Bulls Lose In Tough District Match-Up

Bloomingdale took an early lead in Tampa on Friday night; only to surrender 11 runs in a loss to Alonso, 11-2.

Opening a decisive district game by scoring two runs in the first inning would be an early indication of any team's desire to participate in post-season play. For Bloomingdale, (12-9-0, 4-4-0, tied third place 6A District 8), the first inning was the only inning a runner would advance across home plate as Alonso's (14-4-0, 6-2-0, first place 6A Division 8) Jose Fernandez collected himself and blanked the Bulls for six straight innings.

Richie Martin, Jeff Griffith and Brycen Gladbach aided the Bulls' offense and notched the only hits in a game that was dominated by Ravens pitching and set askew by untimely Bloomingdale fielding errors.

In their previous match-up, Alonso shut Bloomingdale out in a 2-0 win in early March. The Bulls have not been able to match the arms of Alonso this season allowing the Ravens to place a two-game lead between the two teams.

Robby Kalaf (5-3, 67 K's) was credited with the loss on Friday night after surviving only three innings in which he gave up 7 hits, 1 HR and a 14.00 ERA while facing only 17 Alonso batters.

Alonso methodically chipped away at the early Bloomingdale 2-0 lead in the first two innings until a huge five-run inning in the bottom of the third gave them a lead they would not release.

The Ravens' Jose Fernandez may have single-handedly brought down the Bloomingdale pitching staff going 1-for-3. His lone hit was a third inning grand slam that gave him 4 RBI for the game and opened Alonso's lead to 7-2.

In all, Alonso placed 14 hits against Bloomingdale pitching in Friday's game.

As Alonso's pitcher, Fernandez, was nothing short of spectacular. He not only had the back-breaking grand slam in the third inning, but pitched a near perfect game.

Fernandez pitched seven solid innings of work striking out nine Bloomingdale batters as he picked up the complete game win for the Ravens. After a shaky start in the first, he settled down to allow only three hits and one extra base hit in the game.

With three games left against Freedom, Armwood and Newsome, the Bulls are facing must-win situations in each game to stay alive in the playoff picture. Each of the three teams play in the 5A district, so a win will not push the Bulls ahead in the 6A standings. However, it may help their overall record, which may have post-season implications.

The Bulls will travel to Freedom High School on Wednesday, April 13, and play the Patriots at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Bloomingdale Batting

Bloomingdale Pitching

Alonso Batting

Alonso Pitching