Prep baseball: Gulf Coast one step away from state finals

As the Class 7A-District 12 runners-up, the Gulf Coast High School baseball team wasn’t guaranteed any regional home games.

As it turn out, they get the biggest one at home, hosting Land O’Lakes-Sunlake for the regional championship Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Sunlake (17-11) finished fourth in the Class 7A-District 10 regular-season standings, going 5-5 in league games. But the Seahawks rode the right arm of Florida-bound Tommy Mace to a runner-up finish in the district tournament, then two more wins in regional play, to reach the final. Mace will again be on the hill for the Seahawks, opposing Gulf Coast ace and FGCU commit Niels Stone.

“We were able to have somebody go up and scout him last week,” Gulf Coast coach Pete Garcia said. “He’s a kid who throws pretty hard, upper 80s fastball, with a pretty good breaking ball. Our kids just have to stick with the plan. We’re a team that pitches well and plays good defense, and our offense can create runs in a number of ways.”

The Sharks (23-7) have seven starting players who are batting over .300, and Gulf Coast established a school record with 124 stolen bases this season. Leadoff hitter Drake Dobyanski leads the way with 33 swipes.

“Our offense is very good. We really haven’t been shut down,” senior first baseman Tanner Ison said. “We know they have a good pitcher, but I don’t think he’s anything we haven’t seen before. We’ve been hitting the ball well all season, and every game, someone seems to step up for us.”

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The Sharks have a dominant pitcher of their own in Stone, who has notched victories in playoff wins over Venice and Charlotte. Stone throws his heater in the low 90s and has command of three pitches. But he isn’t the only standout on the hill for Gulf Coast, with guys like Luke Dawson, Zach Lang, Andrew Shivak and Wes Boling all logging key innings for the Sharks this season.

With the regionals set up with one game a week, that depth hasn’t been as important. But if the Sharks are to advance to the state finals at Hammond Stadium next week, that will be a definite strength.

“We’ve got a great staff and it’s one thing we’ve relied heavily on all season,” Garcia said. “We can pitch and we can play defense, but our hitting sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. People look at us as a pitching-and-defensive team, but we’ve got an offense that’s capable of scoring a lot of runs. We do the little things like stealing bases, but we’ve also got guys like Tanner Ison and Niels Stone who have been coming up with clutch hits all season. One through nine in our order, we’ve got guys that can make things happen.”

After winning a pair of hard-fought games on the road in front of raucous opposing crowds, the Sharks are eager for some home cooking.

“It’s huge to have this game at home, and not have to make the three-hour bus ride that they have to make from Tampa,” Ison said. “We get to relax a little bit, do our normal routine for a home game. We’re expecting a big crowd. People have been coming up to me all day today, asking me what time the game is, so people are getting excited about it.”

The Sharks will be playing in their third regional final in five seasons under Garcia, but have yet to reach the state finals. And while Gulf Coast knows it’s on the verge of making history, the players are not thinking too much about it.

“We have to get through this game first,” Ison said. “It doesn’t make much sense to talk about (the state finals) yet. Everyone is focused on (Tuesday’s) game.”

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Garcia says his team has followed a simple motto that’s gotten them on the verge of the state finals.

“We’ve got a saying that you’ve got to give 100 percent each day, work on that day and win that day,” Garcia said. “It’s always a today, not a tomorrow type of thing. We come to work each day and the kids have bought into that. Each kid’s got a different role on the team and they all understand their roles. They know what’s at stake, but at the same time, they’re just focused on this next game and not anything that follows.”

Gulf Coast probable starting lineup

1. Drake Dobyanski CF

2. Jaime Soto 3B

3. Shane Marshall C

4. Tanner Ison 1B

5. Niels Stone P

6. Wes Boling LF

7. Collin Camarigg 2B

8. Emil Valenzuela SS

9. Chadd Heersema DH

Andrew Shivak RF