High school baseball: Pitching carries Lake Wales to Giannini title

LAKELAND — Championship baseball teams are often built on a strong foundation of pitching and defense, so Lake Wales' foundation is as strong as any team in the county. The Highlanders used three stellar pitching performances to capture the Dan Giannini Hawks Baseball Classic for the first time.

In the championship game, junior Gage Chandley took a one-hitter into the seventh inning as Lake Wales defeated McKeel 4-1 on Wednesday night. It was Lake Wales' first title at the Santa Fe tournament. The Highlanders' only other title at one of David Saliba's spring tournaments came in 2010 at the Blue Devil Classic.

Chandley finished with a two-hitter as he allowed just one run and struck out six.

"My fastball was working good," Chandley said. "It was moving a lot. It had a lot of tail on the ball. My curveball, the first five innings was working really good, a strikeout pitch."

Until the seventh inning, Chandley allowed just one walk and a lead-off single on a pop-up to shallow left when Jaden Rose could not hang on to the diving catch.

"I was in a groove, but I never tell myself I'm unhittable," Chandley said. "You have to stay humble. I know I'm off to a good start this season, so hopefully I can keep it going."

Chandley's effort complemented his teammates' stellar performances. Levi Hutts opened for Lake Wales by pitching a three-hit shutout in a 1-0 victory over Tallahassee Florida High. In the semifinals on Tuesday, Gavin Dicks pitched a three-hitter through five shutout innings with Nate Thresher and Chandley closing out the last two innings in a 1-0 victory over Santa Fe Catholic.

In both games, Lake Wales scored a run in the first inning and then depended on pitching to shut down its opponent the rest of the way.

With Dicks (0.00), Chandley (0.68), Cutts (0.88) and Parker Brown (0.45) leading the way, Lake Wales has a team ERA of just 0.65.

"Throwing strikes is huge right now," Lake Wales coach Steve Wilmouth said. "That's what we tell them every day. If we throw strikes and play good defense, we'll stay in the game."

With just one run in each of the first two games, the four runs on Wednesday were an offensive explosion. The Highlanders finished with eight hits, led by Dicks and catchier Simon Scharff, who each went 2 for 3 with an RBI. Clayton Henrikson had a pair of hits and scored twice, Jaden Rose singled home a run, and Dylan Simmons singled and scored.

The offense was more than welcomed as Lake Wales is hitting just .232 as a team, but Wilmouth is confident the hitting will come around.

"I think right now, we're just hitting the ball right at people, but to me, that's a good sign," Wilmouth said. "They'll fall so we keep telling them to keep hitting it."

For McKeel, the Wildcats went 2-1 to finish runner-up. They are now 6-5, continuing a streak of never winning or losing more than two in a row. They recently got back one of their top players in K.J. Scobey, who had been out with a knee injury. Scobey homered in McKeel's 11-5 victory over Owasso in the semifinals. In the four games since his return, he is batting .363.

Santa Fe Catholic takes third

It's been a good six days overall for host Santa Fe Catholic that began and ended with wins over Owasso (Okla.). Gavin Stedman pitched a five-inning no-hitter with Jameson McGuire and Canyon Marcewicz pitching an inning each to close out the Crimson Hawks' 7-2 victory in the third-place game.

Santa Fe went 2-1 in the tournament and now has won three of four, including a 4-3 win over Owasso last Friday to improve to 5-5 on the season despite not being at full strength. Cleanup hitter Angel Anduar has played just three games and Jose Burey did not play on Wednesday.

Stedman, however, didn't need much offensive support against Owasso as he struck out nine of 16 batters he faced and walked one.

"I wasn't feeling too good in the beginning," Stedman said. "My muscles were a little sore. We've had a long week, but I fought through it and kept playing like I normally do."

It was the third straight strong pitching performance by a Santa Fe pitcher in the tournament. Michael Willing pitched a five-inning no-hitter with one walk to beat Davenport, 10-0, in the opener, then Jacob Knisley pitched a two-hitter through five innings in the loss to Lake Wales.

Easton Beach went 3 for 4 with two RBIs to lead the lineup as seven of the nine starters had hits and seven of nine had at least one RBI. David Flores and Stedman each doubled and drove in a run. Marvin Montenegro, Steven Walsh, Marcewicz and Jacob Knsley each singled, and Michael Welling, Montenegro, Walsh and Marcewicz each had an RBI.

"We've played a tough schedule," Santa Fe coach David Saliba said. "We're 5-5 right now, which might be a little misleading because we've played good, bigger teams than us. Hopefully, it's going to pay off."

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: High school baseball: Pitching carries Lake Wales to Giannini title