Niceville baseball advances to 5A state semifinals

By ADAM PRUIETT

adamp@nwfdailynews.com

NICEVILLE - In between games of the Class 5A regional finals Friday at The Hill, the Niceville baseball team gathered in a chorus in the dugout and sang along to the song "Shout."

It turned out to be the perfect foreshadowing.

The second-ranked Eagles went on to give their rowdy home crowd a whole lot more to shout in joy about, as they followed a 4-3 victory over Gainesville by blasting the Hurricanes 13-6 for the best-of-three sweep.

"I told our guys today that the team that wins is the one that's going to face pressure, and they're not going to fear failure," Niceville coach Kevin Berry said. "And that's what they did today."

The Eagles (22-10) mobbed one another after the victory and, behind the fence, a fire truck sent streams of water onto the outfield. The Eagles raced to the outfield for a victory shower.

Matt Herndon went 6-for-7 on the day and the dynamic pitching duo of Brett DeVall and Austin Wood picked up the wins for Niceville, which heads to Sarasota for the Final Four for the first time since 1989. The Eagles will face the winner from Region 4, either Nova or South Fork, on Wednesday in the state semifinals.

"We've been working for this our whole lives," Herndon said.

Michael Wells, a sophomore, has built a reputation for clutch hitting, especially in the postseason. He was at it again when the Eagles were trailing 4-3 with two outs in the fifth inning in Game 2.

With the bases loaded, Wells drilled a bases-clearing double off the right-center wall as Niceville gained the lead for good.

"It was a fastball right into my wheelhouse, and I just turned on it," Wells said.

Josh McDorman, hitless in his first six at-bats, added a pair of valuable insurance runs in the sixth with a two-run double. McDorman finished the evening by blasting a two-run homer, and he struck out the last four Hurricanes.

McDorman's shot came during a five-run seventh inning as the Eagles blew the game open. Herndon and Danny Collins both had RBI doubles in the inning, which saw Niceville score all its runs with two outs.

"We needed that, and we stepped up at the right time," Herndon said.

Wood notched the victory in Game 2, giving up six runs on five hits with eight strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings before McDorman closed things out.

Kevin McCoy took the loss in Game 2 for Gainesville (18-14), which had eight steals in each game. McCoy pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up eight runs on nine hits with four strikeouts, while Levon Washington had three hits and five steals on the day.

DeVall earned his fourth victory of the postseason in Game 1, and perhaps his most difficult. It took the senior lefthander 127 pitches to toss a complete game as he allowed six hits, four walks and two hit batsmen while striking out 12.

Gainesville scored all three of its runs in the third inning as the first five batters reached base. The big blow came from Jack Miller, who laced a two-run single. Washington scored the third run with heady baserunning, racing for home from third base on the exchange between Wells and DeVall for a 3-1 lead.

Niceville tied it up in the bottom half against Alex Mersch, who allowed six hits, two walks and two hit batsmen while striking out three in a complete-game effort. Robby Campbell followed Herndon's RBI double with a sacrifice fly.

Only two of Mersch's four runs were earned, and the Eagles pushed the winning run across in the fourth inning when Gainesville started the frame with a throwing error. Jordan Demos, who reached on the miscue and stole second, scored on Collins' two-out single.

Gainesville had several missed opportunities to score during the game behind eight stolen bases. But in the seventh, Sean Momberger was finally gunned down by Wells on a steal attempt for the second out.

Washington kept Gainesville alive with a single and steal but, after Miller was intentionally walked, Mersch fouled out to end Game 1.