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Palmetto Ridge baseball team, with just 14 players, achieved a historic FHSAA playoff win against Mariner, 5-4. They are now two victories away from the regional final, defying expectations after a middle-of-the-pack regular season.
A high school baseball team sporting a limited roster of 14 players doesn't suggest a postseason breakthrough is on the horizon.
Neither did a regular season that hovered around the middle of the local pack.
But the Palmetto Ridge baseball team has flipped those narratives in a matter of weeks.
Riding another complete-game performance from Greg Carrasco — his second in as many high-stakes games — the Class 5A-Region 3 sixth-seeded Bears outlasted No. 3 seed Mariner 5-4 for the program's first FHSAA regional playoff win Friday, April 24, putting them two wins away from a regional final that once seemed unrealistic.
"We believe no matter whether you're the six hitter, you're the nine hitter, whatever it is," Palmetto Ridge coach Connor Perry said. "We're believing in you. It's just special, man. It's special to watch these kids come out. My biggest goal in a program is to take a group of kids and allow them to become a team. Wins will come, but allowing them to become a team, we're a team right now. We're playing some good baseball at a high level, and hopefully we can keep it going."
Perry took over Palmetto Ridge during the middle of last season, getting the program up to .500 at 11-11. This year's been much different, with the group fighting hard to a 16-10 record. All but three of their losses have been by three runs or fewer. It's a sign, Perry believes, of a team that learned how to compete long before the wins followed.
Palmetto Ridge beat Mariner 5-4 in a Region 5A-3 baseball game on Friday, April 24, 2026.
"When I first entered this program, my first words to these guys were, 'We've got to do it, but it has to take a relentless belief,'" Perry said. "We have a hell week at the beginning of the year where we just try to mentally disturb our guys. It's just mental toughness and belief."
Carrasco has embodied that mindset as much as anyone.
The junior has emerged as a solid two-way player, pitching 59 2/3 innings with a 1.88 ERA, while hitting .299 with 20 hits. That includes delivering when it matters most. He held top-seed Gulf Coast at bay for a 4-3 District 5A-12 final win on April 17 and then allowed just one earned run in the win over the Tritons.
The Palmetto Ridge baseball team won their playoff game against Mariner with a score of 5-4.
The Palmetto Ridge baseball team has a limited roster of 14 players.
The coach of the Palmetto Ridge baseball team is Connor Perry.
The Palmetto Ridge Bears need to win two more games to reach the regional final.

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Palmetto Ridge beat Mariner 5-4 in a Region 5A-3 baseball game on Friday, April 24, 2026.
"This year, we came in with the intention of setting a tone and giving us hope," Carrasco said. "The year before, we were just a bunch of kids grabbing bats and having fun. Now there’s more intention, more intensity with the coaches. (Perry)'s helped guide us through what we thought would be a tough time and gotten us through it."
The adversity hit the program earlier this year, when three players opted not to finish the season. The Bears have remained steadfast despite those departures, forming a tighter bond and adopting a survival-of-the-fittest edge that's translated seamlessly into playoff baseball.
It's a mentality built for elimination games, where depth fades and toughness takes over. They'll face a team in a similar situation in their best-of-3 regional semifinal final series in Naples this weekend.
Tampa Freedom (20-7) team is also playing with house money as the No. 7 seed, which upset the No. 2 seed St. Petersburg 6-5 on April 17, giving Palmetto Ridge the home field for the regional semifinal as the higher seed. The winner of that series will face Charlotte or East Bay for the right to play in the state semifinal.
Palmetto Ridge beat Mariner 5-4 in a Region 5A-3 baseball game on Friday, April 24, 2026.
"It's crazy," Perry said. "We had three kids quit this year. Not because of anything bad, but there’s a culture, there’s a standard. We have 14 kids. I mean, (Mariner) has a football team over there. We’ve got legitimately 14 kids on our bench, and every one of them believes, from our worst player to our best player. The power of belief in anything in life is powerful. It’s just super special."
Friday, May 1 (Game 1)
Class 1A-Region 3
Northside Christian at Canterbury, 4 p.m.
St. John Neumann at Evangelical Christian, 7 p.m.
Class 2A-Region 3
Community School at Berkeley Prep, 7 p.m.
Class 4A-Region 3
Osceola at Island Coast, 7 p.m.
Class 5A-Region 3
Freedom at Palmetto Ridge, 7 p.m.
Saturday, May 2 (Games 2 and 3, if necessary)
Class 1A-Region 3
Northside Christian at Canterbury, 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.
St. John Neumann at Evangelical Christian, 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Class 2A-Region 3
Community School at Berkeley Prep, 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Class 4A-Region 3
Osceola at Island Coast, 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Class 5A-Region 3
Freedom at Palmetto Ridge, 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Follow Sports Reporter Alex Martin on X at @NP_AlexMartin or via email: amartin@usatodayco.com. For the best sports coverage in Southwest Florida, follow @newspresssports and @ndnprepzone on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Palmetto Ridge baseball lacks numbers, not results in FHSAA postseason