County baseball: Lakeland edges Lake Wales; Winter Haven, Jenkins also win on 1st day
Lakeland scored two unearned runs in the first inning and held on for a 2-1 victory over Lake Wales on Monday night on the first day of the 2023 Polk County Baseball Championship at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex.
Action in the three divisions of the county tournament continues Tuesday with games at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Lakeland and Lake Wales are playing in the Andrew McCutchen Division along with Winter Haven, Auburndale, Lakeland Christian and McKeel.
Lake Wales outhit Lakeland 5-2 but it still was the second time in a week that the Dreadnaughts defeated the Highlanders, 2-1.
In the first inning, JC Ayala led off with a single. AJ Sierra then reached on an errors. Nic Partridge then flew out to right with Ayala advancing to third. Ayala and Sierra later scored on a pickoff attempt.
Lake Wales got its only run in the second inning. Clayton Fletcher led off with a double then later scored on Levi Cutts' double.
Jose Garcia picked up the win. He allowed one run on five hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked two.
Gage Chandley pitched four innings for Lake Wales, allowing two unearned runs on one hit. He struck out five and walked one. Parker Brown pitched three shutout innings and allowed just one hit. He struck out four.
Winter Haven 10, Auburndale 2
Trailing 2-0, Winter Haven erupted for eight runs in the bottom of the third. Mason Resmondo and Joshua Cruz each had two hits, two RBIs and two runs scored to lead Winter Haven.
Dylan Deleo picked up the win relief. He pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings and allowed just one hit. He struck out seven.
Chris Sale Division
George Jenkins 12, Bartow 8
George Jenkins scored 11 runs in the third, four and fifth innings combined to defeat Bartow. Michael McComas, Wilfredo Ortiz and Horiam Santiago combined for six hits and 10 RBIs to power the Eagles.
McComas gave Jenkins the lead for good with a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth inning that put Jenkins on top, 9-7. McComas finished 2 for 4 with four RBIs. Ortiz was 3 for 3 its three RBIs, and Santiago finished 1 for 2 with three RBIs.
For Bartow, Bubba Rhoden tripled and finished 2 for 3 with five RBIs.
Trey Mancini Division
Fort Meade 5, Santa Fe Catholic 2
Carson Montsdeoca went 3 for 4 with an RBI and pitched a complete-game five-hitter with 10 strikeouts to lead the Miners over the Crimson Hawks.
Marvin Montenegro went 1 for 3 with two RBIs for Santa Fe.
Victory Christian 5, Frostproof 3
Trailing 3-1, Victory Christian scored four runs in the fifth inning and defeated the Bulldogs.
Caiden Whittenton had a pair of hits and drove in a run. Connor Goff, Aiden Flannery , Josiah Pemberton and Connor Carew also drove in a run.
For Frostproof, Ian Rosado singled and drove in two runs.
Lake Gibson 12, Davenport 2
Chance Wheeler pitched a five-inning complete game and allowed two runs on seven hits. He struck out seven and walked two.
Landon Cuzzone hd two hits and drove in two runs. Nathaniel Goldsmith also drove in two runs.
Shakoli Richards singled and drove in both runs for Davenport.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: County baseball: Lakeland edges Lake Wales; Winter Haven, Jenkins also win
