GAINESVILLE-Perhaps no one is looking forward to the baseball playoff changes more than Sandalwood and Mandarin coaches.
A year ago, the two teams were handcuffed in their first and second round playoff games after Orange City University ace pitcher Logan Allen threw back-to-back no hitters against them, they weren’t the only ones.
Three years ago, the FHSAA made the decision to end the old format of playing Tuesday, Friday, Tuesday for a once a week format playing every playoff game every Tuesday for the entire month of May.
Behind Allen, a Florida International signee and 16th round draft pick, the Titans rode Allen all the way to the state semifinals again for the third straight year.
Allen (10-0) sent Sandalwood home with a 3-0 win over the Saints with 13 strikeouts while allowing just one hit in the first round playoff game.
A week later, Allen (11-0) was back in Jacksonville again this time shutting down Mandarin 2-0 in the second round striking out 11 while allowing only two hits.
A week later, Allen (12-0) shut out West Orange 2-0, followed by another shut out a week later 4-0 against Miami Palmetto in the state semi-finals.
Allen, who was 13-0 last year with a 0.35 ERA and 150 strikeouts, was named Mr. Baseball by the Florida Dairy Farmers last year as well as the Gatorade State Player of the Year and the Class 9A Player of the Year. The two-way player also led the Titans offensively batting .450 with 28 runs and 22 RBI.
One day later, with Allen not available to pitch and starting pitcher Cameron Robinson rusty the Titans struggled losing 5-0 to Timber Creek in the 9A state championship game. Robinson hadn’t pitched in over a month since the district tournament and it showed.
Under the old format, Allen would have only been able to pitch the first and third round playoff games and then the championship game, allowing Robinson and the rest of the staff the opportunity to pitch the second round and semi-final games.
Are we rewarding the state championship to the team with the best ace pitcher or are we rewarding the title to the best pitching staff? Should a team be allowed to ride the playoffs on only one pitcher or should we go back to the old format showcasing the entire pitching staff ?
After two years, the baseball committee changed their mind and altered the playoff format again going back to the older format they have traditionally used.
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
The #FHSAA ⚾ Playoffs will no longer be ONE game a week.
1A-4A: Now Playing Tuesday & Friday
5A-9A: Now playing Wednesday, Saturday and Tuesday
The FHSAA is taking a week out of the ⚾ playoffs and providing an extra week of preseason practice (arm safety).
— FHSAA (@FHSAA) June 4, 2018
This means for the 2019 and 2020 baseball seasons, the first round of the baseball playoffs will start on Tuesday for Class 1A-4A and on Wednesday for Class 5A-9A.
The second round will no longer start the following Tuesday instead three days later Friday (1A-4A) and Saturday (5A-9A) and the third round regional final (Elite 8) for Class 5A-9A will be played the following Tuesday.
No more waiting 21 days to decide who advances to the Final Four as weather permitting we will now know in 8 days.
Although forcing teams to use their bullpen now is the likely the main reason for the change it wasn’t the primary reason as according to the FHSAA the change was made to move up the week and eliminate a week during the playoffs to ‘provide an extra week of preseason practice for arm safety’.
“FHSAA coaches, athletic directors and member school representatives have voiced their opinion that baseball is not a sport where a program should be able to ride one player all the way to the State Semifinals,” FHSAA Public Relations Specialist Kyle Niblett stated. “The FHSAA is a member-driven association and has listened to its constituents.”
