on 4 hits in 3 and 2/3 innings. He struck out four hitters.
Dominic Tamburrino pitched Sunday and tossed 2 2/3 innings allowing two runs on two hits.
“I think our pitchers went above and beyond of what we were asking. Some cases we just a few innings out of some of them,” Soto said. “Some of them went longer than we anticipated, which was great. At the end of the day, we have some injuries. We have some kids that couldn’t finish the year. I don’t think we would have changed anything.”
Melbourne sees its season end to Lake Minneola for the second consecutive year. The Bulldogs finished the season 20-6 and advanced a round further in the playoffs.
“I think this is going to be one of those learning experiences that in the future can look back and maybe learn something from it,” Soto said. “Right now they’re hurting, but they have no reason to be ashamed or to be sad. This is going to pass and we’ll finally see the season as a whole and how far we got.”
Game 2
Melbourne (20-6) 101 200 0 – 4 3 1
Lake Minneola (23-5) 200 000 3 – 5 8 1
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Melbourne baseball eliminated in regional semifinals on walk-off
Reporting by Sam Ficarro, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
