Prep baseball | Madison pulls away from Manatee in first round of Sarasota Baseball Classic

SARASOTA -- The extent of Rob Viera's scouting report on Madison was limited to the Vienna, Va., program's recent accolades. Eight Division I signees. Last year's Class 6A Virginia state champions. No. 11 in MaxPreps' Xcellent 25.

The Warhawks' talent manifested by the third inning when they started turning a tie game into a rout.

Madison scored the final seven runs Monday to blow out Manatee, 7-1, in the first game of the Sarasota Baseball Classic at Suncoast Technical College.

"Whatever," Viera said. "Ball's on the mound, it's a different game. It doesn't matter what you are. You've got to execute."

The Hurricanes had one brief moment to celebrate during the first inning before the Warhawks' defense wiped the Canes away.

A two-out walk by corner infielder Dillon Sullivan in the top of the first started Manatee's only successful rally of the game.

Senior slugger Eric Crawford followed with a single to push Sullivan into scoring position and utility infielder Chris Lehman sent him home with a single to left field.

"Florida baseball!" Sullivan shouted as the Hurricanes took a surprising 1-0 lead.

The Canes' joy only lasted so long, though.

Outfielder Jordan Ebersole led off the game for the Warhawks (3-0) with a single to left then went to second on a wild pitch, third on a groundout and scored on another groundout by infielder Pete Nielsen, a BYU signee.

Senior pitcher Jordon Ely lasted four innings for Manatee, allowing eight hits and four earned runs.

He only walked one batter, but threw three wild pitches and only struck out two.

"He kind of almost does it on purpose because he throws so many strikes," Viera said.

"He actually looked pretty good today. He's getting better and by the end of the year he's going to be where we need him."

The Hurricanes (6-9) only moved one more runner into scoring position during the final six innings.

Madison scored a pair of runs during the third, fourth and fifth to put the Hurricanes out of reach.

Warhawks pitcher Ryan Kopka wasn't particularly overwhelming, either, even as he held the Canes to one run in a complete game.

The junior struck out only one batter, walked two and allowed three hits.

None of those hits came after the third inning, as Kopka retired the final 14 batters in order with the help of a game-ending double play.

Viera was most impressed by Madison's defense, which made the difficult look ordinary and only committed one error to the Canes' four.

Nielsen, who started at shortstop, recorded six assists, including one on the double play to officially end Manatee's hope at an upset.

The Warhawks now move on to face Sarasota Riverview on Tuesday in Sarasota.

The Hurricanes move into the losers bracket, where they will meet Sarasota Riverview on Tuesday.

"Their defense is excellent," Viera said. "I think we hit the ball hard. We had a lot of line drives, one-hops that they just made it look routine."

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 11:55 PM with the headline "Prep baseball | Madison pulls away from Manatee in first round of Sarasota Baseball Classic ."