St. Thomas Overwhelms West Boca To Advance

The final usually is the toughest game of all the regional games, but co-ace Alec Byrd made it seem like child’s play for St. Thomas as they had no trouble getting past West Boca 11-1 to reach the state final four.

It’s the first trip back to state since 2010 for the Raiders, who will play in a semifinal at 4 p.m. Friday against Haines City.

“St. Thomas tonight was the better team,” West Boca coach Nick Siano said. “They put 15 hits up, scored every inning, and put a lot of pressure on us. They deserved it tonight.”

The Bulls came out and took the lead right out of the gate in the top of the first with an RBI single from first baseman Sean Kuchta. They left the bases loaded to end the first and then again to end the second. Those base runners that were left on base to end the second were the last base runners that West Boca would have on the night as Byrd settled down and retired the final nine batters of the game in order.

“I started off a little tired because I closed the game the other night,” Byrd said. “As the game kept going on I just kept feeding off the energy from my team and kept getting looser and looser.”

After allowing that run in the first, Byrd settled in quite nicely. He did not allow another hit after the first and finished the night giving up just one run on two hits, while striking out nine in the complete game victory.

It wasn’t just the pitching performance by Byrd either. The St. Thomas bats continued to get timely hits and drive in runs. The Raiders hit .328 as a team during the regular season and finished the night with 15 hits that accounted for 11 runs.

“For the second half of the season the bottom half of our order has been really setting up the top of our order,” Raiders head coach Troy Cameron said. “Getting on base and doing whatever it took so there was not one part of our order than contributed more than the other. We got contributions from everyone on our team and I’m kind of speechless about how well we have played.”

St. Thomas scored at least one run in each of the five innings on the night. Third baseman Christian Demby and first baseman Chris Schloss lead the team with three RBIs each. Demby accounted for his three RBIs with a three run bomb to dead center in the second while Schloss hit a two RBI double in the first and an RBI single in the fourth on his way to a 3-for-3 night that included the three RBIs and a stolen base.

“I felt comfortable and relaxed at the plate tonight,” Schloss said. “I just tried to do what I have been doing all year. Stay composed and relaxed and not try to do too much. I was given the right pitches in the right situations and made the most of them.

Demby added a single to his total in the third to finish the night going 2-for-3. It was the home run though that really broke the game open.

“He started me off the first at bat with a fast ball and then came back with a curveball and I was out in front of it,” Demby said. “The pitcher the other night for Nova kept pounding me with curveballs and I figured he (West Boca pitcher Angelo Dovas) was going to start me off with a curveball again and I just sat back on it and put a good swing on it.”

Despite the loss, Siano knows that it was a special season and is proud of his guys for what they did.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Siano said. “We had a guy leave early and our number one got hurt in the beginning of the year and so if you had told me that we were going to make it to a regional finals at that point I would have signed up for it. I told the guys today that I was proud of them and every single one of them stepped up in different occasions throughout the year and got us this far but tonight just wasn’t our night.”

For St Thomas, they will move on to Fort Myers for the State Tournament next Friday where they will face Haines City and coach Cameron knows it will be an experience that his team will never forget.

“It’s going to be an experience they will never forget,” Cameron said. “I told them not to let it get too big for you and enjoy it.”

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