Prep baseball | Lakewood Ranch's offense flounders against East Lake in region semifinals

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- Amid the reflection on his own team's successful season and the praise for his opponent following Tuesday's Class 8A-Region 2 semifinals, Ryan Kennedy took one moment for particularly effusive praise.

The Lakewood Ranch head coach thought about why his Mustangs lost 4-0 at Lakewood Ranch High School and looked at Kevin Lambert, Tarpon Springs East Lake's shortstop.

"I'll tell you what: The kid's, in my opinion, going to be a big-league shortstop," Kennedy said of the Western Kentucky commit and East Lake team captain. "He can pick it. He can play defense."

Kennedy watched Lambert do more than almost anyone else on the field during Ranch's loss to the Eagles in the region semifinals. The Mustangs' right-handed batters couldn't time up ELHS pitcher Christian James and tapped ground ball after ground ball to the left side of the infield, where Lambert ranged around the dirt and fired strikes across the diamond to first base.

The shortstop recorded seven assists to anchor East Lake's defense in a season-saving shutout against Ranch.

The Eagles advance to the region championship game against Steinbrenner in Lutz on May 10. The Mustangs' season ends one game short of the region final for the second straight season.

"As my grandfather would say, 'Hit it where they ain't,'

or something," Kennedy said. "You've got to find ways to hit it somewhere else."

The postseason at the high-school level is typically dominated by strong starting pitching and stout defense. ELHS got both against Ranch (18-11) and Lakewood Ranch was unable to overcome its handful of shaky innings. Junior pitcher Colton Zimring gave the Mustangs 5 1/3 innings with three earned runs before his six walks caught up to him and East Lake chased him from the game by putting three of the first four batters on base in the top of the sixth.

Zimring mostly skated around trouble by scattering his walks. The third inning was the only frame he walked multiple batters. It was also when the Eagles scored their first -- and ultimately decisive -- run. The lefty walked the first two batters and an infield single by James sent middle infielder Reid Zitzelberg home. James also drove in Zitzelberg during the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly for ELHS' final insurance run.

"Those walks obviously hurt me," Zimring said. "I'm trying to allow my defense to try to do their job and a walk is on me."

But there was no margin of error for Ranch. James didn't budge on the mound and threw a three-hit shutout.

James grew stronger as his outing went on. He only allowed one hit after the third inning and recorded half of his six strikeouts during a 1-2-3 sixth inning. The pitcher leaned on his slider to get Lakewood Ranch's hitters swinging early and forced the Mustangs into keeping the ball on the ground. Once he got Ranch's hitters off balance and swinging at pitches on the outer edge of the plate, James started living farther away from the strike zone as Lakewood Ranch started to chase.

Ultimately, the Mustangs only staged one threat against James when a third-inning single by Ryley Zunica let Ranch get a runner to third with one out. The top of the order came to the plate for Lakewood Ranch and James set down the next two batters on strikes for his first two strikeouts.

"We just couldn't capitalize on those opportunities," Kennedy said. "When you can't capitalize with a runner on third, one out-- Sometimes it's frustrating, but with a guy on the mound like that, throwing the way he did, all you can do is say, 'Great job.'"

David Wilson, Herald sports writer, can be contacted at 941-745-7057 or on Twitter @DBWilson2.

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Prep baseball | Lakewood Ranch's offense flounders against East Lake in region semifinals ."