Lakewood Ranch Rallies To Drop Countryside In 8A Quarterfinal

The 8A regional quarterfinals continued Wednesday night with a match up between the visiting Lakewood Ranch Mustangs and the Countryside Cougars. The Cougars jumped out to the early lead and held a second lead late in the game but a three-run sixth inning propelled the Mustangs to the 5-3 regional quarterfinal victory.

The Cougars (19-8) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Mustangs starter, Colton Zimring. With two men on, Jack Skantze reached based on an error, allowing Matt Adams to score from third. The very next batter, Cameron Kroeger, sent a ball into left field, scoring Steven Wilson from third, give the Cougars a 2-0 advantage.

The Mustangs (15-10) quickly responded in the top of the second inning with a two-run triple from Trevor Losada to tie the game. Devin Wall and Justin Fischer crossed the plate on the play.

Two innings later, the Cougars regained the lead on a RBI triple from Matt Adams, scoring Gabe Adams.

Down one entering the sixth inning, back-to-back singles from Zimring and Matt Ambrosino got things started for the Mustangs. After Zimring came around to score the tying run, a Brock Sisson RBI single scored Ambrosino and gave the Mustangs their first lead. Riley Zunica added to the lead with an RBI single later in the inning.

After starting the game and striking out 10 batters, Zimring handed the ball over, with two outs in the sixth, to Pablo Garabitos to close out the game for the Mustangs. Garabitos needed only 19 pitches to get through 1.1 innings, striking out two in the process to secure the 5-3 victory.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!