By FRANCIS FEDOR francisfotography@outlook.com
The South Shore Six (SS6) battle for the top is still very tight between Sumner at 15-6 and East Bay at 12-8. Sumner opened the week with a 6-1 win at struggling Leto. Braylon Disla tossed just over six innings of one-hit ball and K’d eight for the win. The Stingrays used “small ball” efficiently, using seven hits to score the six runs. Cameron Pacquette led the Rays with two hits and an RBI. Winston Pennant walked three times and had a hit, driving in a run. The Rays followed up the win with a pitchers’ duel with Sumner getting the 2-0 district win over Alonso in the Tank on Thursday, April 1. The offense was provided by a
Pennant two-run blast, his fourth of the season, driving in Jaylin Chambers who reached on a single. It was all the run support Ethan DeJesus would need as he was laser focused after the tough outing vs. Bloomingdale a week earlier. DeJesus tossed a complete game two-hitter, struck out 11 and faced just 25 hitters. The current season total of 81 K’s has DeJesus ranked #26 nationally, with only three of the 25 hurlers ahead of him with fewer hitters faced, and #6 in Florida.
The Stingrays wrap up their season with a big game on senior night, April 9, vs. Gaither.
East Bay eeked out a 3-2 win on senior night in Gibsonton over Robinson. The Indians jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning when Jeffrey Diab led off with a double and Connor Gavigan singled. Both runners scored on wild pitches. JJ Grover benefited from a fourth inning run to notch the victory. Groover pitched two innings, shutting down the Knights, and Trendon Norman added a double for the Indians, who were held to five hits, but did enough to score three runs to end senior night on a positive note. The Indians struggled to find run support for starter Gavigan two days later at home vs. Gaither. The Cowboys completed the season sweep of the Indians with a 4-2 win. Gavigan tossed just over six innings, giving up all four runs, with only one of the runs being earned, and K’d nine Gaither hitters. Johnathan Bryant had the only hit for the Indians and picked up an RBI on that hit. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for East Bay. The Indians ended their week with a 10-0 road loss to Plant on Saturday, April 4.
The Indians finish their season with another Saturday 10 a.m. game vs. Wharton on April 11.
Over in Ruskin, Lennard started the week on a high note with a 5-2 win over Bishop McLaughlin. Christian Skaggs picked up
his first win of the season, giving up one unearned run, and was the beneficiary of early run support as the Longhorns ran out to an early 4-0 lead after two innings. Senior Mikie Locke stepped up with a double to drive in one of the early runs. Ivan Carbello drove in a couple with a clutch hit. The Longhorns then traveled up I-75 and extended their winning streak to four with an 11-0 win at Hillsborough. Myles Wagner won his third game on the season and followed-up a 14 strike-out performance with seven K’s against the Terriers. Connor Adechoubou led with two RBIs, and three players had three-hit nights, including Locke, Carbello and Julian Ware.
The Longhorns finished the week with a Saturday morning 10-0 win over Brandon to extend their winning streak to a season high five games and have scored 35 runs during the streak. Christian Skaggs earned the shutout victory, his second in a row. AJ Aikens homered, his second in three games, and drove in four runs.
Lennard wraps up its regular season on April 9 vs. Armwood.
Morgan lost a tough game at home as Chamberlain scraped out a 4-2 win, scoring three late runs to leave with the win. The Mustangs used three hits to generate the two runs. Maxzell Mathis had one of the hits and the only credited RBI on the night. Mathis also threw nearly six innings, gave up two earned runs and K’d five. The Mustangs traveled to Parrish Community on April 1 and lost 9-2.
The Mustangs end their first season of play on the road with games at Bayshore on 4/8 and Brandon on 4/9.
Spoto did not play this past week and finishes up on April 9 in a district match-up vs. Freedom.
Riverview started its week with a 13-1 home loss to Steinbrenner on March 31 and took to the road, losing a heart breaker two games later, a 4-3 extra inning loss to Jefferson.
The Sharks finish their regular season on the road at Robinson on April 9.
While the SS6 awaits the 2026 FHSAA District Playoff brackets, Sumner (led by Kennedy Duran) and East Bay (Rowland Ruiz) have the best chance of surviving into an FHSAA State Playoff seeding. Sumner plays in a tough 7AD7 grouping, where only a single team is below .500. Strawberry Crest has one more win but is tied in losses at six. The Stingrays, Alonso, and Strawberry Crest are all at 3-1 in district competition with Sumner fresh off tagging Alonso with its first district loss.
East Bay has Freedom just ahead with two more wins and one fewer losses. Spoto (Calvin Rucker) lost to East Bay in 2025 when the Indians won the 5AD9 district title. Lennard, under Victor Martinez, has a chance of pulling an upset in the 6AD12
bracket where Palmetto holds a 14-6 record on the season.
Riverview (Matthew Yates) faces an uphill battle to survive as the Sharks, in 6AD6, has Saladino Gold winner Bloomingdale standing in the way, as well as three other teams that are over .500 in Lakeland, Bartow and Durant. It will certainly be interesting to see which, if any, of the SS6 make the FHSAA State round.
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