Four Orlando area baseball teams — 7A Hagerty, 5A Winter Springs, 4A Bishop Moore and 1A Orangewood Christian — are headed to the FHSAA state baseball final four in Fort Myers, with play starting Thursday.
Hagerty (22-8) and Orangewood (26-3) are familiar with hotel time in the City of Palms, having qualified for state semifinals last year. Hagerty lost to Jupiter 6-4 and Orangewood lost to a hometown Fort Myers school, Canterbury 3-2 in eight innings.
Coaches are hoping the previous trips will be beneficial for their squads.
Hagerty, Winter Springs, Bishop Moore, Orangewood head to baseball final 4
“This year, we go in and we’ve got a bunch of sophomores and juniors who got to experience it, and I think once you kind of get a little taste of postseason you really want to get back down there,” Hagerty coach Mike Sindone said. “Hopefully we can be a little more successful this year.”
Isaias Torres is the Hagerty star. The big left-hander is 7-4 on the mound and has a big bat, with nine doubles, four home runs and 23 RBI. Noah Adkins (6-2) is also solid on the mound and second baseman Carlos Cruz, the leadoff hitter, bats .327 with 29 runs scored.
Winter Springs (25-6) is in the state baseball final four for only the second time in school history. The first time was 2023, a 2-0 semifinal loss to Sickles in the semifinals. The Bears are the state’s No. 1-ranked team in 5A and it’s thanks in large part to a trio of senior, right-handed pitchers: Robbie Mungovan, Tyler Kenast and Tripp Rosenberger.
Kenast, who has signed with Texas Tech, is 7-1. Mungovan (6-0) signed with New College of Florida. Rosenberger (6-0) will play at Northwest Florida State College.
“I call them the three horsemen, my three seniors pitchers,” Winter Springs coach Mike Bradley said. “They’ve kept us in games against everybody really. With the exception of Saturday (a 12-2 loss to Wesley Chapel), the worst loss we had was by two runs.”
Kenast was instrumental in the Bears clinching a state slot, going 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI in Sunday’s third game of the Class 5A Region 2 series, in which the Bears defeated Wesley Chapel 10-7.
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Xavier Rodriguez, Eddie Risano and Brandon Curl provide the muscle at the plate. They have a combined 64 RBI.
Bishop Moore (29-2) has a trio of pitchers who have zero losses. JT Costello (7-0) has hit 90 MPH with his fastball. Tony Castro is also 7-0 and Layton Hall is 6-0. The hitting of Tyler Lomas, Nate Davis and Danny Garcia have been key for the Hornets.
Orangewood has a pair of standout junior pitchers in Miami commit Max Sakala (11-2) and Rhys Oldham (10-1). Aiden Balls (.380) and Sakala (.437). Balls has 12 doubles and his brother Carson Balls hits .419. Sam Lambert is a .442 nine-hole hitter.
FHSAA State Baseball Pairings
(At Hammond Stadium, Fort Myers)
Class 1A
No. 2 St. Johns Country Day (24-8) vs. No. 5 Schoolhouse Prep (17-13), Thursday, 10 a.m.
No. 3 Neumann (20-13) vs. No. 4 Orangewood Christian (26-3), Thursday, 1 p.m.
Championship game, Saturday, 11 a.m.
Class 7A
No. 1 Venice (31-1) vs. No. 8 Vero Beach (24-4), Friday, 4 p.m.
No. 2 Stoneman Douglas (24-6) vs. No. 7 Hagerty (22-8), Friday 7 p.m.
Championship game, Saturday, 5 p.m.
Class 5A
No. 4 Winter Springs (25-6) vs. No. 9 Charlotte (22-9), Monday, May 18, 4 p.m.
No. 5 Lincoln (18-16) vs. No.6 Hialeah Gardens Mater Academy (26-6), May 18, 7 p.m.
Championship game, Wednesday, May 20, 11 a.m.
Class 4A
No. 1 Tampa Jesuit (26-6) vs. No. 10 Clay (19-13), Tuesday, May 19, 10 a.m.
No. 2 Bishop Moore (29-2) vs. No. 5 Plantation American Heritage (21-9), May 19, 1 p.m.
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Championship game, Wednesday, May 20, 2 p.m.
Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.