George Jenkins baseball's run for state tournament derailed in regional final

LAKELAND — It was the worst combination possible for George Jenkins on Monday in its bid to reach the FHSAA state baseball tournament. The Eagles made numerous mistakes, and Viera capitalized on all of them while the Jenkins’ lineup could not get a clutch hit.

The result was Viera’s 4-0 victory in the Class 6A, Region 2 final at John Rodda Field that ended George Jenkins’ season.

George Jenkins committed five errors, and three Viera players reached base on third strikes. All that extended innings and led to runs. With Jenkins facing top prospect Dylan Jordan, which made every run allowed valuable, giving away four runs became a huge obstacle. Jordan went into the game with a 1.32 ERA.

More: George Jenkins moves 1 game from state with big win over Lakeland in regional semis

“We knew, we knew the type of pitcher that we were facing today,” George Jenkins coach Alex Angulo said. “He's special. He's going to be a pretty high draft pick. He's going to Florida State, plays for Team USA. So we knew that we had to play flawlessly and unfortunately, we made a couple of mistakes. And to their credit, they made us pay for it. That's the name of the game. You know, we had some opportunities we weren't able to cash in and they had opportunities. They were, that was the name of the game today.”

George Jenkins starter Braden Smith lasted just 1 2/3 innings, getting five outs. During that span, however, two batters reached on errors and three batters reached on called third strikes and he left trailing 2-0. Xavier Glover went 5 1/3 innings and allowed just one earned run on four hits.

George Jenkins had runners in scoring position but could not get a clutch hit. Armano Cozza was left stranded at third base in the first inning. Kam Wilson was doubled off second in the third inning when Cozza’s hard-hit line drive went right to shortstop Alexander Westfield.

Jenkins had runners on second and third with no outs in the fourth inning but could not score. Wilson singled in the fifth inning with one out but was retired on a hard-hit double play grounder.

“We had some tough luck as well,” Angulo said. “You know, we had the line drive, even with the runners on second and third, we had a hard ground ball right at somebody. That's tough luck. That's baseball, that's baseball. And, you know, it was frustrating but stuff happens.”

Wilson had two hits, and Cozza, Wilfredo Ortiz, Seth Patterson and Griffin Cline had one hit.

It was a disappointing end to the season, and Jenkins will lose six seniors, but Angulo is confident about the future.

“We lose six seniors and they're all huge parts of our team, but we have 13 juniors coming back and we have a very  good sophomore and freshman class,” Angulo said. “So I think George Jenkins baseball is going to be in a good spot for a few years.”

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: George Jenkins baseball's run for state tournament derailed in regional final