Thunder bats fall silent in region quarterfinal
FORT MYERS -- Even if Sam Keating didn't have his best stuff Thursday it still would have caused problems for some of the best teams in the state.
The Fort Myers Canterbury right-hander and Clemson commitment showed as much as he baffled a 21-win Out-of-Door Academy team to push the Cougars to a 2-0 win in a Class 3A-Region 3 semifinal at Swanson Stadium on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University.
Canterbury (27-1), ranked No. 7 nationally in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25, will hit the road to face St. Petersburg Northside Christian, a 4-1 winner over Evangelical Christian, on Tuesday with a chance to reach its third straight state Final Four.
After walking the first batter of the game, Keating (9-0) carried a no-hitter deep into the seventh, retiring 20 consecutive hitters before walking a batter and surrendering a base hit to center field by Nick Saranczak.
"Sam is our catalyst," Canterbury coach Frank Turco said. "And when you're that guy, you've got to want the ball."
Keating admitted he wasn't at is best in the first three innings. However, he caught fire with two outs in the fourth. ODA cleanup hitter Najee Jacobs hit a towering fly ball to left field in his first at bat that barely stayed in the yard, but Keating blew three pitches past him.
ODA starter Max Munroe didn't make it easy for the Cougars. Activated for the first time all season two weeks ago after a toe injury kept him out, he surrendered two hits and one run.
ODA's defense, however, proved to be its undoing.
Munroe walked Tyler Shuck to lead off the fourth and Michael Matter sent a single that just got through the middle of the infield. After a walk to Giovany Lorenzo, Cooper Swanson rolled over on a pitch that ODA second baseman Mason Kolbe appeared ready to turn a double play on, but couldn't handle the groundball, plating a run.
The Cougar couldn't do anything more with bases loaded and one out in the frame.
Munroe was lifted after the fifth.
Matter led off the sixth with his second hit of the game and ODA's struggles in the field continued when shortstop Anthony Squitieri threw away another double play opportunity. A Swanson sacrifice fly to center field made it 2-0.
"We've got two freshmen up the middle," ODA coach Tim Orlosky said. "What's great about them is they've got guts. We don't expect them to make every play. I'm really proud of the way they played."
ODA graduates just two seniors off its 21-7 club, giving Orlosky a good feeling it will be playing in more games like this one.
This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Thunder bats fall silent in region quarterfinal ."