10-run 10th inning sends Hagerty back to 7A state baseball final four

TL;DR

Hagerty defeated West Orange 14-4 in a dramatic 10-inning game to reach the 7A state baseball final four. The game featured strong pitching performances but ended with a 10-run explosion from Hagerty in the final inning.

Key points

Hagerty won 14-4 against West Orange
Game went into 10 innings
Nick Stentiford struck out seven batters
Lukas Stirewalt struck out ten batters
Hagerty scored 10 runs in the 10th inning

Hagerty High SchoolWest Orange High School

(Chris Hays/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)

OVIEDO — It seems quite odd that a 10-inning pitchers’ duel with a berth in the state semifinals on the line would end up a 14-4 final score, but that’s what happened at Hagerty High School on Saturday afternoon.

Relief pitchers Nick Stentiford of Hagerty, who entered in the third inning, and Lukas Stirewalt of West Orange, who entered in the fifth, were impressive. Stentiford struck out seven West Orange hitters in his seven innings of work, while Stirewalt struck out 10 Hagerty hitters in five innings, including eight in a row at one point.

But Stirewalt seemed to tire in the 10th inning and the Hagerty bats came alive. Hagerty batted around against three different West Orange pitchers and before the bleeding was stopped, Hagerty had plated 10 runs in a crazy inning.

The 14-4 victory in the Class 7A, Region 1 final sends Hagerty to the state final four for the second consecutive year. The Huskies improved to 22-8 and will try to take the next step after falling to Jupiter in last year’s state semifinal. West Orange finishes the season 20-13.

“That is what they like to do to me,” said Hagerty coach Mike Sindone, whose Huskies swept the best-of-three series. “They love to say, ‘Awe we’re just gonna play some extra innings in this playoff series.’ They like to do it. They’ve done it all postseason. They kind of expected to have a little fun with me today, toy with my emotions, but they did a good job.”

Stentiford, a junior, gave his coach enough quality innings to keep him sane on the bench.

“It was a great team win. We stayed together ’til the end,” Stentiford said. “We hit when we needed it most and the big guys came up in big spots and did what we needed to.”

Stentiford was steady in his seven innings, limiting the Warriors to just one hit after picking up for starter Noah Adkins.

“The more level-headed I am, the better my command is,” Stentiford said. “If I can’t command my pitches, there was no chance we would have stayed in it. I had a job to do so I did it.”

In that 10th, Stirewalt walked the first two batters and Hagerty’s best hitter approached the plate, big left-handed slugger Isaias Torres. Sindone made an interesting decision. He had Torres, a sophomore, bunt to move both the runners into scoring position. Torres laid down a perfect sacrifice dribbler, job done.

Torres didn’t mind laying down the bunt.

“Hey, we scored three runs so I don’t care,” Torres said.