Region baseball: Jenkins' Glover pitches gem, Hatcher powers Lakeland to set up rematch

LAKELAND — If that old cliche is right that pitching wins championships, Xavier Glover has George Jenkins off to the right start.

The senior right-hander hurled a four-hitter in George Jenkins’ 7-2 victory over Ocala Forest on Tuesday night in the Class 6A, Region 2 quarterfinals that sets up a rematch with district rival Lakeland.

George Jenkins (18-8) and Lakeland (17-10) will meet in the region semifinals at 7 p.m. on Friday at Jenkins. The Eagles beat the Dreadnaughts, 5-0, in the district championship game last week.

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Forest had just two innings that it posed any kind of a threat against Glover, and he promptly got out of both inning with a strikeout. Glover went 6 2/3 innings before reaching his pitch limit and struck out 13. He used a slider to keep the Wildcats off balance.

Glover improved to 5-4 and lowered his ERA to 2.84.

“He’s been our guy in the big games, big moments, and he feeds off that,” Jenkins coach Alex Angulo said. “He feeds off the energy. The intensity of big games is when he’s really at his best. We have a whole staff full of great pitchers. I really could have gone with any kid, but especially being a senior having that experience of doing it already, I felt like he was the right guy, and he showed he was the right guy tonight.”

Glover showed in the fourth and fifth innings that he could find another gear when things got tough.

In the fourth inning, Glover walked two batters, who reached second and third with two outs. Glover promptly struck out the final batter of the inning.

Forest’s best chance came in the fifth inning when Kohl Kilcrease’s infield singled led off the inning and broke up Glover’s no-hitter. He scored on an error on Angel Torres infield single.

Robert Koeler’s RBI triple made it 5-2, but after a botched double-steal attempt gave the Wildcats two outs, Glover struck out the final batter of the inning to escape any more damage. That focus carried over into the sixth inning when he promptly by struck out the side.

“I think it gave me energy — a lot of motivation to get out there and get back in as quick a possible,” Glover said.

Glover, who has signed with Florida Gulf Coast, showed he was playoff ready by striking out the first five batters he faced.

"I felt like I've been in the situations harder and more competitive, so I felt ready just from practicing every day,” Glover said.

Glover was around the plate the entire game. He walked just three batters with two coming in the fourth.

“It’s all about his command when his command is there,” said. “His stuff is so good that when we see that he's in the strike zone, we know he's in a good spot mentally. And again, we just know that these moments are what he feeds off.”

Jenkins gave Glover a lead to work with early by scoring two runs in the bottom of the first. Wilfredo Ortiz singled home Armani Cozza, for the first run. It was the Eagles’ only RBI in the game. The other runs came on on an error, wild pitches and a balk.

“We found that we could be successful if we were aggressive on the bases,” Angulo said. “And so we decided to do that and it really worked for our advance tonight.”

6A-2: Hatcher’s grand slam caps Lakeland’s 6-run rally

Trailing by six runs, Lakeland rallied for 6 runs in the top of the seventh inning capped by Madison Hatcher’s grand slam that lifted the Dreadnaughts to a 9-8 victory over Wiregrass Ranch, in the 6A-2 regional quarterfinals.

Wiregrass Ranch jumped out to a commanding five-run lead by scoring seven runs in four innings off Jose Garcia.

Lakeland trailed, 8-3, in the bottom of the seventh but got life when C Sutton walked three consecutive batter to lead off the inning. A Vaugh and MC Maslyn each hit one-out, RBI singles to keep the bases loaded for Hatcher’s game-winning heroics.

Hatcher went into the game with two home runs but had just six RBIs and was batting .212.

5A-2: River Ridge beats Lake Wales

River Ridge jumped out to a three-run lead in the first inning and went on to defeat Lake Wales, 6-2, in the 5A-2 regional quarterfinals.

Diego Colon and Keaton Khol each drove in a run to cut River Ridge's lead to 4-2. The Highlaners piled up 11 hits but managed just the two runs.

7A-2: Venice routs Winter Haven

Jackson Lucas hurled a three-hitter to lead Venice 9-0 over Winter Haven to end the Blue Devils' season. The Blue Devils slumped to end the season, losing four of their last five games.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Region baseball: Jenkins' Glover pitches gem, Hatcher powers Lakeland to set up rematch