Lake Mary home run extends streak
Lake Mary junior Andy Perez picked the perfect time to hit his first varsity home run.
Facing a full count in the top of the seventh inning Tuesday, Perez broke a tie score at Lake Brantley when he cleared the fence on a blast down the thirdbase line during a 4-3 win.
The Seminole Athletic Conference rivals play again Friday at 6 p.m. at Lake Mary, which has won 13 in a row since opening the season with a 3-2 loss at Timber Creek.
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t know I had that pop,” Perez said with a smile. “I hustled out of the box and looked at coach to see if I could get to third, and he’s waving his finger, so I had to enjoy the moment.”
Perez popped out on his three previous at-bats as the leadoff hitter.
“You just want to trust what you work on and trust your hands no matter the count,” he said. “[The pitcher] left one out there and I just did what I had to do.”
Senior lefthander Ty Stephenson struck out Lake Brantley’s final batter with one runner on base to finish with 7 Ks and 1 hit allowed in five innings of relief.
“In that [third] inning I was just trying to throw strikes and let my defense play,” Stephenson said. “Then towards the [fifth or sixth] inning I settled down and was able to get ahead in my counts and put batters away with my slider.”
Stephenson took the mound after Lake Mary tied the score at 3 in the top of the third on a two-out RBI-single by senior Nick Halkis, which plated Ryan Ashford Jr. from second base.
Lake Brantley, winners of 7 of 11 in the series since 2018, stranded 10 baserunners while finishing with 5 hits and 5 walks.
Lake Mary entered the game at No. 2 in FHSAA Class 7A Region 1 playoff power rankings behind St. Johns Creekside (15-2). Lake Brantley ranks No. 6 in Region 1.
The Rams host Georgia’s Acworth Allatoona (13-9) on Thursday before running it back with the Patriots, who will start junior Isaac Padilla at pitcher.
Padilla has a 1.27 ERA with 40 strikeouts and 12 hits allowed in 27.2 innings.
“Every team is good and we know we’re going to get every team’s best,” Stephenson said of competing in the SAC. “We expect close games and games we’re going to have to fight out. We just put it all out on the field, and whatever happens happens.”
Tuesday results
Top-ranked Orlando area baseball teams continued to roll while others appeared to emerge as regional playoff contenders.
Windermere High (14-3), ranked No. 5 in 7A Region 2, rallied from a 6-run deficit to win 9-6 at Bishop Moore (12-7). The Wolverines reached base nine times on walks and scored 6 runs in the fifth inning and 3 runs in the sixth to secure their sixth win in a row.
Senior Holden Brauner and freshman Randy Ruiz each drove in 2 runs on 2 hits. Junior Juan Lopez hit a home run.
Bishop Moore, which defeated Windermere 9-5 on Feb. 28, has dropped three of its past four games by 3 runs each.
The Hornets rank No. 3 in 4A Region 2.
Montverde Academy (15-1) needed 8 innings to pull out a 3-2 win at Kissimmee Osceola (10-7) as senior Logan Chapman went 2-for-4 with 2 doubles and senior Eric Correa hit a solo home run.
The Class 3A Eagles rank No. 3 in the state among all classifications behind 7A’s Parkland Stoneman Douglas (16-0) and 5A’s Fort Lauderdale Archbishop McCarthy (14-2).
Osceola was coming off of a 5-4 loss Friday vs. Harmony (8-9) in the Orange Belt Conference championship game. The Kowboys are batting .308 as a team with 38 extra-base hits.
Mount Dora Christian Academy (11-7), ranked No. 6 in 2A Region 2, won 4-2 at No. 2 Orangewood Christian (14-3) as senior Dominic Jones finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and sophomore lefty Ethan Priest struck out 7 batters in 5.1 innings.
MDCA also won 9-6 at No. 4 Foundation Academy (10-6-1) last Thursday.
East River (12-5) walked off with a 6-5 win vs. DeLand (9-6) in a matchup of teams in the thick of region tournament races. Sophomore Michael Senay struck out 8 batters and yielded 4 hits in 5 innings pitched in the win.
The Falcons rank No. 9 in 6A Region 2. DeLand, which tied the score with 3 runs in the top of the seventh, is No. 7 in 7A-1.
Four district champions and four at-large teams based on FHSAA power rankings advance to regional tournaments next month.
Looking ahead
Notable upcoming games involving Orlando area teams are listed below. Check with schools to confirm location and start times.
Thursday: Lake Nona (13-3) at East River (12-5), 7. Friday: Lake Brantley (9-6) at Lake Mary (13-1), 6; Hagerty (13-5) at Oviedo (810), 6; West Orange (8-8) at Montverde Academy (15-1), 7; Harmony (8-9) at Osceola (10-7), 7.
Monday: Olympia (11-6) at Windermere (14-3), 4:30; West Orange (8-8) at Apopka (9-8), 7; East River (12-5) at Timber Creek (12-3), 7; Wekiva (12-3) at Dr. Phillips (6-8), 7.
Tuesday: Montverde Academy (15-1) at Foundation Academy (106-1), 5; Trinity Prep (14-3) at Lake Highland Prep (9-8), 5; Winter Springs (10-5) at Lake Mary (13-1), 6.