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Raiders' Gerbasi Earns All-State Honor

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By DAREK SHARP

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 25, 2008

PLANT CITY - A year ago, pitcher Aaron Gerbasi could only accept messages of "tough luck" to acknowledge how his season went.

But with the great improvement of the Plant City High baseball program came improved statistics for the recent graduate. And last week he was honored for his efforts.

The Florida Sports Writers Association announced its all-state honorees, and Gerbasi was listed under the honorable mention category in Class 6A. Any kind of mention is great considering where the Raiders were over recent years.

"This is definitely rewarding for me and for the team" said Gerbasi, who is preparing for a college career at the University of Tampa.

Gerbasi, a hard-throwing right hander, actually had better statistics last season except for one category: wins and losses.

In 2007, Gerbasi had a miniscule earned-run average of 0.28, but only posted two victories due to lack of run support and poor defense behind him. That changed this season as the Raiders improved from a 5-18 record to 11-13.

"I knew if you put a better defense behind me, and a good offense, that I could end up having a much better year," Gerbasi said. "It got frustrating at times last year, but I tried not to let it get to me."

Gerbasi went 6-2 with a 1.22 ERA this season, striking out 79 batters in 53 innings.

Plant City hasn't had a player receive all-state recognition in eight years.

"This is certainly something I've worked for and hoped for in previous seasons, so it was nice to get the honorable mention," Gerbasi said.

Speaking of working, that's exactly what the training staff at the University of Tampa has Gerbasi doing.

Gerbasi goes to UT twice a week for training sessions, which include a lot of cardio exercises along with some weightlifting.

"They told me not to pick up a baseball. Basically they're killing me right now," he said.

Nobody from Durant High received all-state mention.

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampatrib .com.

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