West Orange Falls 3-2 To Douglas In 9A State Semifinal

Photo Gallery

Several years ago when the current group first stepped on the West Orange campus as freshmen, Warriors manager Jesse Marlo saw that it was a special group. He had a strong feeling that they were the guys that could take the program farther than it had ever gone before.

Friday afternoon that became a reality when West Orange competed in the state Final Four for the first time in the school’s 40-year history.

The final outcome did not favor the Warriors, who came on the short end of a 3-2 game against Douglas in a Class 9A state semifinal played at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers. While the result was not what the team desired, it did little to sour all that this group accomplished in setting a new standard for the West Orange baseball.

“This was a great game played by both teams,” Marlo said. “All I wanted to do was show up and not beat ourselves and make the other team beat us, and I think that’s what we did. The guys gave it their all, played great baseball and it just didn’t fall our way. The other team made some great plays and hats off to them, they did a great job. But I’m proud of my guys. They gave it all they could and left it all on the field.”

Although Marlo shed a tear or two when he spoke to his guys for the last time after the game, he admitted they were not tears of remorse or regret.

“My heart hurt for them and I felt that they deserved it,” Marlo said. “They worked harder than any other team I’ve had in twelve years here. I shed a tear there, but it wasn’t because I was upset that we lost; it was because I was so proud of what they have done for this program. We’ve had some great teams and it has always been a problem getting over the hump and getting here. So I told them that whether we won or not, you guys got here. Now you’ve opened that gateway for the rest of those teams that is going to make it a lot easier in the future. I told the guys to get used to this, because we’re going to be here at states from now on.”

Part of what made this team so special this season was the way everyone embraced their role and bought in to what the team needed in order to be successful. Marlo pointed out how hard everyone worked and how each member of the roster embraced their role and took ownership of it.

“First and last guy, every single person knew they had a role,” Marlo said. “Whether it was to be a pinch-runner and have five at bats all year or be Tyler Baum and pitch every big game, everybody knew their role. I feel like that is what made this season so successful.”

Baum was the starter again on Friday, and he delivered another strong outing for his team. After surrendering an unearned run in the first Baum settled in and battled. The Eagles had quality at bats and made lots of adjustments as they worked, which in turn had Baum changing his attack to counter them.

“I tried to go more to a first-pitch curveball and keep them off-balance a little bit more,” Baum said. “They made some key hits that helped them win the game.”

The Warriors’ offense helped take some pressure off by answering back to tie things back up in the bottom of the first. Kole Enright reached on an error and advanced into scoring position thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Bobby Head, and Nathan Schreckengost lined an RBI single into the right field corner to send Enright home.

“You can’t lose an inning, especially the first one,” Schreckengost said. “So we wanted to tie it up as soon as possible. The first pitch was a fastball with a little cut action. I saw it once and whenever I saw it again I was able to pull it down the line for a base knock. It was huge because you never want to be trailing in the game.”

Douglas moved back in front with a run in the fourth, before tallying the deciding run on an RBI double from John McKenna in the sixth.

Again West Orange rallied for a run to cut the deficit in half. Head drew a lead-off walk and gave way to pinch-runner Hunter Cole, who came around for the final run of the game when Chris Seise crushed an RBI double off the green monster.

That grit to always believe and battle is part of what made this unit successful. Marlo admitted that the individuals made it work collectively to become the team they will be remembered as.

“They epitomize the word team, and they were a team on the field and off the field. They go to eat at the facility down the road together, they’d go eat at Chipolte together and they loved to drink, sleep and eat baseball all day long. They did it as a team and it was something I preached from day one. I’ve learned over twelve years that it doesn’t matter how much you preach it; it just matters the type of kids you have.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!