Prep baseball | Zimmering pitches Lakewood Ranch into district title game
LAKEWOOD RANCH-- All season long, Colton Zimmering has been preaching to his Lakewood Ranch teammates that their only goal is the state final four.
In a game the Mustangs had to win to keep the wheels on that dream, the big lefty showed he is not just talk.
Zimmering kept Palmetto off balance by mixing up his pitches and drove in two runs to carry the host Mustangs to a 4-1 victory in a Class 8A-District 8 semifinal game on Tuesday night.
The victory sends Lakewood Ranch (16-9) into the district final Thursday where it will play host to Sarasota, but more importantly guarantees the Mustangs a game in next week's region tournament.
Zimmering went the distance to improve his record to 9-1. Palmetto's only run was unearned and he struck out six, didn't walk a batter and allowed six hits.
"Tonight we just didn't want to go home, and we knew if we could get a win it would guarantee us at least two more games," Zimmering said. "My fastball was working and I was getting ahead of the hitters. I just pitched to contact and let our defense do its thing."
Zimmering also did his thing with the bat.
The junior staked himself to a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI single that scored Pablo Garabitos, who reached on an error and moved to second on a single by Dylan Buck. Lakewood Ranch hit the ball hard in the first two innings off Hunter Finner, but had only one run to show for it.
The Tigers got on the board in the top of the third when Casey Rodriguez reached on an error
and scored on a single by Harrison Thiel.
The Mustangs came back in the of the inning to go up 2-1. Trevor Losada singled, Garabitos bunted and took first when Palmetto failed to cover the base. Dyland Buck moved up the runners with a sacrifice bunt and Losada scored on a wild pitch.
The Tigers had runners on base in every inning, but the first and couldn't score. Rodriguez tried to steal home in the fifth, but was tagged out.
Palmetto finished 15-10, but was 1-6 against its district teams.
"In another district we may still be playing," Tigers head coach Rich Glass said. "We have a freshman at third base, a freshman at shortstop and a freshman at second and a sophomore catcher. We exceeded my expectations. We are looking to grow."
Palmetto tried to force Lakewood Ranch into mistakes with its aggressive hitting and baserunning, but the Mustangs managed to keep things together thanks to Zimmering.
"Colton did a good job as far as pitching out of tough situations," Lakewood Ranch head coach Ryan Kennedy said. "Palmetto put a lot of pressure on us and Colton did a great job of calming down and staying within himself and making pitches."
He added: "Some of the balls didn't bounce our way. This field needs a lot of water. It's hard as a rock. It's almost like cement."
Finner went four innings and was relieved by Jacob Josey.
"We were just trying to mix up looks hoping to keep them off balanced. Pitching wise it worked out," Glass said. "The teams that handle the baseball the best this time of year are going to move on and we had a wild pitch and a couple of errors. And Colton is as good as advertised.
We left five runners in scoring position and three of the five had been a third base. No one could get a hit at the big moment."
Alan Dell, Herald sports columnist/writer, can be reached at 941-745-7056. Follow him on Twitter @ADellSports
This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 12:11 AM with the headline "Prep baseball | Zimmering pitches Lakewood Ranch into district title game ."