It wasn’t a conventional way to make it to the championship game, but the Venice Indians did it.
In a game that saw a run scored on a balk, an umpire showing a pitcher how to pitch from the stretch, and a sacrifice fly in foul territory, Venice topped Vero Beach, 4-2, in a come-from-behind state semifinal win. The Indians (32-1) will face the winner of Hagerty-Stoneman Douglas winner at Hammond Stadium near Fort Myers for the FHSAA Class 7A Championship on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Pitcher Carter Cox struck out 8 batters, in the process breaking the school’s single-season strikeout record, which had been set by Arnold Hughey 25 years ago. Cox’s total is now 125.
“He’s no doubt one of the best pitchers to ever pitch at Venice High School, and we’ve had some great ones….” Venice coach Craig Faulkner said. “Carter’s right there with them, and everything he does — listen, no one works harder than he does.”
Venice had been leading 1-0 for two and a half innings with Cox cruising when fielding gremlins decided to play some mischief in the top of the sixth. With a runner on first, Vero Beach’s Nate Downy pushed a bunt past charging third baseman Maddox Volk.
Then Dom Lopez bunted. This time Volk was staying back and first baseman Beau Daniel was charging, so Lopez pushed it towards third. Cox picked up the ball and threw to second to try to get the lead runner, courtesy runner Eli Thiemann. The throw missed, and Thiemann scored, tying the game.
On the following play, Vero Beach DH Caleb Wood hit a high fly ball towards the right field line. Venice right fielder RJ Shields faced the split-second decision of whether to catch it and allow the sacrifice fly or let it drop and hope it landed in foul territory. He chose the former, and Lopez scored to make it a 2-1 game. It was the third earned run that Cox had allowed all year.
Cox’s teammates had his back with their bats, though. Beau Daniel hit a 1-out double down the left field line and Kyle Judson came in to run for him. Then Volk hit a first-pitch line drive to left field, bringing Judson home and tying the game back up. With Zach Allaire running for Volk, August Backman singled up the middle to score Allaire and retake the lead.
“We’ve been put in moments like that all throughout the season with the good schedule that we have, and we’ve had that opportunity to be able to grasp those situations and remember to learn from them,” Cox said. “And I feel like with our team and our preparation, that’s how we as a team work as one to get out of those tough situations.”
After Graham Houston walked to load the bases, Vero Beach pitcher Colt Miller was called for a balk, bringing designated hitter Kohen Poplin home from third to make it 4-2. After the umpires conferred, the balk call remained, and, in a strange moment, the umpire who made the call went out to the mound to demonstrate the proper motion from the stretch.
Amped up by the comeback, Cox returned to the hill in the top of the seventh and retired the Vero Beach batters in order. The second out was a strikeout swinging and, for the third, he blew an inside fastball for a called strike three.
“I knew he was going to freeze on a fastball in because he had seen a bunch of stuff away,” Cox said. “So that was good to be able to tunnel those pitches and work each part of the zone.”
After the game started with a scoreless two and a half innings, the Indians broke the ice in the bottom of the third. Poplin led off with a walk, then advanced to second on an August Backman sacrifice bunt. Jonathan Mauro hit a line drive to left field to drive Poplin home and put Venice up, 1-0.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Late rally propels Venice by Vero Beach, into Class 7A baseball title game
Reporting by David Montrose, Special to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
