Prep baseball: Gulf Coast holds on to beat Sunlake, advances to 7A state semifinals

Searching for the program’s first-ever berth in the state semifinals, the Gulf Coast High School baseball team was cruising behind ace Niels Stone.

But for the second straight game, the Sharks had to walk the tightrope in the game’s final inning. This time, the escape artist was closer Zach Lang, who entered the game in the top of the seventh with a 2-0 lead and the bottom of the Land O’Lakes-Sunlake order due up.

He hit the No. 7 hitter, and after getting a strikeout, surrendered a single to No. 9 hitter Jacob Olicek. A strange sequence of events happened next, as Lang got ahead of leadoff hitter Colden Peeples 1-2. Peeples questioned a call, his first base coach got tossed arguing, and the game was delayed a few minutes. The delay seemed to throw off Lang. He walked Peeples, and then forced in a run with another walk to Kyle Oliver.

Gulf Coast coach Pete Garcia quickly made a visit to the mound, as the season hung in the balance.

“Something happened over here (earlier in the inning) with the umpire and first-base coach getting into it. I just wanted to calm (Lang’s) nerves down a little bit,” Garcia said. “I just told Zach to do his thing and told the infielders, ‘Look, you’re going to get the baseball, know what to do with the baseball when it comes to you.’ We’ve been in this situation before. Regional semifinals (against Charlotte), 3-0 ballgame became a 3-2 ballgame. We’ve been in close games all year, so they were comfortable.”

Prep baseball: Gulf Coast holds on to beat Charlotte, advance to 7A regional final

Lang quickly got in front of No. 3 hitter Michael Wu, who hit a sharp comebacker that Lang flagged down and tossed to shortstop Emil Valenzuela for a game-ending, 1-6-3 double play, sealing a 2-1 win and a trip to the state semifinals against Tampa-King next Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers.

Lang said the key to that seventh inning was maintaining his composure while the season was on the line.

“You’ve just got to stay calm and somehow get some outs,” Lang said. “When you’re in the last inning and you have the lead, you’re counting outs. The energy we have as a team and the energy I bring to the mound, that helps a lot.”

He admitted he made a somewhat risky decision throwing the ball to second instead of home, as a 1-2-3 double play seemed as sure as the 1-6-3 double play, and perhaps a safer option.

“I’m going to be completely honest, I don’t know why I didn’t throw home,” Lang said with a smile. “I should have thrown the ball home for sure, but it worked out.”

Gulf Coast scored its two runs in the bottom of the third, manufacturing the first when Chad Heersema was hit by a pitch, balked to second and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Drake Dobyanski’s perfect sacrifice bunt. Jaime Soto drove in Heersema with an infield grounder. Shane Marshall kept the inning going with a double down the left-field line, and Tanner Ison brought him home with a single up the middle.

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The final-inning drama nearly overshadowed another dominant outing from the FGCU-bound Stone, who picked up victories in each of the regional games with spectacular pitching. Stone worked six shutout innings Tuesday, allowing four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. He also hit a batter.

Stone outdueled Sunlake ace Michael Mace, a University of Florida commit. Mace went the distance, working six innings and allowing two runs on five hits with one walk and three strikeouts, also hitting a pair of hitters.

“I want the ball every game. That’s my mentality,” Stone said. “I was able to locate my fastball all night and work off of that. They got a few leadoff guys on, but the key is to just stay calm and not let it become a big inning.”

Stone admitted feeling a little powerless sitting on the bench in the seventh, as Lang pitched himself in and out of trouble.

“Everyone on the bench was really nervous,” Stone said. “But the guys came through. Zach made the big pitch and we got the double play. Feels great to move on.”