District 6A-11 champion Bulldogs to host Lely Trojans
Last Thursday was a night to remember for Ida Baker baseball.
The Bulldogs won the District 6A-11 title by getting past crosstown rival Cape Coral 3-1 capturing their first district baseball championship under coach Bob VanDeventer.
“I wanted this so bad for these guys,” VanDeventer said. “I wanted them to experience this. They deserved it. I’m just happy, man. I’m so happy for them.”
Along with the district trophy, the Bulldogs (21-5) earn a home game in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs against Lely on Wednesday. The Trojans lost 3-2 to Barron Collier in the 6A-12 final.
“We’re going to enjoy this, man,” VanDeventer said. “I’ve waited four years as a head coach to get this. We’re not going to talk about what’s next. We’re just going to enjoy this for two or three days, and then we’ll come back and work on Monday.”
Cape Coral (14-13) travels to Barron Collier Wednesday for its quarterfinal playoff game.
Senior right-hander Bryce VanHorn went the distance for Baker, allowing two hits, both doubles.
“We’re always going to get a good pitching performance,” VanDeventer said. “We’re always going to get a good outing on the mound. Our starting pitchers have been that way for two years.”
Baker took advantage of two hits, a walk, two balks, a stolen base and a throwing error to score twice in the bottom of the first inning. Christian Proffitt led off the inning with a single and reached second on a balk. Dakota Kayatta’s RBI single brought Proffitt in with the first run. Luke Endsley’s walk ended up being the second Bulldogs run on a stolen base, a throwing error and another balk later.
The game remained 2-0 until the bottom of the sixth, when Baker tacked on an insurance run. Gabe Villaverde singled. Courtesy runner Trey Koza advanced on a sacrifice, made it to third, and came home on Ryen Clay’s grounder.
That run proved to be important. Cape’s Daniel Fanego was hit by a pitch to lead off the top of the seventh. Kagen Smith’s two-out double to right drove in the only Seahawks run, but Cape did have a runner in scoring position and the tying run at the plate when the game ended.
“It was going to be the team that made the most mistakes,” Seahawks coach Mike Gorton said. “We made a few and they didn’t make any, and there’s the story of the game. We had opportunities to score some more runs. We just didn’t get it done.”
Spencer Roach, the first of three Cape pitchers, took the loss.