High school baseball: Riley Fitzgerald's big game leads Tavares to win over Mount Dora

TAVARES — The zone.

It’s a place where baseballs appear the size of beach balls to batters and the strike zone can seem as large as the Grand Canyon to pitchers.

Few ever visit the zone and when they do, it’s usually for just a fleeting instant.

Riley Fitzgerald was there. The Tavares senior allowed one hit and struck out 14 over six innings, and went 4-for-4 at the plate with a home run to lead the Bulldogs past Mount Dora 7-3 Tuesday at the Fred Stover Sports Complex.

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With the win, Tavares improved to 7-5 on the season; Mount Dora is 7-4.

“I felt really good on the mound and at the plate,” said Fitzgerald, who picked up his fourth win of the season in five decisions. “I started a little slow, but I settled in nicely got on a really nice roll. I wanted to finish the game — I had more left in the tank — but (Tavares coach Gavin Jones) had already told me if anyone reached base, he was coming to get me.

“It was a really good win for us.”

Fitzgerald started shaky, allowing two runs after loading the bases in the first inning and a third run in the second before slamming the door shut on the Hurricanes. He offered a portent of things to come with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning, stranding runners on second and third base.

After that, Fitzgerald did not allow a runner past first.

Tavares matched Mount Dora over the first two innings. Fitzgerald, Lock McDonald and Ashton Fulcher scored to keep the game deadlocked.

In the third, as Fitzgerald settled into the zone, Bulldogs began pulling away. Greg Saines and Tyler McDonald scored to give Tavares a 5-3 advantage and Fitzgerald added additional cushion in the sixth with a towering two-run homer to right to close out the scoring.

The senior convinced Jones to let him finish what he started. Jones stipulated, however, that Fitzgerald's night on the mound would be finished if he allowed a runner to reach base in the seventh inning.

He walked Leyton Ward to lead off the inning, prompting Jones to bring in Colby White to close out the win.

“He wanted it (complete game),” said Jones, “but I couldn’t keep going. It was a decision based on his pitch count. We made the deal with him in the dugout before the seventh inning to give him a chance to finish it. He did a great job.”

Fitzgerald retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced — he allowed a fifth inning walk to Eli Thurmond, but quickly picked him off an attempted stolen base. He gave up one hit, a first-inning double to Conner Melady — his counterpart on the mound — and walked four. The southpaw struck out seven in a row at one point. He has now fanned 48 hitters in 31 innings this season.

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Tavares totaled 10 hits against three Mount Dora pitchers — Melady and relivers Lucas Hodgins and Ray Ayala. Fitzgerald led the way with a perfect night at the plate, while Lock McDonald and Dustin Dunlap added two hits apiece.

For Mount Dora, Melady was tagged with the loss. The right-hander went 4 2/3 innings and allowed five runs on eight hits and struck out four.

Brett Brown, Thurmond and Ward scored for the Hurricanes.

The teams will meet again at 7 p.m. Thursday at Heim Field in Mount Dora.

“Hopefully, we won’t come out flat at their place,” said Jones. “We have to try and jump on them, like they jumped on us. Our pitchers have to keep throwing strikes and we have to play good defense behind our pitchers.

“We did all that tonight.”

This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: High school baseball: Riley Fitzgerald a double threat in Tavares' victory