West Orange edges Lake Brantley

Chris Seise hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first, and Doug Nikhazy pitched six shutout innings Friday as West Orange beat Lake Brantley 2-1 to win the Class 9A, District 3 baseball title.

West Orange (24-3), ranked No. 1 in Sentinel Super Six, will host Dr. Phillips on Tuesday in a Region 1 quarterfinal.

No. 6 Lake Brantley (20-7) will travel to play District 4 champ Boone at Freedom. Seise also scored in the third on a wild pitch and error.

“I knew a first-pitch fastball was coming,” he said of his home run. “They had to throw a strike to start the game, so I knew a fastball was coming.”

Nikhazy (7-1), who no-hit Lake Brantley on April 7, struck out nine and walked two.

Jack Quayle (5-3) took the loss, allowing three hits and two earned runs in 32⁄3 innings. Keano Suarez singled in a run in the seventh for the Patriots.

West Orange played without slugger Gerry Brown, who, according to coach Jesse Marlo, was suspended for violation of team rules.

Boone scored five runs in the third and Jacob Burr held Dr. Phillips to five hits over six innings to claim the 9A-5 championship.

The Braves captured their first district title since 2014 with an 8-1 win over DP at Freedom.

“I was on that team when DP beat us [in 2015], so coming back this year and beating them is really special for me,” said Boone senior Chris Jones, who went 3-for-4 with a double, stolen base and two runs scored.

Austin Coble drove in three runs in the third on a double to centerfield and Jack Dixson homered for the final run of the game in the sixth.

“It’s been a different read trying to get these kids on the same page this year, but they’re a tight group,” Boone coach Pete Post said.

Hagerty scored four runs in the second inning and beat visiting Lake Howell 13-3 in six to win the Class 8A, District 9 title — its fourth consecutive district championship.

The Huskies (19-8) rocked four pitchers for 13 hits, including eight for extra bases.

Brian Ellis went 3-for-5 with a twoRBI triple and two doubles, Riley Greene and Cameron Alba each 2-for-3 with an RBI double, and Zak Grabbe 2-for-4 with two RBI for Hagerty.

Lake Howell (14-13) was led by Zach Levenson, who had three hits; Stephen Lawrence went 2-for-3 with a double.

Hagerty hosts St. Cloud (9-11) at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a regional quarterfinal game. Lake Howell visits Celebration the same day.

Timber Creek erupted for eight runs in the sixth inning to earn an error-filled 14-10 see-saw slugfest win over Oviedo in the 9A-6 final at Winter Park. Rollins commit Cameron Meehan went 3-for-3 with two doubles and 4 RBIs for the Wolves (20-7). Nick Sala led the Lions (15-12) with 2 hits and 4 RBIs.