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Baseball Team Gets Fast Start

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 23, 2008

PLANT CITY - It took Plant City High School eight games to pick up its first district baseball win in 2007. Obviously, things are looking a lot different this season.

Last week, the Raiders began their season 2-0 with victories over District 6A-8 opponents East Bay and Sarasota Riverview.

Although there are still plenty of league games remaining, another eight to be exact, the Raiders have shown massive improvement over last season when the team went 5-18.

For starters, Plant City has a dependable cohort to Aaron Gerbasi on the pitching staff. Ross Kip gave the Raiders a big start in their thrilling 4-3 win at Sarasota Riverview on Feb. 15.

Gerbasi, who has signed a scholarship to play at the University of Tampa, allowed one unearned run in five innings as Plant City started the season off by crushing East Bay 10-1. The run support problems Gerbasi experienced last season were wiped away when the Raiders put up a six-spot in the second inning.

Sophomore Kyle Madill, in his first high school game, went 3-for-4 with five runs batted in. Madill has been a big addition not only at the plate but at the shortstop position.

Another sophomore, K-Shawn Smith, has been playing an outstanding third base. He went 2-for-4 with a couple of runs scored against East Bay. Bobby Liess and Brent Butler added two hits each.

Gerbasi came through in dramatic fashion the next night, closing out the win at Sarasota Riverview. The Raiders led 4-1 going into the bottom of the seventh when the Sharks started a rally. It was 4-3 and Raiders coach Mike Sodders was going to call on someone unproven at closing games.

But Gerbasi stepped up and said he would pitch. Players who throw the previous game are allowed to throw one inning in the next contest.

Gerbasi came on and struck out all three batters he faced. Kip did not get the win but threw a strong five innings, only surrendering two hits before Sarasota Riverview scored twice on three hits in the sixth.

Plant City had two tough games scheduled this week, against Durant and Riverview. Next up is a visit from Lennard on Tuesday. After that nondistrict game the Raiders' next eight opponents are from District 6A-8.

Durant, meanwhile, which was not supposed to be a home-run hitting team, got blasts from Taed Moses and Ruben Garcia last week in a 9-1 win over Spoto.

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampa trib.com.

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