Our Sonic Drive-In Player-of-the-Game for Thursday, April 19 is Michael Rosario of the Buchholz (Gainesville) baseball team.
The senior went 2-for-3 with a homer, single, and a walk, and scored two runs, to lead the Bobcats back from an early 2-0 deficit to beat city rival Gainesville, 12-2, on Thursday night.
Rosario’s solo homer off the top of the wall in center field was his fifth of the season and cut the Buchholz deficit in half at that time to 2-1.
Buchholz took a 3-2 lead with two runs in the 4th, then added two more in the fifth thanks to four Gainesville errors to extend the lead to 5-2.
Rosario also singled and scored in the sixth inning as Buchholz took advantate of six walks by Hurricane pitchers to score seven runs and win the game by run rule.
Buchholz, which moved into ThePrepZone.com state baseball poll this week at #8 in 8A, only managed six hits but won their sixth game in a row to improve to 17-5. Luke Baker allowed only three hits in 5.1 innings, giving up only the two runs to the Hurricanes in the first, and picked up the win to improve to 5-2.
Gainesville committed six errors and walked 11 Buchholz hitters in the loss. The Hurricanes fall to 11-10 and have dropped six of their last nine games.
The two teams will finish off their season series on Friday night at GHS’s Tiny Talbot Field. Brooks Walton will start for Buchholz and Chase DeMichele is scheduled to start for Gainesville.
You can catch live streaming video coverage of Friday night’s game with Marty Pallman and Tyler TenBieg beginning with the Piesano’s Pregame Show at 6:45. First pitch is set for 7.
Every game The Prep Zone will recognize a Player-of-the-Game. The recipient receives a $10 gift certificate courtesy of Sonic Drive-In of Gainesville & Ocala.
