Windermere, Timber Creek, TFA baseball reach FHSAA state semis

Three Orange County baseball teams qualified this week for the Florida High School Athletic Association state tournament at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers .

Timber Creek plays Windermere High in a Class 7A semifinal Friday at 7 p.m. in a matchup of Orange County Public Schools Metro Conference east and west champions.

The First Academy faces Miami Christian in a 2A semifinal Monday at 1 p.m.

Admission to state tournament games is $11 in advance and $14 on day of games through the GoFan app. Parking is $10. State tournament games will stream live online for a fee through the NFHS Network.

Windermere advanced to Fort Myers for the first time after falling short in the regional final round each of the past two seasons.

The Wolverines leaned on junior pitcher Connor Fink (7 strikeouts, 6 ⅔ innings) during a 3-0 semifinal win last week in 7A Region 2 over Palm Harbor University (17-9).

Windermere extended its win streak to 19 on Monday with a 5-4 triumph in 8 innings at No. 1 seed Venice (26-4). Randy Ruiz went 2-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBI. Osjun Rivas scored the game-winning run on a Venice error.

Timber Creek, winner in 14 of its past 16 games, is in the state tournament for the 5th time since 2015. The Wolves have gone 15-1 in regional tournament play during that span with a state title in 2017, runner-up finish in ‘18 and semifinal appearances in ‘15 and ‘19.

Eli Buffaloe blasted a 2-run walk-off homer Friday to give Timber Creek a thrilling 5-3 win vs.  2021 state runner-up Port Orange Spruce Creek (19-10).

Monday’s Region 1 final vs. St. Johns Creekside (19-13) ended 3-0 in 5 innings due to weather. Zach Walker had a single and 2 RBI while Connor Mulready finished with 6 strikeouts.

TFA, the 3A state champion in 2021, faces a Miami Christian team that took home the 2A title in 2022. The Victors were also state champs in ’18 and ’19.

The Royals rallied Tuesday in their regional final to win 8-6 in 8 innings at defending state champion Lakeland Christian (23-5). Austin Pierzynski doubled to score a run and Will Dizney drove in another on a sacrifice fly in the 8th.

TFA won 1-0 while allowing 3 hits and 3 walks vs. Lakeland Santa Fe Catholic (22-6) in the semifinals.

Check SentinelVarsity.com for updated state tournament results and matchups.

Friday

Class 7A

No. 2 Windermere High (27-3) vs. No. 3 Timber Creek (24-6), 7

History: Windermere is 2-0 all-time vs. Timber Creek, including a 13-3 home win on April 19.

Pitching: Windermere — Cannon Feazell (50 Ks, 1.34 ERA), Conner Fink (34 Ks, 1. 96 ERA). Timber Creek —  Connor Mulready (62 Ks, 1.01 ERA), Brody Juntunen (57 Ks, 1.52 ERA), Brian Kendall (41 Ks, 1.23 ERA).

Hitting: Windermere is batting .311 as a team with 38 doubles, 4 triples and 10 home runs. Senior Ty Head (.398) and sophomore Randy Ruiz (.396) have combined for 17 extra-base hits. Timber Creek is batting .311 with 32 doubles, 8 triples and 3 home runs. Senior Zach Walker leads the Wolves with a .397 batting average.

Next: Winner plays three-time defending 7A champion Parkland Stoneman Douglas (24-5) or Vero Beach (24-4) on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Monday

Class 2A

No. 2 Miami Christian (21-4) vs. No. 3 The First Academy (24-6), 1

History: First meeting, according to MaxPreps.

Pitching: TFA — Zach Hopper (57 Ks, 1.15 ERA), Thomas Achey (53 Ks, 2.22 ERA). Miami Christian — Mike Palenzuela (23 Ks, 0.74 ERA), Lucas Rodriguez (28 Ks, 0.91 ERA).

Hitting: TFA is batting .328 as a team with 47 doubles, 7 triples and 14 home runs, led by juniors Remo Indomenico (.486 BA), Blake Fields (.380 BA) and Austin Pierzynski (.378 BA). Miami Christian is batting .361 with 37 doubles, 6 triples and 10 home runs. Six seniors have logged at least 20 hits and 10 RBI for the Victors.

Next: Winner plays 2023 state runner-up Orange Park St. Johns Country Day (23-6) or St. Petersburg Northside Christian (20-9) on Wednesday at a time to be determined.

This article originally appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com . Email J.C. Carnahan at jcarnahan@orlandosentinel.com .