AUBURNDALE — Perhaps they should just simply retire the trophy already. The Polk County baseball tournament was revived five years ago, and each year, the top division has had just one champion — Lakeland Christian.
This year, Lakeland Christian won the game in come-from-behind fashion with four runs tin the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat McKeel, 5-4, on Thursday night in the McCutcheon Group championship game of the Polk County Baseball Tournament.
This is the third consecutive year in which McKeel has finished runner-up.
This year’s tournament was a bit different than the previous four tournament because of the shortened-regular-season schedule. The FHSAA approved a proposal for the regional tournament be best two-of-three for each round, forcing the reduction of the season by two week.
In previous years, teams had a chance to regroup from the week of county baseball tournament, but now the district tournaments begin next week. Coaches used their pitching different to set their rotations for districts and the ensuing postseason.
“We were willing to sacrifice this tournament to set up our pitching moving forward,” LCS coach Matt Diaz said. “The good news is the players responded and we didn't have to, so it was it was a great team effort. We put up runs when we needed them.”
In wanting to successfully defend its title, the Vikings were in a playoff mindset from the start and showed they can win in different ways.
In the opener on Monday, Carson Martin, who got the win in relief in LCS’s first county title in 2021, pitched a a one-hit shutout in six innings to defeat George Jenkins on 66 pitches. Maclain Irby got the save in the 7-0 win.
The Vikings won with big bats in a 13-3 win over Fort Meade the used a late-rally to come from behind over McKeel.
Mitch Rodriguez and Peyton Prenneman each drove in two runs to lead the Vikings, and Prenneman finished 3 for 4.
LCS (18-6) goes into next week’s 2A-7 district tournament as the No. 2 seed behind Santa Fe Catholic.
The Vikings, who began the season with some big wins, had a late-season hiccup when they lost three of four games, including on3-run losses to George ...
