By Rod Gipson
MaxPreps.com
Dunedin had plenty of opponents heading into the Class 5A state baseball championships and not all of them were on the field.
The Falcons were dealing with history first off – 44 years of it. That is how long it had been since Dunedin won a state baseball title. The talented program also was dealing with the lofty expectations that come with a talent-laden squad that was a fixture this year on state and local polls.
And then, of course, Dunedin had two solid teams (Brandon and Stuart South Fork) standing in between them and that elusive state title that had avoided them despite many tries since the Lyndon Johnson administration.
The state semifinal matched Dunedin against another Tampa Bay area team, Brandon. The youthful Eagles rode their 16-game winning streak into the state final four – and were promptly blown out by Dunedin 16-3.
Brandon (25-7) actually scored twice in the bottom of the first inning before the Falcons (25-6) unleashed their bats. Dunedin hit three home runs in the game, two in their breakout second inning. Jacob Rogers and pitcher Max Kreuter hit the blasts that helped the Falcons go up 6-2 on the way to the blowout. Kreuter pitched six innings, allowing four hits to run his record to 13-0 on the season.
Dunedin, which had 10 hits in the game and got nine runners on base via walks, got more runs in the fifth when Clay Kollenbaum blasted another home run. Kollenbaum ended the game with five RBI.
The title game was slightly closer.
After watching their early two-run lead disappear, Dunedin was on the edge of watching its title hopes vanish. South Fork (26-6) had runners on first and third and no outs in the bottom of the seventh. But Alex Norris and Jake Rogers came into the game in relief of Kollenbaum, who was the Falcons starting pitcher in the title game.
Norris only faced one batter, but forced a ground out. Rogers followed with a strike out and a pop fly.
In the top of the tenth, Kreuter singled home Max Priest to give Dunedin the title.
Football: Riverview’s O’Regan Steps Aside
After 25 years as an assistant and head coach in eastern Hillsborough County, Dan O’Regan has said he needs a break.
The head coach at Riverview for the past five seasons, O’Regan resigned this week. The only coach to lead the Sharks to a district title, O’Regan posted a 32-20 mark as head coach at Riverview. The Sharks went 10-2 and advanced to the second round of the Class 6A playoffs in 2005.
O’Regan was an assistant at Riverview since 1998, becoming head coach in 2003. Before that, he worked for 15 seasons as an assistant at Gibsonton East Bay.
Awards: Brains and Brawn
Two Hillsborough County student-athletes have been named to the Florida High School Athletic Association Academic All-State team.
Tampa Bay Tech’s Okeefe Simmons and Tampa Academy of the Holy Names’ Stephanie Socias earned their spots on the list.
A soccer player and cross country and track runner, Simmons posted a 3.9 grade point average and ranked second in his graduating class. Simmons, who will attend the University of Florida, also played tennis one season.
Socias, meanwhile, finished her high school career with a 3.99 GPA while playing for the Jaguars’ basketball, cross country and track and field teams. Socias ranked No. 2 in a graduating class of 87 students and will attend Notre Dame.
College Signings/Commitments
Tampa Plant softball player Grace Sloan Collins has committed to Division II Barry University in Boca Raton. An outfielder who hit .538 and had 19 RBI, Collins helped the Panthers advance to the Class 5A region final.
Meanwhile, Valrico Bloomingdale basketball player Paris Moore has signed with Rollins College, a Division II program in Orlando. Moore averaged 19 points, nine rebounds and five assists for a Bulls team ended its season in the girls’ Class 5A-8 district semifinals…Tampa Academy of the Holy Names gymnast Kaleigh Dickson will attend Louisiana State University. Dickson recently won a regional all-around title while competing for her Tampa LaFleur’s Gym squad.
Connor Fenlon, a key member of Tampa Prep’s boys basketball team that advanced to the Class 2A regional finals, has accepted an invitation to walk-on at Siena College, located in New York state.
Fenlon, who led Hillsborough County in assists last season, averaged six points per game. Fenlon, a 6-foot guard, is the son of longtime Tampa Prep coach Joe Fenlon.