Garabitos’ two-hitter leads Lakewood Ranch baseball past Braden River

Pablo Garabitos threw a two-hitter to lead Lakewood Ranch High School to a 5-1 baseball victory against Braden River in the annual rivalry series on Tuesday.

Garabitos contributed an RBI triple, one of six hits produced by the Mustangs. Gray Ellis was the only Lakewood Ranch player with two hits.

The Mustangs (3-3) play the second game in the series on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Braden River.

Saint Stephen’s 8, Southeast 2: Niko Piccolo (3-0) needed just 53 pitches to work six innings to lead the Falcons (3-4), who coasted after scoring four runs in the second inning and three in the fourth. Piccolo allowed three hits. At the plate, Piccolo went 3 for 3; Jacob Eyre added two singles. Austin Jenkins went 3 for 3 with a double, and Kelton Blohm added two hits to lead Southeast.

Cardinal Mooney 8, Bradenton Christian 0: Dalton Plattner and Josh Weber combined on a one-hitter for the Cougars (6-2). Plattner struck out five in five innings. Weber struck out four in two. Robbie Vassallo had three hits, including a double, and Tommy Hubbard contributed two.

Softball

Manatee 15, Southeast 2: Faith Miller fell a home run short of a cycle at the plate, and she tossed a five-hitter with eight strikeouts to lead the visiting Hurricanes (3-7), who scored 13 runs in the final two innings. Madison Bradford went 4 for 5 while Kara Marsh and freshman Delanie Grider had two hits. One of Marsh’s was a homer. Yami Regalado and Cam Crowell went 2 for 3 to lead Southeast (5-5); Jurnee Bennett drove in both runs.

Saint Stephen’s 8, Bradenton Christian 3: Claudia Sbaschnik drove in seven runs for the host Falcons. She collected an RBI double in the first, a two-run single in the fifth and a grand slam in the sixth. Emma Craig’s homer accounted for the other run for Saint Stephen’s (9-5, 5-3). Amy Woodworth (6-3) allowed seven hits and two walks for the win. Ariel Marciano took the loss for Bradenton Christian (4-2 Class 3A-District 5).

Lakewood Ranch 7, Braden River 1: Logan Newton (6-0) doubled in the first and drove in two runs overall, giving herself all the offense she needed. The pitcher scattered five hits, struck out seven and gave up one run for the Mustangs (9-0). Kailey Christian homered for Lakewood Ranch and Morgan Cummins doubled.

Girls tennis

Manatee 4, Bayshore 1: Theo Schultz beat Perri Howard in straight sets at No. 1 singles, 7-5, 6-4, in the only match that didn’t use pro sets to earn Bayshore’s point. Host Manatee (7-1) received wins from Alyssa Ely, Allison Hlavic and Hailey Hagerty in singles. Bayshore fell to 0-8.

Boys tennis

Southeast 4, Palmetto 3: Sebastian Suarez and Tyler Teaford defeated Brock Hansen and Connor Vierling 8-6 at No. 1 doubles to earn the decisive point for the host Seminoles (3-5). Earlier, Ben Connors and Jonah Sinclair had tied the team match with an 8-0 victory at No. 2 doubles. Hansen, Vierling and No. 5 singles player Sidney Sousadara won for Palmetto (4-5).

Braden River 6, Cardinal Mooney 1: Led by Sebastian Bucarion at No. 1, Braden River (5-3) swept the singles matches. Bucarion teamed with Xavier Muzquiz to win the No. 1 doubles match.

Manatee 7, Bayshore 0: Joey Wymer (No. 2), Francesco Maninouerra (No. 4) and Zoran Kolega (No. 5) did not drop a game in singles to pace the shutout for host Manatee (5-2).

Girls lacrosse

ODA 15, Tampa Catholic 5: Sereena Feeney scored four goals, and Hannah Greenblott added three to lead the host Thunder (3-4). Jena Choueiri, Lexi Myers and Riley Spingler added two goals each. Sophie MacLeod and Tess Siciliano completed the scoring.

Saint Stephen’s 17, Cardinal Mooney 1: Zoey Block led the Falcons (10-3) with four goals while Bailee Barker and Katie Pierce contributed three each on senior night. Merry Moore, Kendall Miller and Emily Clark scored twice each, and senior Grace Barnes scored once.

Boys lacrosse

Out-of-Door 15, Tampa Catholic 4: The host Thunder coasted to the victory.

Flag football

Bayshore 6, Southeast 0: Timora Binks scored the only touchdown as the Bruins earned a season-opening victory against the Seminoles. The Bruins defense produced two interceptions. The teams return to action March 30.

Junior college softball

SCF 5-5, Hillsborough CC 3-3: State College of Florida swept a road doubleheader. In the opener, Lindsey Hall, Jessica Harney and Hannah Grossi paced SCF by going 2 for 3. Harney drove in two and Grossi one. Carlee Lucas (9-8) made the runs hold up. In the nightcap, Taylor Engman finished with two hits in support of pitcher Sammi Grat (10-6). SCF (21-15, 5-1) returns to action on Thursday with a doubleheader at Polk State College.

This story was originally published March 14, 2017 at 11:27 PM with the headline "Garabitos’ two-hitter leads Lakewood Ranch baseball past Braden River."