Prep baseball | Bayshore routs St. Petersburg Gibbs to set up district semifinal meeting with Sarasota Booker

BRADENTON -- Isaac Loviglio wanted to believe Bayshore had turned a corner down the stretch of his senior year. The suspensions that depleted the roster early in the season were long gone. The nagging injuries that stopped the Bruins from ever rounding into form during the middle of the season were in the past, too. Loviglio wanted to believe BHS' attitude change was real and Bayshore would see the results of it on the field.

The penultimate game of the Bruins' regular season sent them on the road to face Braden River on Wednesday. Even though BHS lost by a single run, Loviglio finally could believe something had changed for Bayshore.

"That's the kind of thing that I think we are," the pitcher said, "and that's the kind of team we can play like."

The Bruins' postseason began Monday with a 10-0 rout of St. Petersburg Gibbs in Bradenton, which ended after five innings by mercy rule. BHS (9-17) will go back on the road Tuesday against Booker in Sarasota for the Class 5A-District 11 semifinals. A win would qualify Bayshore for its first region quarterfinal since 2012.

The Bruins simply took care of business against a winless opponent in the Class 5A-11 play-in game, but compounded with its late-season competitiveness, BHS enters its third meeting with the Tornadoes this year brimming with confidence.

"We're starting to come together right now as a team, which is the right time together," head coach Nolan Lofgren said. "We're excited to go over there tomorrow. We're excited and I think we're ready, too. We've got some confidence on our side now, which is what we need."

But first, Bayshore had to cruise past Gibbs. Loviglio had to do more than just win Monday's game at Bayshore High School -- he needed to go the distance. The Bruins will start Jared Richardson against Booker and Lofgren wanted a full complement of relievers available in case things go south for his ace, including Yiesel Ur and Ryan Gagliano. Loviglio was the bridge for BHS to reach this possibility.

The Bruin offense -- and three errors by the Gladiators -- meant Loviglio only needed to go four innings against Gibbs and he only made one mistake. The righty struck out six batters and allowed just one baserunner on a third-inning sin

gle. He grew stronger as the game went on, striking out the side in the bottom of the fifth to end the game.

"I was trying to make it all the way for our team, for the better of our winning tomorrow," Loviglio said. "Anything to get to state."

BHS scored all 10 of its runs in the first three innings despite collecting only four hits. Bayshore drew four walks, and took advantage of an error in each of the first three innings and three wild pitches to score five unearned runs against Gibbs senior James Diaz.

Shortstop Kanobby McCarty paced the Bruin offense with a hit and a walk in two plate appearances, one run and two RBIs. Ur added two runs and an RBI on a walk, a hit-by-pitch and a sacrifice fly. Catcher David McCarty also scored once and drove in a pair of runs. Laviglio and Richardson each scored two runs.

The victory was quick for BHS. Now Bayshore prepares for the one that matters.

"We've got all our big horses ready for tomorrow," Lofgren said. "They're all ready to go."

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 11:48 PM with the headline "Prep baseball | Bayshore routs St. Petersburg Gibbs to set up district semifinal meeting with Sarasota Booker ."