WEEKI WACHEE – Nature Coast didn’t exactly hit the ball all over the field on Friday night, but the Sharks took advantage of the opportunities host Weeki Wachee provided. A duo of pitchers did the rest, as Noah Sanchez and Jake Loeffler combined for a two-hit shutout in a 3-0 victory over the Hornets.
“I thought we played hard. We pitched outstanding. We played very good defense,” Nature Coast head coach Dan Garofano said. “Their pitchers kept us off-balance, their pitchers did a really good job. We’ve been a really good hitting team all year, so I got to give credit to their pitchers. … Noah threw excellent. Our plan was for Noah to go four and then Jake to come in and throw three cause we got rained out last night so we only had two games (for the week) and it worked well. Both those guys had command of the strike zone and gave us a chance to win. Without them we probably don’t win the game tonight.” The Sharks (9-1) scored 53 runs over their first nine games, including an 8-1 triumph over the Hornets (5-3) three days earlier.
They seemed on their way to another big offensive night scoring twice in the top of the first inning. Leadoff hitter Aidan O’Nolan reached on a grounder booted by the shortstop. He stole second and ended up on third on a single by Bryce Hewell. When Hewell stole second, O’Nolan raced home attempting a delayed double steal. The throw easily beat him, but O’Nolan was able to jar the ball out of the catcher’s glove on his slide into the plate to score the game’s first run. Garrick Waggoner plated Hewell on a blooper that fell into shallow center field that he turned into a hustle double.
“We didn’t really do too much to earn those runs,” Garofano said. “We just had some timely hits that inning and put the ball in good places.”
Originally reported by Hernando Sun
Sources: Hernando Sun
