Top seeds Bishop Moore, Orangewood have high hopes for baseball playoffs

(Chris Hays/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)

Bishop Moore baseball coach Tony Mehlich knows a little about about preparing his team for district tournament time. The Hornets have won 10 straight district titles and they enter this week’s Class 4A, District 2 tournament as the favorite once again.

The Hornets’ (22-2) only two losses came against Class 7A teams Hagerty and Winter Park, and they head into district play as the No. 2 4A team in the state. Bishop Moore has reached reached region finals in each of the past three years. They lost to Mulberry in a three-game series a year ago.

Class 1A Orangewood has had a similar success, having won 19 games, but the Rams lost two straight — against Bishop Moore and Class 2A Lake Highland Prep — to end the regular season. The Rams started off the year 15-0.

Orangewood, ranked No. 3 in Class 1A, advanced to the state final four a year ago, falling in a 1A semifinal 3-2 against Fort Myers Canterbury.

Mehlich likes the way his team, which started the season 16-0, is playing heading into the postseason.

“We’ve certainly earned the No. 1 seed in our district,” Mehlich said. “Unfortunately our district (opponents) voted against us, so we won’t be able to host any district games. So now our district has become a business trip. Our guys are really motivated and they kind of gave us some bulletin-board material going in.”

Perhaps tiring of Bishop Moore winning, Lake County teams Eustis, Mount Dora and Tavares opted to play all district games at Mount Dora, which is the second seed. Bishop Moore plays a Tuesday semifinal against the winner of a Tavares vs. Pine Ridge quarterfinal. Eustis meets Mount Dora in the second semi. Thursday’s final is set for 7 p.m.

Baseball No. 1 Bishop Moore tops No. 2 Orangewood in pitchers duel

The Florida High School Athletic Association does permit schools to vote by majority for their district format preference. The trend for most, but not all, districts is to play games at the higher seed.

Mehlich is pleased with his rotation of pitchers and feels comfortable with his top three starters senior JT Costello (3-0 with 60 strikeouts), senior Tony Castro (4-0) and junior Emmett Whalen (4-1). Senior Layton Hall (5-0), who was injured and limited in innings for much of the season, is healthy and ready. He also can count on senior Harrison Smith (2-0) he can count on.

Bishop Moore’s offense is led by senior shortstop Tyler Lomas, who is hitting .494 with 25 RBI, 11 doubles and 4 home runs. Senior leadoff hitter and centerfielder Nate Davis is hitting .418 and has 25 RBI and a team-high 5 home runs. Senior catcher and clean-up hitter Will Kane, had two doubles Tuesday against Orangewood and could be a Hornets X-factor at the plate.

Orangewood also has a strong pitching staff, with a pair of juniors Rhys Oldham (7-0) and Max Sakala (7-2) leading the way. Sakala, a Miami commit, struck out 12 in a 3-1 loss to Bishop Moore on Tuesday and has fanned 74 this season.

At the plate for the Rams are led by sophomore second baseman Aaron McClarnon, who is hitting .429, and Sakala (.417). Junior DH Aiden Balls leads the team in RBI with 19 and Sakala has 18.

District champions advance to region quarterfinals where they will be joined by at large selections based on FHSAA rankings. That assures that top-tier teams advance.

The 4A, 5A, 6A and 7A quarterfinal games are scheduled for Friday, April 24; one day ahead of the 1A, 2A and 3A quarters.

The FHSAA made another change in its baseball playoff format after adopting best-of-three series for regional play last year. This year, region quarterfinals will go back to being single games. The series setup will continue for Friday-Saturday semifinals, May 1-2; and finals, May 8-9, with the higher ranked team hosting all games. That includes a Saturday doubleheader if a third game is necessary.

“I don’t think it makes any sense because if the eighth seed (region team) has a pro arm, then they got a chance against us and it eliminates what we’ve been able to earn throughout the whole season,” Mehlich said. “I don’t mind it being flipped to where the regional championship is one game. Their saying it’s for travel purposes, but I never got an explanation.”

Either way, both Bishop Moore and Orangewood head into the playoffs with high hopes.

“We will hopefully get through that first (region) game and then our depth will shine the rest of the way,” Mehlich said. “And hopefully it will get us over to Fort Myers in the end.”

Orangewood coach Scott Hilinski is confident in his depth, especially on the mound, and the Rams have the experience of last year’s final-four appearance. Hilinksi beefed up the back-end of his schedule with teams like Bishop Moore to give his group a challenge heading into the playoffs.

“I think the timing for us is awesome, because getting to regionals and getting through regionals and getting to states, you are going to run into some really good teams,” Hilinski said. “So getting bunts down, every stolen-base attempt, all of those little things that matter. That gives our guys kind of a playoff atmosphere where every pitch and every at-bat counts.

“We only lost two seniors, so these are the guys we went to states with last year. I like our chances.”

The First Academy, last year’s 30-4 Class 2A state champion, is 16-9 this season but won six of its final seven regular season games — including back-to-back wins vs. Apopka, 3-2 in eight innings, and West Orange, 10-8. Royals’ senior Max Simmons arrived late after finishing the basketball season, but leads TFA with a .457 batting average (16-for-38).

TFA hosts Foundation Academy in a 2A District 6 semifinal on Thursday night.

The majority of this week’s district finals are set for Friday.

Here’s the breakdown on districts with area teams. Top seeds and others in the top 25 of their classification are listed with their rank and win-loss record:

7A District 2: No. 5 Spruce Creek (22-3).
Hawks haven’t slipped after graduating 11 seniors from 30-4 team.

7A-3: No. 12 Hagerty (15-7); No. 19 Winter Park (14-11).
Winter Park won 4-0 at Hagerty in a season opener.

7A-4: No. 10 West Orange (16-9); No. 22 Apopka (15-9).
Apopka beat Warriors 10-7 in early season game.

7A-5: No. 8 Windermere (15-8).
Wolverines edged Timber Creek 2-1 to snap 0-3 skid.

7A-9: No. 23 St. Cloud (17-5); No. 25 Harmony (13-10).
These backyard rivals split regular season games.

6A-5: No. 9 Lake Minneola (19-5); No. 25 South Lake (16-9).
Lake County rivals split two extra-inning games in regular season.

6A-6: No. 3 Bloomingdale (19-4); No. 19 Horizon (17-7-1).
Horizon carries eight game win streak into postseason.

6A-7: No. 8 Melbourne (17-4); No. 16 Viera (17-4-1).
Osceola (7-11) plays Viera on Tuesday.

5A-6: No. 5 Winter Springs (18-5).
Bears beat Hagerty 1-0 in 10 innings to close with six straight wins.

5A-7: No. 14 Sebring (17-5); No. 24 Innovation (11-5).
Sebring (1.19 staff ERA) beat Bulls in 2025 district final.
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4A-7: No. 2 Bishop Moore (22-2); No. 21 Eustis (13-11).
Hornets have won 10 straight district titles under coach Tony Mehlich.

3A-6: No. 7 North Marion (16-6).
Second seed Umatilla (14-11) reached region final in 2025.

2A-5: No. 35 Lake Highland (17-6).
Highlanders beat highly-ranked Orangewood for sixth straight win.

2A-6: No. 12 Montverde (14-8); No. 15 TFA (16-9); No. 25 Foundation (15-10).
This is the only area district with three top 25 teams.

1A-6: No. 8 Mount Dora Christian (19-5).
Bulldogs (30 home runs) have lost only to larger schools. .

1A-7: No. 24 Deltona Trinity (11-8).
Eagles reached region semifinal in 2025.

1A-8: No. 3 Orangewood (19-3); No. 22 Geneva (17-5).
Orangewood won 17 games against larger-class teams.

Buddy Collings contribute to this report.

Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.